[Dachshund]

Alot of people feed their adult dogs puppy food. How-ever it may give the dogs more protein it also causes kidney failure in dogs. Puppies should be weaned off puppy food at one year. It is reccommended that you feed the puppies the same dog food brand when switching to adult food.

[TeddieXRuxpin]

I've never heard of staying on the smae brand.. I do believe they should be weaned off around a year old, but I've never kept my dogs on the same brand. We usually change the food after we adopted them... What kind of dog food do you use?

This is also why they make small bites for smaller dogs.

[BoxMeIn21]

Originally Posted by Dachshund

How-ever it may give the dogs more protein it also causes kidney failure in dogs.

That is complete nonsense. High protein does NOT cause kidney failure in dogs, in fact protein has nothing to DO with kidney failure.
What IS true is that kidneys that are diseased or otherwise not functioning properly have trouble processing nitrogen. Nitrogen is a by-product of the digestion of poor quality proteins, such as those from plants.
High quality proteins - like from meat - do not produce high amounts of nitrogen when digested, so even with diseased kidneys they can cope just fine on a good quality high protein diet.

[flipgirl]

A lot of people believe that dogs, especially large breeds, can develop skeletal problems such as hip dysplasia if they are fed puppy food, which supposedly makes them grow too fast and thus their bones can't handle the fast growth. Puppies, including large breeds, need a high protein content because they do not process it as efficiently as an adult dog would. A puppy that doesn't get enough protein will not grow properly and its immunity will be undermined. A puppy 6 months or younger needs twice as much protein as an adult and even an older puppy requires at least 80% more. Moreover, most adult dog foods have 50% grains; puppies have not fully developed the enzyme amylase, which helps digest starches. You also have to watch the calcium intake and its ratio to phosphorus. Overfeeding a puppy can lead to skeletal problems and other health issues. It causes accelerated growth which the puppy's bone structure cannot handle. A high protein diet will not cause kidney problems unless the dog has an existing kidney problem. Similarly, senior dogs require a high protein diet as they cannot process protein efficiently like they used to as adults.

[BoxMeIn21]

Originally Posted by flipgirl

A lot of people believe that dogs, especially large breeds, can develop skeletal problems such as hip dysplasia if they are fed puppy food, which supposedly makes them grow too fast and thus their bones can't handle the fast growth.

I think this will be disproved here in the near future as well. Earlier studies suggested that over nutrition, I.E. high amounts of protein and calcium fed to puppies during their growing stages would cause musculoskeletal disorders. Later studies have debunked this. Dogs raised off of a raw diet (even large breeds) consume far more amounts of protein and calcium than any kibble would contain with no issues. I think eventually the high protein = joint disorder will become a non-issue. Of course, this is only my opinion and I would still err on the side of caution, until this is indeed a fact.