At what age should I switch from Puppy food to Adult?

[wolfsoul]

My GSD puppy's death could have been prevented were he not fed puppy food. Puppy food contains alot of extra nutrients that aren't necessary. In the wild, do you see the wolves leave all of the fat for the pups, and grind up the bone to supply them with extra calcium? Of course not, the pups eat just as the adults do. They don't need "extra" vitamins and nutrients. These nutrients actually cause the puppies to grow too fast (especially large and giant breeds). You want the puppy to grow as slow as possible so that it can grow properly -- My 6 month old GSD puppy had to be put to sleep because his legs grew too fast for the rest of his body to catch up. The joints in his legs became terribly swollen from trying to keep his legs up and caused him alot of pain. He never would have been able to walk and he would have been in pain for the rest of his life. GSDs are one of the breeds especially suceptible to problems with puppy food. All breeds with bone/joint problems should avoid it, and goldens can be pretty bad for joint issues.

[k9krazee]

I've always switched my dogs over to adult food around 6 months and have never had any problems

[bckrazy]

I was just going to say what Wolfsoul said, isn't it better to switch large pups to adult food earlier, rather than small dogs? You do want him to grow as gradually as possible.

[Lescoop77]

You are right -I'm switching him this week over to adult. (Nurtro) He's 6 months this month. Thank you all for your advice - very well taken!

[Vela]

I never fed puppy food to my puppy, he has eaten an all life stages food since he was 10 weeks old, using Canidae. I later swtiched to adult Chicken Soup when it became available.