[C4D]

Hi Cindy T,

What I’m about to say is completely my opinion, but I’m not a big fan of Royal Canin as I find it to be overpriced with subpar ingredients that has a vitamin pack added to it to make it nutritionally balanced. It may have some science to back it’s formulas, but in truth, everyone and every living thing on this planet really was meant to eat real food as opposed to a nutritionally complete processed food. Whatever your dog is, I really don’t feel that there is enough difference between and Maltese and a Shi Tzu to need to feed a specific breed formula. I foster dogs from Kill Shelters that are of unknown origin (aka Heinz 57) as well as have several dogs small and large, some mixed and some purebred. I feed them all pretty much the same food and they all end up looking great and are very healthy. There are differences in feeding large breed puppies as opposed to small breed puppies, but overall, if you feed a quality food with some fresh food mixed in to an adult dog, there isn’t a great deal of difference. Small Breed formulas tend to be higher in protein and fat as opposed to Large Breed formulas in general. Many dog food formulas have all life stages.

I’m not opposed to grains, if they work for the dog, but I have a dog that reacts to grains so it’s easier for me to feed all the animals grain freee. I always add fresh food to all of my dogs meals. No living thing should be eating dry processed food for their entire life. I add canned food when feeding a kibble meal and make a fresh cooked or raw meal with a balanced premix for the other meal. My “senior” dogs are lively and playful and walk a mile or so daily. They have minimal health problems, and only due to torn ccls (that’s a whole other discussion).

I’m not personally a fan of skept vet either, but ultimately, the choice is yours.

[Raven L]

Hi, everybody! Four-Five weeks ago I got a new puppy. She is an Anatolian Shepherd/Great Pyrenees mix. I am currently feeding her 4Health (tractor supply brand) puppy flood and would like to start to transition her to a new food since she’s almost completely out of food. The problem I am running into is the fact that I am a young college student on a very limited budget, but I still want her to have at least decent food. I live in a small farm town and the only place that sells dog food is Wal Mart and Tractor Supply, so those are my choices. I am willing to order some online as well, though.
I can only afford to pay about $1.35 a pound, which is about $40 for a 30lb bag. I have been looking into Fromm Large Breed Puppy food, but the least expensive I have found it is $48 for a 33lb bag online.
Any tips, advice, anything would be very helpful and appreciated! Thanks.

[Jenn H]

I just switched my 6 month old GSD from Wellness Grain Free Core Large Breed Puppy to Solid Gold Wolf Cub.
I chose Wellness because of its calcium content not being more than 1.5%
It took a while to find another brand to put in his rotation that doesn’t exceed the recommended maximum calcium amount for large breed pups.
He’s done well on both so far. I think I like the Solid Gold more. I feed him half the amount and it’s not grain free.
It’s difficult to find LBP food that doesn’t exceed 1.5% calcium. You may have to do the leg work and email companies asking for the maximum amount on a dry matter basis as fed. Annoyingly they often just put min amounts.

[Kristin S]

I would like to know the pros and cons of plant based foods vs. meat based foods. Is one better than the other? Should large breed dogs be on plant based? Should older/younger dogs be on one or the other?

THANKS!

[Laura M]

I use the large sized “bites” as treats but I would not feed this as a regular diet. Read the ingredients and you will agree I think. I attended a dental seminar recently and they recommend what is on the VOHC website for oral care, but as stated previously, the only way to keep the teeth in good condition is to brush and regular cleanings as recommended by your vet. Although not all vets are doing the best dentistry treatments either. The doctor was a specialist in the dental field. I live in an area where there are a lot of specialty veterinarians so I am lucky. I love your breed, had two minis at one point in my life. I feed my dogs a variety of things right now. One I feed Acana, my puppy I feed Nutrisource puppy and my old girl I feed Holistic Select turkey and lentil. Hope you find a good diet for your special friend!

[Crow M]

Congratulations on your new family member!

I went through the same ordeal last year with a very elderly and underweight rescue; how to put on weight safely, finding the balance between feeding him enough but not too much, so that his weight gain wasn’t too quick and his system wasn’t overwhelmed with too many fats.

I second the advice above – if at all possible, feed him 3 or 4 small meals a day instead of 1 or 2 big ones. I fed a good-quality puppy food mixed with a good-quality adult food* starting with a 3:1 ratio. As he came close to his target weight, I gradually changed the ratio to 2:2, then 1:3, and then finally all adult food.

Supplements: don’t over-do it. I’d give him probiotics and maybe a joint med, but really, good food is going to wonders all by itself.

*Earthborn Holistics Puppy Vantage, Earthborn Holistics Great Plains Feast, Earthborn Holistics Large Breed (all dry); Wellness Complete/Core Puppy, Wellness Complete Senior and Canidae Large Breed (all canned). I mix up what I feed my dogs; variety is a good thing.

[Eric M]

Pitlove would ‘Now Grain free Large breed adult’ be better or equal compared to the ‘NutriSource Large Breed Adult Chicken and Rice’?

[Hershy]

Hi, and Merry Christmas season!
Is there an updated list for Calcium safe large breed puppy food that I may have missed? Could someone link for me the latest version?
Thank you!

[Pitlove]

Hi Anja- Wow a pitbull that’s 40lbs at 16 weeks? Sounds like you may have an American Bully. A few foods that you could look into are: Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy, NutriSource Large Breed Puppy, Precise Holistic Complete Large & Giant Breed Puppy, Orijen Puppy Large and even NutriSource Large Breed Adult Chicken and Rice which despite the name is an all life stages formula with safe calcium levels.

[Pitlove]

Hi Eric- NutriSource Large Breed Adult Chicken and Rice is actually an all life stages formula that is safe for large puppies. The pieces are huge and it has high palatability for training. This food could definitely work for you.

[InkedMarie]

Hi Eric,
Go to the Diet & Health Issues forum here. On top, in a yellow sticky, is a thread on large breed puppy food.

[Laura M]

I had a similar problem with another highly rated food. With my new puppy (now 6 months old) I transitioned to Nutrisource large breed puppy and have very good results. It is a nice easy to digest food. Good luck!

[Eric M]

I have a six month old GSD and I am looking for a large kibble to train with that is rated high. Any thoughts?

[Jenn H]

Aimee you are absolutely correct about not just looking at the ingredients, but all the other things like quality control and who designed the diets, etc.
It takes me forever to decide on new foods because of the labeling. They often have minimums listed and usually I need to the max. For instance I have a large breed puppy. I don’t need to know the min calcium nearly as much as the max.
I also want to know where the ingredients are sourced, do they use co-packers…none of these are on the bags. Most of the time they are even on the website.
This leads me to email companies directly with a list of about 15 questions and I ask whatever they have left out.
Most companies have been very forthcoming.

As for vets recommendations…ugh. I’ve been having that same problem w/ my vet. I’ve been going to them for 20+ yrs. The owner is now on the board for Science Diet. They have been pushing it a lot lately. Not only are the ingredients just fillers, but they now have a new head honcho at Hill’s that thinks chicken feathers are fine to feed and is using crap ingredients because it’s cheap.

I don’t know if OP realizes that Hills and Royal Canin are the same company now.

Just remember that what works for 1 dog doesn’t always work for another. I have 3 dogs and they have 3 different diets.

[aimee]

Hi sascha k,

The difference between what veterinarians recommend and food ratings sites such as this one occurs because different criteria are valued. Ratings sites usually focus on the ingredient panel and use that to rate the diet. Veterinary nutritionists and PhD nutritionists overwhelmingly report that you can not tell anything about he quality of the diet by looking at an ingredient list.

The following quotes are from Dr. Remillard a board certified veterinary nutritionist taken from her site petdiets dot com

“Sorry. The ingredients list cannot and should not be used to assess the quality of a dog food. Please disregard the self proclaiming pundits who say you can. It simply cannot be done. In fact AAFCO and FDA guard against it.”

and “I recommend pet food brands that have high quality control procedures and monitoring in place. A review of the ingredient list on a pet food product is not a good way to evaluate or rank a pet food regardless of how hard or detailed some people have tried to be. The pet food bag information lacks the necessary information needed to fully and accurately evaluate pet food quality.”

Veterinary nutritionists ask questions like “Does the company employ a veterinary or PhD nutritionist? Who formulated the diet? Is a nutrient analysis available? What is the digestibility of the diet? What quality control is being used? Can the company answer basic nutritional questions correctly? Does the company invest in nutritional research? Is the marketing material appropriate? …..

You can find information on how nutritionists would recommend you to evaluate diet at wsava dot org/nutrition-toolkit Scroll down to the bottom and you’ll find the link to selecting the best food for your pet.

Sadly what I have found is that foods that are rated 5 star are often made by “marketing companies” by that I mean the company has little to no knowledge of nutrition but know how to make a food that people will buy. The founder of Blue Buffalo reports he got into dog food manufacturing because “ “Slap on a good label, come up with a slogan, and off you go,…..There were already a lot of smoke and mirrors in how pet food was advertised, and that was the sort of stuff we were good at.”

When you look at companies from a perspective of nutritional knowledge/ ingredient testing/ quality control which are the criteria veterinary nutritionists are using to measure a food’s quality a whole different perspective is gained.

So when a veterinary nutritionist was asked, “I have a 20 week old black lab. What is the best food to feed him?” Dr Remillard answered “I would suggest a Large breed growth food from either Purina, Hill’s or Royal Canin given there are no regulatory requirements for such a food but each of these companies have done and continue to do original research on preventing developmental bone disease in large breed dogs.”

General practice veterinarians often take recommendations from the specialists in their respective fields and so likely will recommend the foods that the specialists recommend.

Hope this helps to explain why veterinarians recommend the foods they do.

Dr Remillard’s website is petdiets dot com and there is question and answer forum you might find helpful. Dr Weeth has a blog at weethnutrtition dot wordpress dot com that has several general articles on food evaluation.

[Tiffany B]

Thanks for the replies. I finally found one that is agreeing with her — Fromm’s Prairie Gold Large Breed Puppy. She’s been on it for a week and hasn’t thrown up at all.

[Jeffrey D]

Hello,

My 12 week old yellow lab puppy was recently diagnosed with a UTI and crystals in his urine. The vet was worried that the crystals may form a stone in the bladder. I know the common response to such an issue is a antibiotics and a low protein diet, but this is a puppy. He cannot be on a low protein diet as it will stunt his growth. I have also seen that yogurt and apple cider vinegar are good for breaking up crystals and helping with a UTI. Are these two alright to give to a puppy? He was originally on Authority large breed puppy food (chicken) but then was switched to Diamond Large breed puppy food (lamb). Soon after Charlie switched from Authority to Diamond, this UTI presented itself. Has anyone had any similar problems with Diamond? I thought it was a quality food but realize now that I was mislead.

[DogFoodie]

And, a large breed puppy is considered to be a puppy until it’s reached about 80% of its adult weight. For most large breed puppies, that’s about one year, but is generally longer for giant breed puppies.

Puppies cannot regulate their calcium uptake like adult dogs do, which is why you need to feed a large / giant breed puppy a controlled level of calcium.

In addition to proper calcium, avoid over-nutrition (keep your pup lean) and over-exercising to prevent stressing growing puppy bodies.

[Pitlove]

Dogs that will be a mature weight of 50lbs+ are considered large breed. Also even if the dog will be close to 50 lbs it’s offered recommended to still feed them as tho they were large breeds.

[Kat]

I have always had small breed dogs, no more than 20lbs, so buying a ‘large breed’ dog food was obviously never needed. I am thinking about bringing a new puppy in my home, perhaps 45-85lbs full grown. So at what weight is considered ‘large breed’, so that I can buy my dog the proper food that he/she will need?

[Laura M]

In answer to the original question posted – I don’t think you will get a quality food for under $1 a pound in my humble opinion. I agree the food does not necessarily have to be on the 4 or 5 star listing either. I started with a new puppy (6 months old as of this writing) and I switched him from Diamond to Nutrisource large breed puppy. I think Nutrisource is a fabulous, easy on the system and quality made food, which is reasonably priced. The company is family owned and I believe I read somewhere that they have never had a recall. Because I want a higher protein I will eventually get my puppy onto Acana because I am really impressed with that brand and feed it to my other dogs, but Nutrisource is affordable and very agreeable with my dog and many other people I have talked with about this subject. Good luck in finding something that suits all your needs – as someone earlier said, we need to take many things into consideration when picking a food for our pets.

[Dina Kouveliotes]

Look into NOW Fresh Large Breed puppy and adult. I believe it is free of chicken and my GSD does extremely well digesting, which is rare! Also the food contains no iffy ingredients and seems to be ethically produced.

[Jenn H]

Using formulas like the one Karen D suggested is very helpful.
You just need to find out what is required for your dog’s specific needs like breed, age/life stage, size, etc
I mix & match my dogs’ foods all the time. And because I have a large breed puppy I have to be very careful about making sure I stay within certain guidelines most importantly calcium & phosphorus, protein, fat.
Because dog food companies typically only put minimum amts in guaranteed analysis I find myself having to contact the companies for their maximum levels.
So you may have to do a little leg work.
When I have the percentages I need I subtract the lower amounts from the higher amounts of the different foods to be sure I’m within the percentages.

[A]

Good evening all,
I am going to be adopting with my husband a 16 weeks old pit puppy, she is already 40 lbs. I want to find the best large breed puppy food that will not stunt her growth but not cause her to grow faster then needed for her. Her parents are both 100lbs plus from what we were told.
We have looked at firstmate puppy and looked a tad into wellness.
Any recommendations?

Thank you!!

[Hershy]

Hello- Is there an updated version of the Calcium safe Large breed puppy foods for pups under 8 months old? The one linked has Royal Canin Maxi-Starter as a 4 star food (I used to use it, but it is different now) On the regular list of dog foods it is shown as a 3.5 star food. I recently bought some (To get it, I now have to register as a breeder who will promote their food, and it is available only through RC). It is awful now! I had used it successfully for a few years for my pregnant mom, and then for her pups up to 8wks old, but after receiving it, and just sniffing it, I can no longer use it. My girl won’t touch it now. She ate it reluctantly when first opened, and eventually spit it up. I tried putting it with her other food, but no.

I am very disappointed since I felt I was on a pretty good program specifically for moms and baby dogs (relative to processed foods -I know they aren’t the best over all-I am trying to use the best I can afford).

Because I am no longer confident that the Royal Canin is a good quality food, I would be thankful if anyone can suggest for me a good mother and baby dog food to start them on, My dam is in her final trimester! I am very concerned for the nutrition of my dogs. The health of my dogs and pups is my greatest interest. I give them raw chicken from time to time to at least give them a nutritional boost, but the adult dogs we have are generally eating the Victor dog foods: Hi-Pro Professional (aqua bag); grain free (red bag and gray bag). We have been pleased with the better quality Victor products – a great value.

Thank you in advance for any counsel anyone can offer.

[Pitlove]

Taste of the Wild makes 2 puppy formulas that are safe for large breed puppies, both of which are chicken free.

http://www.chewy.com/dog/taste-wild-high-prairie-puppy/dp/34836

http://www.chewy.com/dog/taste-wild-pacific-stream-puppy/dp/34840

[InkedMarie]

In this forum, above, highlighted in yellow, is a stickie on large breed puppy nutrition. Somewhere in that very long thread is a list of appropriate brands for large breed puppies. I’d start with the last page & work backwords to find the link to the list. Once you see the list, you can go to the website for the food & look for non-chicken ones.

[Tiffany B]

Can anyone recommend a chicken-free food for a large breed puppy?

My Dogue De Bordeaux appears to be allergic to chicken. I’ve tried several different large breed puppy foods, and she throws up all of the chicken based ones. Right now I’ve got her on Diamond Naturals Large Breed Puppy because it’s the only large breed puppy food I’ve found that’s based on lamb. However, she doesn’t seem to like it and will only eat it if I mix in some FreshPet roll. She also seems to scratch a lot, so I don’t think it’s agreeing with her skin. (Not to mention she’s been having a lot of gas. . . .)

All the other large breed puppy foods I’ve found are chicken based. I’m open to putting her on an adult or all life stages food since there are more chicken-free options, but most of them don’t provide the calcium and phosphorous info.

Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Tiffany

[Pitlove]

I’ve been feeding my adult pitbull Fromm Gold Large Breed Adult for a few months now and within a month of feeding that food plus salmon oil daily his hair started growing back and the dandruff was reduced. Also your vet is operating on some very outdated info. The protein levels in Taste of the Wild will not cause kidney problems. Fromm Gold is similar in price to Taste of the Wild btw (at my work at least).

[Dina Kouveliotes]

Blue Buffalo was a disaster for my dog too. Went right through her. I tried Orijen, great food, but soft poop. So I found Petcurean NOW Fresh Large Breed and I’m all set now, dog is perfect on the food. I tried to switch to Fromm, but again soft poop…so I hope Pstcurean stays in business and continues to make the same food or I’m screwed! 😉

[Dina Kouveliotes]

My GSD has done very well on Petcurean NOW Fresh large breed, both puppy and adult. The adult kibble is very big too so no inhaling of food!

I tried Fromm, Orijen, Halo and blue buffalo – she could not tolerate.

I also add flaxseed and coconut daily, pumpkin about 4x a week, scrambled eggs about 3x a week and/or Stella and chewy freeze dried patties…I stay away from chicken, that protein source has had the most recalls. I use the beef, lamb or surf and turf.

Good luck!

[Dina Kouveliotes]

My GSD had GI issues on Orijen and I tried Fromm Large Breed and it was even worse, then found NOW Fresh Large Breed and I have been feeding my GSD the kibble for over 2yrs with some fresh food daily. It is not inexpensive but solid poop is priceless 😉

[Dina Kouveliotes]

Orijen has the most impressive ingredient list and purported fresh farming/ cooking methods of any kibble. It is very high in protein which some dogs are fine with, some are not. My Highly active GSD cannot tolerate being on the food completely, my sister’s golden-doodle and my cousin’s golden retriever both do very well on the food.

I went to another Canadian company, Petcurean and feed Now Fresh Large Breed, and I mix in Orijen (less than 25% of meal) Regional Red often.

[Dina Kouveliotes]

I feed Now Fresh Large Breed Adult – the kibble is big so my GSD has to chew her food. I fed her the puppy version too, kibble is smaller but not as small as most adult dog foods. My dog does extremely well digesting NOW Fresh. She could not digest Orijen or Fromm. Good luck!

[Dina Kouveliotes]

So far so good feeding Petcurean Now Fresh Large Breed. I think Orijen has been free of controversy except for an issue exporting to Australia, but that was a unique situation. Ideally I’d love to feed fresh food, but I won’t feed raw (disgusts me, not the dog) and cooking a balanced meal for a dog is somewhat challenging. So I supplement the kibble with fresh foods as a compromise.

[Dina Kouveliotes]

My German Shepherd, Ziva, also could not tolerate Fromm Large Breed.

Ziva hands down does the best on NOW Fresh Large Breed by Petcurean
It’s the only food that does not cause GI issues for her.

I also add coconut and ground flaxseed daily in her meals. Sometimes eggs, parmesean cheese, salmon, Stella and Chewy patty, pumpkin, sweet potato,etc just to mix things up since I cannot rotate her kibble. I tried Orijen and she cannot tolerate more than a 1/2 cup in her meal of any flavor. It’s a bummer.

I highly recommend trying NOW Fresh Large Breed. It was a lifesaver.

[Amber C]

So I’m reaching out for a little advice… my 8 years old mutt (German Shephard, Collie, Lab mix) was on, please don’t all hate me since I didn’t know better, purina for 7 years. After getting lymes disease amongst a lot of other health problems including diarrhea on a weekly basis, we hit the Internet for answers and a better dog food. He has a thyroid problem and is on pills now that have taken the diarrhea away (thank goodness!). We switched him about a year ago to Taste of the Wild. He’s tried about all different flavors and we mixed in canned and dry kibble. His coat looked amazing and his life long dandruff disappeared! Overall health was much healthier, like a whole different dog. The vet said TOTW would lead to kidney problems and it wasn’t good for him, they recommended science diet. I read about TOTW and heard so many bad reviews, so after 7 months on it, I switched over to Whole Earth Farms, again mixing wet with dry. I found the stews mixed better than the pate recipes, but he does get both cycled in with the chicken turkey dry kibble and the red meat mix kibble. He loves the food, he’s not picky at all though, he’d eat anything in front of him short of the kitchen sink, but his dandruff that he had his whole life is back. I wanted to keep him on rotation, maybe 3 different brands switching every 4 months or so, and even though everyone seems so anti TOTW, it made him look and act healthier, but im nerrors about a bad batch! There’s no other problems with whole earth farms besides the dandruff coming back. Im a little at a loss. He weighs over 90lbs, not an ounce overweight, so he requires food… lots of food and budget is a consideration. TOTW was pricey for me, but doable if it was good for him. Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts? Anything would be of help, we’re about halfway through 2 different bags of WEF, so I just need to figure it out before we run out.

[Ruthy N]

Anyone has suggestions for large breed adult food?
I have an American Bulldog, Odin, that is a year and 4 month old, weighs 95-100 lbs. and a 4 years old French Bulldog mix with something perhaps English Bulldog, Charlie, weighs 36-40 lbs. I recently started feeding them Whole Earth Farms Grain Free either the Salmon or the beef/pork/lamb combo. My dogs also love fresh veggies like cucumbers, carrots, green beans, and fruits.
I have 2 issues I am dealing with:
Minor but important: the size of the kibbles with the “All Dog Breeds Foods.” It is not suitable for a large breed. Odin is not chewing it well.
The major issue: The American Bulldog has skin problems. He is allergic to something. He has redness around his face and skin and red spots on his belly. We tried different kind of dog foods and nothing seems to work for him. We also tried different kind of allergy medicine. The vet can’t figure out the problem as well. So far, we are avoiding chicken and grains. The allergy is possibly environmental, perhaps grass or pine straw. We picked up Odin at 6-7 weeks old infested with flees and ticks. He was covered with tick larva. It was horrible. This may be related to his allergies. The vet has been running tests, but no luck so far.

Any suggestions for food or anyone encountered similar problems?

[Shawna]

Hmmmmm? Creatinine is only a little high… Something doesn’t jive here. I’m sure there are exceptions to the rules but creatinine is a better indication of how well the kidneys are actually functioning (from everything I’ve ever read). Maybe newer data is suggesting different but data on this site, veterinary medicine dvm360, published in 2011 still agrees “A serum creatinine concentration is the most commonly used measure of severity of renal dysfunction and is the basis for staging chronic kidney disease (CKD) (Table 1). To optimize accurate staging of CKD, serum creatinine concentrations should be evaluated on two or more occasions when the patient is well-hydrated.” http://veterinarymedicine.dvm360.com/laboratory-evaluation-kidney-disease?rel=canonical

Based on a BUN of 77 and a creatinine of 1.6, I personally wouldn’t do low protein but rather moderate amounts of “high quality” protein.

Does your girl have large amounts of very dilute urine? Was there any protein in the urine? Was any other tests done? Is there any other medical conditions? Did you get a second opinion? She doesn’t want to eat often but you said this is just her normal. Does she have any other symptoms such as vomiting, depression etc?

This may help… My Audrey was diagnosed when she was just 13 months old but had symptoms when she was just 6 weeks old. Within the first year of diagnosis I made dietary changes and then had her blood work done every three months. On December 18, 2007 (the second blood work done after the dietary changes) her BUN was 77 (6 to 25 normal) and her creatinine was 1.9 (0.5 to 1.6 are normal ranges for this lab). Audrey didn’t eat a lower protein diet for another almost 7 years.

They also now know that senior dogs actually require MORE protein than adult dogs because they are less efficient at digesting it. Even toy breed dogs – I had a 4 pound Chihuahua live to age 19 eating a HIGH protein diet.

Please take some time to read the articles on this website. http://www.dogaware.com/health/kidneyprotein.html

Okay……..YES – I would highly recommend starting her on Standard Process Canine Renal Support. It’s pricey up front but will last a long time for a four pound little girl. I’ve never used Five Leaf but others I’ve directly talked to felt it helped. The Primal Defense and Acacia Fiber will help lower BUN. I personally would look at feeding foods with higher quality and amounts of protein and getting rid of the cream of wheat and gravy. See if you can find canned tripe — a brand that is just tripe. There is one out with quinoa but I’m not sure how much phosphorus is in quinoa so not sure it is suitable? It may be, I just don’t know. Tripe itself is higher in protein with moderate amounts of phosphorus. Most dogs really really like it too. You can continue the goat milk (best if it’s raw in my opinion). Eggs are a good option but the yolk is higher in phosphorus so, recommendations vary depending on stage of the disease, you might want to feed more cooked whites then whole eggs (maybe a one to one ratio – one whole egg with one white only). I would also suggest against feeding homemade as it is really important to get the phosphorus to calcium ratios correct and to limit phosphorus to appropriate amounts for the stage of the disease (which is early stage based on the numbers you mentioned—unless your lab normals are way different than mine?). There are recipes online if you want to home prepare. Dr. Meg Smart has a recipe – you would want the one for “early to moderate stage” http://petnutritionbysmart.blogspot.com/2013/02/home-made-diets-and-renal-disese-in.html

There’s lots more you can do but you mentioned you have a budget so start with these and then if there’s more for other things you can add on as able–such as herbs that can be helpful.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Shawna.
• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Shawna.

[Pitlove]

Hi Julie- I agree that some large breed foods aren’t really well a “scam”, but they aren’t always formulated to meet the calcium needs for large breed puppies. A lot of people opt to feed an adult maintenance food with the correct levels of calcium, but I’m not comfortable with offering advice on an adult food. I don’t think it matters as long as the food has the controlled levels of calcium that is needed for optimal growth. I’d say that this point, since your dog is not a giant breed, you could switch to an adult maintenance or all life stages food and continue feeding to maintain ideal weight. I feed Fromm Gold Large Breed Adult to my pitbull and he does very well on it, but since you are not a fan of Fromm I will not suggest that one. My 5 or 6 year old Chocolate Lab is being transitioned to NutriSource Large Breed Adult and he really likes it. It is chicken based, but NutriSource seems to have good palatability. You could look at some of their other foods as well. They do make grain free if thats the route you’d like to choose.

[Julie J]

our Oes is now at the 1 year mark so many say stick with puppy food another group say dont feed large breed its a scam personally if it has the ingredients I dont care what the colour of the bag is …. NOW big question what is the ingredients .. Ive been told no to the Iams she came on vet switched to royal canine then told NO corn so put on petcurian was going good up till month ago and now she wont touch it ,,,, not sure if a bad bag or ?? she will eat other samples of From tried it as a test Im not a fan of fromm so …is there a simple answer ……. what is best to feed to an average Oes at 1 year old she is great body condition right now I dont want to mess with that she is on the smaller side but so was the parents 60-70 at full age so she is on target of that any help or suggestion would be really appreciated I need to get food into her besides the fresh raw veggies that she absolutely loves…

[Pitlove]

Hi Harley- Look into Precise Holistic Complete Large & Giant Breed Puppy for your boys kibble. It’s highly recommended in the Dane community. My boyfriends brothers Great Dane has been on it since he was a puppy ( he’s on the Adult formula now ) and he grew perfectly. He’s lean muscular and very healthy.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Pitlove.

[Coonhound Mama]

Nature’s Variety Instinct makes great canned food, but it is five dollars per can which can get expensive when you’re feeding a larger breed dog. My 60 pound girl will eat half a can once a day to make it stretch with a variety of kibble, raw and ground premixes. Nice quality food though if you can afford it.

[C4D]

Hi Ruth Anne G,

I foster a lot of rescue dogs from kill shelters. He might be suffering from “stress diarrhea”, which is common in puppies and even adult dogs when moving to a new situation. He could also have worms or some other intestinal parasites. The vet will be able to determine those when you see him/her. Has he had any of his shots at all? Many shelters do them on intake, but I have known of many that don’t do anything and it sounds like that may be the situation in your case.

How is he doing on the chicken and rice? If it’s controlling the diarrhea, I would keep him on that for a few days and see what the vet finds as far as parasites, etc. You can slowly introduce him to a new food. It sounds like he will be a large breed so you might want to check the forums on large breed puppy foods. There is also a link on the dog other side of this that discusses large breed puppy food. Good luck with your pup! Keep us posted! 🙂

[ChewysMommy]

Alright so I have looked on the forum post already about Large breed puppy food. I am hoping not to spend a ton a month on his food. I am wanting to feed TOTW just like I do for my pit bull mix and my cat (cat food of course) I contacted the company and was able to figure out that both foods are formulated too feed large breed puppies. Has anyone else fed this to their Husky puppies and had a good outcome?

[Garth K]

Hi all. Have you ever reviews any dog foods under the Loblaws brand? They are a large Canadian grocery chain. Their premium house brands are marketed under the President’s Choice label. We are currently using their Nutrition First product for toy and small breeds, most recently the chicken and brown rice formula. I’d be curious how this product stacks up. Thx.

Garth

[Coonhound Mama]

Hello all!

I’m a new raw feeder and although I’ve done loads of research on here, in books and around the wide web, I’m still at a loss for how to keep my girl at a proper weight. When we adopted her she was 62 pounds and has swiftly gone down to 57 despite calorie counting and a medium-level fat diet. She is very active (1-2 hours of vigorous cardio per day) and we have a hard time keeping weight on her despite plenty of healthy fats and a partial kibble diet (she’s a 5 year old rescue new to us as of 3 months ago, so we are transitioning slowly).

If anyone has similar experience with large breed athletic dogs and keeping weight on them healthily, please feel free to respond as I am looking for some advice.

[Vicki K]

Using top large breed food. Anyone have suggestions?

[Liya O]

Hi everyone,

I recently took in a small (12lb) stray and decided to adopt him for good. I’ve been feeding him my large (57lb) dog’s food, Acana. He likes it but he poops every 2-3 hours and it’s kind of soft some of the times. I can’t walk him every two hours because I’m at work so I’d like to try and change his food to something more appropriate for him and see if he needs to go less times a day.
Any recommendations for small breed dog food that’ll help with this issue?
Thanks very much in advance

p.s. My large dog has been eating this food for a long time and goes about 2 a day

[Pitlove]

Have a look at NutriSource Large Breed Puppy. The quality very similar to Fromm, however it’s my go to recommendation at work for dogs who have loose stool or any other GI issue. Fromm is usually easy on the GI tract, but I find NutriSource is even better.

When choosing a food for a LBP, you can’t forget that overfeeding plays a huge role in orthopedic disorders, not just controlled levels of calcium/phos. Protein makes no difference in their growth and neither does grain or grain free, so really it comes down to feeding controlled levels of calcium (which Fromm has) and not overfeeding. The Hill’s website states that Boxers should not exceed 80lbs at mature weight for males while other sites say 70. Does his vet feel he’s at a good weight?