Do puppies NEED puppy food?

reevz · 09-24-2008, 09:44 AM

I've heard alternating information on this. I know that my cat needed kitten food, and he did well on it. But I have heard recently that puppies don't need puppy food, and it perplexed me. Is it true?

jbray01 · 09-24-2008, 11:05 AM

i'm not sure, but i think that puppy food contains necessary nutrients to help the puppy grow. i think a puppy could survive on adult food, but the puppy food is probably better to start your dog off healthy.

i have not had personal experience, but if its anything like cats, i know my adult cats love kitten food while we've had kittens that insisted on eating the adult cat food. the adult cats got hugely fat, and the kitten didnt thrive as well until we learned to lock it up with the kitten food.

Dogstar · 09-24-2008, 12:16 PM

Opinions vary.

Mal and Kaylee's breeder recommends an all-life-stages food because it's better for large-breed dogs to grow slowly and constantly rather than shooting up like weeds. I know that with giant breeds (which mine aren't), it's even more important that they NOT have an overabundance of nutrients because this can cause the dog's bone growth to outpace the dog's ability to produce muscle, tendon, and ligament to cope with it and increase the risk of orthopedic problems.

Generally? Talk to your vet. A really high-quality all-life-stages food in quantity is better than less-quality food labeled for puppies.

amynrichie · 09-24-2008, 12:41 PM

puppy food has a higher concentration of nutrients to help the puppy during its high growth period. (Different needs for large breed dogs.) Also I have found that puppy food is a smaller kibble and that has always been easier for my small puppy to chew. Do I feed for an entire year? Not usually, but I do keep them on puppy food as long as they are growing rapidly.

Willowy · 09-24-2008, 01:47 PM

Most knowlegable people with large-breed puppies do not feed them puppy food, even "large-breed" puppy food, because it makes them grow too quickly, and this puts stress on their joints. I don't believe a pup needs puppy food, if you're feeding a high-quality all-life-stages food. Penny never was on puppy food; she ate Willow's food....I think she was getting Solid Gold Hund-n-Flocken at the time. And I almost never raise kittens on kitten food, unless they're overly skinny. They do just fine on a high-quality cat food.

tirluc · 09-24-2008, 01:58 PM

i keep my puppies on a puppy food til 4 mo at which time i switch them to 1/2 and 1/2 puppy/adult till 6 mo....then they are on straight adult from there....i have Border Collies and my vet recommended this after my 1st 2 and i have just followed thru w/ the rest (actually, w/ the 1st one he had me switch to 1/2 and 1/2 at 6 mo and the 2nd he had me switch to straight adult at 6 mo....they both have HD, which i know is hereditary, but can be aggrevated by to fast of growth....my 3rd was where i started the above and have had complete success w/ it that way....

i do think it's good for things like teeth and joint but too much of a good thing can be just as bad....

AkiraleShiba · 09-24-2008, 03:13 PM

Akira went straight to adult food at 4 months becase we realised that he did not do well on chicken or grains so he was put on Orijen Fish which is great for him. With Orijen puppy and adult formulas are about the same and I would give him more food than on the feeding instructions so I think it made up.

reevz · 09-24-2008, 09:01 PM

good information, everyone! Thanks! Looks like I'll just be looking for an ultra high-quality all-stages dog food. I printed out the list of to brands today from this forum. Such great help!

Spicy1_VV · 09-24-2008, 09:50 PM

I'm a little late....

I think it depends on your breed and what you feel is necessary. I don't believe most pups typically need actual "puppy food".

I've not used puppy food often and haven't had any problems with growth/health associated with this. I've used it a few times for some really young pups because of the small kibble size or the dogs I got were fed puppy food by the breeder but I didn't continue to feed what they were fed.

Some have been weaned straight to raw eating pretty much no different then an adult. Some others that were fed kibble as pups depending on breed and such were fed adult, large breed adult, or performance/high energy formula.

Miranda53 · 09-25-2008, 11:07 AM

Hi,
With all the problems I've been having recently trying to get mine to eat commercial dry puppy food, I've been wondering this myself. After all, specialised puppy food hasn't always been around - how did puppies manage to grow up and become adult dogs before it was invented??

wvasko · 09-25-2008, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Miranda53

Hi,
With all the problems I've been having recently trying to get mine to eat commercial dry puppy food, I've been wondering this myself. After all, specialised puppy food hasn't always been around - how did puppies manage to grow up and become adult dogs before it was invented??

Yes,
45 years ago there was no puppy food and the dog food that was on market then was definitely not the quality of food now. Dogs did survive, of course even some people survived without seat belts and bikers without helmets etc. I think a good quality ALS food will do the job. Of course that could also be a problem kinda like picking out a tube of toothpaste, with the choices that's a 2 hour job.

gizmobaby · 09-25-2008, 12:43 PM

Puppy food has certain nutritional value to it that can't be given to an adult dog; thus, they create a separate type of food for them to eat. Also, puppy food concentrates on the development and growth of the structure of the body.