[black lab 007]

Just getting my 8 week old puppy ( black lab). He's been on Royal canin. Ive heard great things about Orijen and Innova. Any input would be much appreciated, Is there to high of a protein content?? Thanks

[BoxMeIn21]

I would keep him on the Royal Canin until he gets settled in with you. Re-homing is stressful enough, you don't want to add a diet change into the mix.
Orijen and Innova are both good foods, but it really depends on your dog and if the food works for him.

Have you checked out this site? Check out some of the foods in the 4, 5 and 6 category.

www.dogfoodanalysis.com

[cshellenberger]

Yes, there is such thing as having a protien content that's too high. Small breeds need a higher protien because they tend to mature faster, slower growning Large and Giant breeds need a lower protien content because a high protien can cause growth problems such as Knuckling over as well as Hip Dysplacia and other joint problems.

There are several great foods out there for all breeds; Solid Gold, Merrick, California Naturals, Chicken Soup, and Wellness come to mind immediately. Do switch slowly to avoid stomach upset, it's hard to potty train a pup with a bout of diarrhea.

[Patt]

You'll get lots of suggestions on that subject... There are quite a few fine foods available and everyone has their own idea which is best. It will be determined by your dog and how he does on which ever one you choose. Moving into a new home is sometimes stressful so I second the suggestion of keeping him on Royal Canin until he settles in.

I feed my dogs Innova or Wellness brands. You can check the top grade dogs foods on www.dogaware.com

[Mdawn]

I also have a Black Lab and I feed him Chicken Soup Large Breed. I also feed it to my Mastiff as well...They both do well on it...my Lab even more so than my Mastiff. My Mastiff just acts like he doesn't like the taste of it.

It just depends on the dog...I suppose.

[animal-luver]

i wouldn't want to change his food to fast if u do decide you want to change its food maybe go wth pedagree or something like that wean him from the old food by mixing them and giving it less of the old food and more of the new each time until u have only a little bit of the old food the last day give it the new food hope that helps

[JayBarnes]

I feed Welness Puppy forumula. My pup is about 6 months old now and he's been on this food for around 2 months. So far so good. He has a very sensative stomach and he does really well on it.

[swissypup]

I have an 11 week old Greater Swiss Mountain Dog. She's a large breed and needs to be on a low protein diet for now. We feed her Merrick Puppy Plate and she loves it! One caveat however ~ this food does not contain any "stool former" so she had loose stool until we supplemented it with organic pumpkin (which she loves!).

[black lab 007]

Funny , I just started giving the little guy Merrick puppy plate. I'm still at half and half. After much research, I decided to go with Merrick. It didn't have to high of a protein( 28 %) as opposed to 40 % with Orijen. Yet, it had very high quality ingredients ( no corn ). So, my breeder says feed Royal Canin, my Vet says Hills pd, yet I think I'll try Merrick! I hope its a good choice !

[jchantelau]

If that doesn't work out try...

I switched my lab puppy from Science Diet Puppy to Nature's Variety Prairie. She made the switch in less then a week with no issues.

5 star from dogfoodanalysis.com

[Loupin]

Yes, there is such thing as having a protien content that's too high. Small breeds need a higher protien because they tend to mature faster, slower growning Large and Giant breeds need a lower protien content because a high protien can cause growth problems such as Knuckling over as well as Hip Dysplacia and other joint problems.

I don't think it's true. It seems that there is no scientific study that demonstrate that high level protein food will cause hip dysplacia.

Have a look at the following link:

http://www.msu.edu/~silvar/hips.htm

Here is an abstract:

Protein

Like excess energy, protein has been thought to be associated with skeletal disease. A study by Nap and coworkers reported on the role of protein in disturbances of skeletal development(21,22): Three groups of Great Dane puppies were fed three levels of protein (31.6%, 23.1%, and 14.6% on a dry matter basis) in an isoenergetic dry dog food from 7 weeks through 18 weeks of age. No demonstrable effects were noted on calcium metabolism or skeletal development. These levels of dietary protein are unlikely to cause a disturbing role in canine endochondral ossification.
Investigators have felt they were able to produce normal hip growth and reduce CHD in mixed-breed puppies by feeding a high- or all-meat diet. Subsequent studies in purebred animals known to be dysplastic (German shepherds, golden retrievers, and Labrador retrievers) and in female beagles have not shown similar results.(8) High protein intake does not appear important for development of normal hip joints.

While not directly responsible for skeletal disease in the growing dog, protein provided in excess of metabolic requirements is deaminated by the liver and used for energy, increases plasma levels of insulin-like growth factors, and contributes to an increased rate of growth.(23) If requirements for essential amino acids are met, there are no known benefits to feeding excess protein to healthy, young, growing dogs.

The minimum level of protein in a diet depends on digestibility, amino acid composition, proper ratios among the essential amino acids, and amino acid bioavailability from the protein source. Energy density of the food and the physiologic state of the dog play a role as well. A growth diet should contain more than 28% protein (dry matter basis) of high biologic value that supplies at least 16% of the dietary energy. In the normal dog, dietary protein requirements decrease with age.


The complete article relates to numbers of studies conducted on dogs food. Instead of proteins, minerals, namely calcium may cause some problems and also excess feeding intended to maximize growth.

Here is another interesting site, by a specialist in dog food:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index....e=protein_myth

[JRiegler]

We started my 5 year lab on Wellness after we slowly made the switch from the food the breeder was using. However, we now feed him Evo and he seems to be doing really well on it. Unfortunately Natura does not offer an Evo product for puppies, so our new addition (four weeks and counting, another yellow lab) will be on Innova Large Breed Puppy until she is done growing. We will then make the switch to Evo.

Hope that helps!

**Edit** I just checked the link provided by BoxMeIn21 and found that Evo is a six star food. Excellent!! The Innova Large Breed Puppy is only a four star. Hmmm.**

[cja75]

High protein isn't bad. You hear it everywhere but it is myth. I have looked up and down and every study I have seen say that high protein isn't bad at all for a dog. They don't just use it to grow unlike humans dogs use protein for energy as well. Orijen puppy food is the best in the world. You can read the label and compare to others it has by far the best quality ingredients. Nothing artificial no filler NO low quality ingredient. Along with the fact that dogs LOVE IT!!! Go to :

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/

It has reviews and lists all the ingredients of almost every food known to man so you can read for yourself. Also look around on the internet for studies about protein. Not articles written by "dog lovers" real studies you will see as I did the too much protein thing isn't true. HOWEVER you have to be careful of too much fat for obvious reasons (will make your dog fat) Also you might think about rotating foods with different protein sources. I feed orijen (2 bags in a row) then a bag of something different ie... natures variety, wellness core, canidae whatever looks good. Good foods will contain probiotics so you can switch foods in a couple days with no upset stomach, it also helps the dogs stomach toughen up I guess you could say so they can tolerate a wide range of foods more easily.

[Shalva]

In my opinion the best food is the one that your dog does well on.....

that having been said many of us don't wean to puppy food and simply use a high quality adult food.... The trend has been for larger dogs like retrievers to grow slowly the newer higher quality foods are better than puppy foods....

which is the best .... the dog food analysis page is excellent

I tell my puppy folks they can choose any food off the whole dog journals list if they are not going to continue feeding raw....

but there is no one magic bullet.... like some people can eat hot peppers others get sick on them.... the best food is the one that your dog likes, and thrives on.....
s

[brecken]

innova puppy

[Labsnothers]

Loupin, I enjoyed reading through http://www.msu.edu/~silvar/hips.htm It seems there is so little other solid, scientific based information on the net. Plenty of unsubstantiated opinion.

I have recently decided much of the good stuff is locked up behind http://avmajournals.avma.org/doi/ful...jvr.70.10.1174

I am afraid much of what is available for free, is that which is to somebody's financial advantage to make available.

[nico8]

This thread is from March of '08.