[aimee]

Hi Patricia,

You wrote “So the company should state TOO MUCH calcium if they give the why.” Yes If those diets are inappropriate for large breed growth it would be because they have too much Calcium for large breed puppies.

You wrote “Now in your calculations are dogs’ being fed their “all life stages” not getting ENOUGH calcium?”

I do not have a nutritional analysis for each of S and C’s diets that claims to be “all life stages” so I have not done any calculations. If the diets meet the AAFCO Ca min. for the growth/reproduction profile then their diets would have ENOUGH calcium for adult dogs, pregnant dogs, nursing dogs and the growth of small ,medium and large breed puppies. but some may have TOO MUCH calcium for the growth stage of large breed puppies, in which case the company must disclose this on their nutritional adequacy statement.

I have to qualify, because after getting a nutritional analysis I’ve found that though a diet claims to meet an AAFCO profile, based on the information the company sends, it appears not to meet it. For example, using the information provided by Smallbatch, it appears that one of their diets labeled as “all life stages” does not come close to meeting the min. calcium level required by the AAFCO profile for growth/reproduction. The company responded IMO very quickly to my initial inquiry for a nutritional analysis. But I have not received any response to my most recent inquiry asking them to explain the apparent discrepancy.