[Diana B]

Aquarianqt- I did realize that. I think I’m guilty of trying to push for a review for the new Fromm’s large breed grain free puppy! Is there a forum for those requests? Thanks!

[Diana B]

Fromm’s NEW line of Grain Free in their Prairie Gold line. Especially the FROMM’s Prairie Gold Large breed puppy. Thank you.

[Diana B]

Orijen Large breed puppy: Oliver, now 2, thrived on it! Leo, now 7 mos., did not do well on it. So we fed Fromm’s Gold Large Breed Puppy and have now transitioned him to their NEW Fromm’s Prairie Gold Large Breed GRAIN FREE puppy! So now, both dogs eat Fromm’s Grain Free line and we love it.

[aquariangt]

I think when I last checked, Orijen’s calcium levels were too high for a large breed-I may be wrong, but definitely click the links DogFoodie linked, that will get you started in the right direction

[DogFoodie]

Hi William,

It’s important to feed a large breed puppy a food with an appropriate level of Calcium. Here’s a list, which includes grain inclusive, grain free and raw, acceptable foods: https://docs.google.com/a/dogfoodadvisor.com/file/d/0BwApI_dhlbnFTXhUdi1KazFzSUk/edit?pli=1

If you haven’t already, take a look at this thread, especially the first few pages and read the articles that Hound Dog Mom shared: /forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

In addition to appropriate Calicum levels, you should keep your pup lean during growth and avoid over-exercising him, which can stress growing joints.

How old is your pup and what breed?

[Kristin S]

If you aren’t worry about budget, go with Orijen or Wellness Core. We choose a cheaper route with Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy Dry Dog Food and we like it.
https://www.petflow.com/product/fromm/fromm-gold-holistic-large-breed-puppy-dry-dog-food

[William D]

I am looking for a high quality grain free Large Breed Puppy food. Any suggestions?

[sherry n]

Read everything you can find regarding calcium content for large breed puppy. Not all large breed puppy foods are appropriate.

[Brandy S]

I have a Saint Bernard puppy she is 8.5months and weighs 81.5lbs she is healthy for the most part however I would really like to get a food that she likes and is not alergic too Science diet is off the table I have tried the following foods and the only one she likes is Beniful (not the best choice) Blue Buffalo giant breed puppy, large breed puppy from science diet (she had a bunch of respiratory stuff), eukanuba large breed puppy(she did not like this food at all), wellness puppy formula (not the large breed the fish one she does not like it much) and Beniful puppy(this food is not the best for her but she likes to eat it and will eat about 4cups a day). She is a picky eater I have thought about cooking her diet but I dont really have that kind of time and would like to keep food out for her. She will only eat when she wants I have tried the daily feeding twice a day and she starved herself. I love her bunches but I am at a loss for what kind of food to give her that wont be not eaten or that will make her sick. Thank you, RebaSaintMom

[Bobby dog]

Hi Tammy:
Large and giant breed dogs have special nutritional needs. Keep your puppy lean and avoid over exercising because his bones and joints are still developing. Check out this article:
/best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/

Here’s a link to the large and giant breed puppy forum. Read at least the first three or four pages (it’s a huge thread now) and the links to the articles posted on the first page.
/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

On this page you will find a link to a document of recommended foods. If you choose a food from this list I suggest calling the manufacturer to confirm the calcium % is still within the recommended parameters; the list has not been updated recently. Look for a post dated July 23, 2013 at 1:51 pm:
/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/page/15/

For a current list of approved foods for large and giant breed puppies you can also join the Dog Food Advisors Editors Choice.

Good luck with your lucky puppy!

[Bobby dog]

Mike A:
I would ask your Vet what protein, fat, and fiber %’s to look for in a new food. Each dog with pancreatitis will have a different threshold for what they can tolerate. When you find a brand you like I suggest calling the manufacturer and asking what the maximum percentages of each are in the food; most times they only list minimums.

I feed lower fat kibbles to my dog to help maintain his ideal body condition. I am not sure if these foods would be appropriate for your dog, but here’s a few I feed Annamaet Lean, Nature’s Variety Healthy Weight, Wellness Core Weight Management, and Precise Holistic Complete Senior. For low fat canned foods I feed Wellness Core Reduced Fat, Innova Large Breed Sr., and Weruva’s Marbella Paella, Paw Lickin’ Chicken, and Bed and Breakfast recipes. I have Fromm’s Four Star Shredded Chic or Beef and Petsmart’s Simply Nourish bisque or stew foods on my list to try.

Here’s a few articles about pancreatitis:
http://www.petmd.com/blogs/nutritionnuggets/dr-coates/2014/august/new-recommendations-feeding-dogs-pancreatitis-31941#
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=2214
Good luck!

[Bobby dog]

Hi Linda:
I am always on the lookout for average to low fat commercial raw foods. I find most recipes too high in fat. Good or bad fat it’s in there and I want the majority of my dog’s calories to be from protein not fat. Here’s an article on fat in commercial raw foods:
/choosing-dog-food/raw-dog-food-fat/

From my list I only have one food that may fit your needs Primal Frozen Venison. On a dry matter basis using the numbers from their site it is about 16% fat. Their Frozen Rabbit recipe is also low fat (17% DMB), but you mentioned rabbit might not agree with your dog.

You might consider making your own raw if you are unable to find a suitable commercial diet. Here is a list of books for making raw and home cooked diets:
http://www.dogaware.com/diet/bookreviews.html

Since your dog is not too thrilled eating TOTW kibble maybe try another brand or have you ever thought about supplementing with canned instead? Here are some low-fat canned foods I feed Wellness Core Weight Management, Innova Large Breed Sr., and Weruva’s Marbella Paella, Paw Lickin’ Chicken, and Bed and Breakfast recipes. On Weruva’s site they list their nutrition information in dry matter basis. Other low-fat canned foods I want to try are Fromm’s Four Star Shredded Chic or Beef and Petsmart’s Simply Nourish bisque or stew foods.

Feeding a balanced diet is important, however if my dog had a health issue it would definitely be priority for me. Regarding Sojos foods and mixes there have been comments posted on DFA about the vegetables coming out of their dog as they went in and lack of info on their labels. Some posters suggested grinding the mix before feeding it. You can do a search for comments on Sojos here’s one thread:
/forums/topic/sojo-premix/

Concerns have also been posted about The Honest Kitchen foods and mixes. Posters have commented on digestibility issues, label accuracy, feeding recommendations, and questionable information provided by customer service and the owner of the company. Check out the comment sections on the review side for more info:
/dog-food-reviews/honest-kitchen-grain-free/
/dog-food-reviews/honest-kitchen-dog-food/

Good luck!

[Bobby dog]

Hi Cecile:
Did you check out the links to all the articles on the first page of this thread? Here’s an article with more info on feeding large and giant breed puppies with references posted at the end that could help with your research.
/best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/

Keep in mind the commercial foods you have access to are more than likely different from those available in the U.S. Looks like the Eukanuba is a better choice out of those two kibbles.

I can’t comment on the milk powder and chic liver mix other than maybe the milk powder would throw the calcium ratio off; IDK if it’s beneficial to feed or not. Hopefully someone else will pop in with more knowledge. Any extra foods should be kept at no more than 10% of his daily caloric intake to avoid nutritional imbalance.

If you are interested in more home cooked dog food recipes for your other dogs I can post the names of some books.

[Cecile R]

Hi Doglovers and forum members,

I live in Sri Lanka and feel that it is very difficult here to get quality advise on dog nutrition (or on dogs in general). I have a 4 months old Ridgeback/Great Dane mix (Tequila) and have done some research on the internet about how I should feed her and feel like the info is very different to what the vet here has recommended me to feed my puppy, so I was hoping that somebody could give me some feeding advise? It is fairly difficult to get proper pet food here, basically the only thing that is available is Pedigree and Eukanuba dry food and this is also really expensive.
We have 4 more dogs who are all strays in different ages which I have picked up from the street and adopted and they are happy to eat almost anything and don’t like the dry food much also, so I would cook for them brown rice with pumpkin or carrott and in the mornings chicken liver and in the afternoon the same with fish filet, sprats, or meat off-cuts form the butcher.
For Tequila I’m a bit more concerned as in no case I want her to get any hip problems later (especially as I feel the vets are differently qualified to Western ones)
Our vet has given me 3 different vitamin supplements with high Calcium content, but from what I have learned can a diet with high Calcium be harmful for large breeds – alright, I just stopped giving her those.
Up to now I have been feeding her the Pedigree Puppy dry food (Calcium approx. 1.1%) but will change this now to the Eukanuba Puppy for large breeds (Calcium approx. 0.96%). So far I have been feeding her 2 smaller servings of this in the morning and always mixed this with milk powder as advised by the vet and chicken liver. In the afternoon she’s getting the same food as the adult dogs as described above. Any opinions if this makes sense?
Tequila was fairly small and skinny when we got her (32cm and 6kg at 8 weeks), but looks healthy now to my opinion. She’s approx. 55cm high now and weighs about 16kg (she’s a bit more on the Ridgeback side, so I think this is okay for her age?)
Since she’s my first large breed I’m very concerned of doing anything wrong as I just want her to grow up healthily and would appreciate any comments and advise of people who are more experienced!
Thanks a lot in advance

[Dori]

Riley and Molly. If she is your only dog then there is no reason why you could not afford to feed her a good quality commercial raw diet. I have a Maltese, a Maltipoo and a Yorkipoo. They have all been on a rotation of commercial raw diets for the past three years and all are doing phenomenally well. A toy or small breed dog does not need a different diet or food than a regular dog other than a large breed dog puppy that needs less calcium in its growing years.

[Bobby dog]

Derek:
Did you look at the recommended food list for large breed dogs I posted for you on 3/9 2:24 p.m.? It’s a good place to start. Regardless if the food is from that list, the Editors Choice list for large breed puppies, or another option, along with following your Vet’s advice for an LID & low protein food look for a one that has the recommended calcium ratio for large breeds. Be sure to read the article I posted a link to in that post as well.

I’ll see if one of the regulars who has experience with this parasite can pop in with some advice to help you.

[ashley a]

Thanks, I did call and ask about the D-mannose and was told it was fine to give. My vet did not give her the shots she was in for when we went in Feb because of her temp, however I was told at the apt she has on Friday she can get her shots because the bacteria is gone from her urine and she is fever free. I will ask about what kind of crystals she has, all the vet said on the phone was she had crystals but they expect to see that with a UTI, then last week that the bacteria was gone but the crystals had doubled. She has not been spayed yet and I don’t think she is going in heat. The issue started a couple days before she turned 4mo old and she is only 5mo now, her mother didn’t go into heat until almost a year. I am willing to try another food if that is an issue, she was on Iams large breed puppy when I got her but her stools were really soft and she was having very bad gas/licking herself a lot. Those issues all cleared up when I switched her to taste of the wild. I do feel like she drinks a lot of water, I joke that she drinks like a horse, but that is to be expected given her breed. The vet did say it is unlikely that she has stones given her age but that she wants to do the bladder xray because of the amount of crystals she has. I just feel like I am listening more then asking and I don’t want to miss anything. We have spent over $600 in vet bills since Jan, of course I will pay whatever needs to be paid for her health I just feel it is time I also start researching. Topanga is acting normal/happy and doing great but she has recently started dribbling pee again when she sleeps 🙁 Her temp is still normal though so I am hoping that means the UTI hasn’t returned. We see the vet again fri afternoon.

[BlackandBlue]

I’d like to post a few ideas about feeding cats. About a year ago, I noticed my cat obsessively licking the fur off his belly. Eventually figured out he’s got chicken intolerance. And, although I put a liquid dental additive in water that I add to his canned food everyday, his teeth were looking yellow. Here’s how I solved both problems: I feed my cat canned large breed chunky lamb dog food (Nutro Natural Choice large breed lamb and rice formula works great but there’s others such as Hills Ideal Balance lamb cans) a few times a week.
1. It’s really hard to find a resonably priced canned cat food that doesn’t contain either chicken or fish, the dog food works great for these reasons. The Nutro is often $1.78 on sale for a large 12.5 oz can.
2. Kitty has to really chew up the large chunks so it’s really helping his teeth. (It also slows down his eating which I think is good.)
I do feed daily his dry cat food and canned cat food but it is tuna fish based.
As a side note, I think the dental dry cat foods (the large nuggets by Royal Canin or Science Diet), given as treats everyday, do help with cat’s teeth, but I can’t use them anymore as they are always chicken based.

[Dori]

Marie, so glad Boone is back to “normal”. Good news. Let’s hope Ginger starts acting more like her self soon.

Weezerweeks. The little black one is Lola, 5 1/2 year old Yorkipoo that I’ve had since she was 9 weeks old. She weighs 5 lbs.

It is seriously ridiculous when there is a loving home that is willing to give a young dog a home and yet, the rescues, seem to be living in the dark ages when 60’s was considered old. I’m 66 years old with three small dogs. One 15 1/2 years old and two that are 5 1/2 years old and I got the two younger ones at the same time. Yes, I’d initially thought I was going to go insane having two 9 week old puppies and all it entails at the same time but, guess what, this “old lady” survived. I really do think that it’s just old fashioned out of date thinking. Or they know that the puppies can always be rescued and they’re trying to find loving homes for the older dogs? I certainly wouldn’t consider a 3 year old dog too hard to handle and, unfortunately, a lot of these rescues and placements are run by much younger people so I guess instead of their thinking of us as experienced, with lots of time on our hands, they think of us as old. Just wait till they catch up to us and see how old they think mid 60’s really is.
I love having the little toy dogs. I couldn’t possibly handle larger dogs and since I’m allergic to animals it’s usually the toy or small breed dogs that have hair as opposed to fur.

[Gordon R]

Hi Liz,

We have a Golden six month old puppy with ear yeast and bacteria infections. Allergy testing showed he was allergic to chicken, turkey, tuna, peanuts, corn, rice, and wheat. Chicken was mentioned to us as a common cause of ear problems among dogs with that allergy.

The recommendation was to try Nutri Source Large Breed Lamb Meal Grain Free Formula, which I supplement with lamb based grain free canned food of various brands. That formula is rated at 4.5 stars, but it is an adult formulation, so I am still not sure it is the most perfect solution for our pup. We’re only into this one week, still in the transition period, so I can’t give you any results yet.

[Bobby dog]

Here’s some links that will get you there faster, it’s a long thread now. LOL Read at least the first three or four pages and the links on the first page:
/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

Look for a post dated July 23, 2013 at 1:51 pm for a link to recommended foods. I suggest contacting any company to confirm a food falls within the recommended parameters as recipes can change without notice:
/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/page/15/

Here’s a recent article:
/best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/#comment-1760246690

You can also join Dog Food Advisor’s Editors Choice for an up to date list of recommended foods for large/giant breed dogs.

[Bobby dog]

Fingers crossed! Have you seen the large and giant breed thread? It has info on feeding dogs of this size and some recommended foods.

[Derek P]

We have an 8 month old Bulloxer (American Bulldog, Boxer Mix) and cannot find a food that will not give him diarrhea. He has had a couple solid poops, but then goes straight to diarrhea after that period. First we started him on Orijen Large breed puppy, we fed him 3-4 26.6 pound bags and still nothing but diarrhea and bad gas. We eventually switched him to Wellness Core Puppy food (which he is currently on). He started out fine for the first week or so, but now we are back to diarrhea and bad gas. He never has any table food and only has Milk Bones for treats. The only thing we could come up with is that he may just have a sensitive stomach, or dog food intolerance specifically to chicken since both of those food main ingredient was chicken. Any help is greatly appreciated, in order to get our pups stomach under control!

[Stacey A]

Hi. We’ve been making our own dog food for many years and I feel like it’s selfish not to share with others the way we make it economically. I realize the majority of people don’t have access to the same resources that we have but some people might benefit from this information and it really saves a lot of money while being very good for the dogs.

The #1 most important item we have to make this possible is our large pressure cooker. The reason it is so important is that when you pressure cook a chicken the bones become very soft and crumbly like chalk. You can literally take the leg bone of a pressure cooked chicken and pinch it into pieces between your thumb and forefinger. No splinters – and LOTS of calcium and other minerals. This only works with chicken. The bones of turkey, beef, pork etc. will not crumble this way. We have not tried it with fish and we do intend to, at some point. The pressure cooker is well worth the expense because keeping the bones really makes a chicken go a lot further and provides the dogs with a lot of nutrition.

We live on a farm and raise chickens for our friends and family and process them here. All we ask for, in exchange for the work we do raising the chickens, is the cost of feed and all of the “byproducts”, which we use in our homemade dog food. So basically we raise chickens and get paid with dog food. I’m not sure if our definition of “byproducts” is the same as the definition on the dog food bags but, if it is, “byproducts” are definitely not a bad thing. We keep all of the backs, necks, bones and organs (but not the stomach or intestines or feathers or heads/beaks). We would keep the feet because, believe it or not, there is a LOT of meat on feet and they are full of glucosamine etc. In many cultures, people eat the feet after the scales and toenails are removed. Unfortunately my husband is so grossed out by the appearance of the feet that he insists we throw them away and won’t even allow us to give them to the dogs.

I realize others don’t have access to the byproducts that we do but you can just use whole chickens and get the same results. When you cook a chicken for your family you wind up throwing over half of it away. Don’t throw away any part of your store-bought whole chicken, not the giblets or the skin or the necks or bones. If you want to keep the breasts for yourselves and give the rest of the chicken to the dogs you’re getting a very economical meal or two for yourself and the dogs.

So – just throw your whole chickens into your pressure cooker with some water and pressure cook them for 45 minutes to an hour. We think garlic is good for dogs and add a lot of it to the chicken but some people feel like garlic is bad for dogs because it comes from the same family as onions. As far as I know, no studies have been done. It depends on your altitude and what weight you use on the pressure cooker and it might take some trial and error – but cook them until the bones just crumble between your fingers. For us that’s 45 minutes at 10 pounds of pressure. Keep the broth to add to the water you cook your grains in.

Next, cook up an equal amount of rice or oatmeal, wheat berries, amaranth – whatever grains you have cheap and easy access to. We’ll use anything except for corn meal because we don’t want to feed anything GMO to our dogs. Oatmeal and rice are very cheap. There’s some controversy over potatoes but a lot of people feel potatoes are fine to feed to dogs instead of or in addition to grains.

Next, an equal amount of veggies. There’s some controversy as to whether or not the dogs actually need the veggies but they’re a good filler, they’re cheap, and they’re probably good for the dogs. We use stuff from our garden and also go to GFS and get the huge cans of green beans, carrots, and peas.

Just mix everything together and package it up – 1/3 meat, 1/3 carbs and 1/3 veggies. We currently feed our dogs 50% homemade dog food and 50% kibble just to make sure they get a lot of variety, but kibble makes us nervous. You never know when your brand is going to be on the recall list. We’d switch to 100% homemade dog food but we’d have to have a lot more chicken that way and we don’t believe in buying meat. We don’t like to eat anything we haven’t raised ourselves so we know for sure there aren’t any hormones etc. and that the animals were raised and butchered humanely and with very good sanitation.

We also feed the dogs other things when they’re available. We raise milk goats and have access to a lot of fresh raw goat milk – we have been careful not to give the dogs too much goat milk because we don’t want them to get diarrhea but we’ve never had any bad results from giving them small amounts of the raw goat milk or goat yogurt. Goat milk is so much more digestible than cow milk, and if you make it into yogurt or kefir the lactose gets removed. Also, kombucha is very good for the dogs and prevents cancer. We make our own and it only costs about 30 cents per gallon to make.

We have always had large breed dogs – shepherds, shepherd mixes. They’ve lived 13-14 years so we must be feeding them right.

[Alejandro]

Hello Akari_32

Thanks for your response. There’s a lot of info about this issue, I’m still reading about it. Does the Afghan is considered large or giant breed in order to decide puppy food?
What’s your food brand recommended for Afghan puppy?

Here’s a picture of Dario:

[GSDsForever]

Suzette,

That’s great if your pup is not genetically predisposed, as you can tell from looking at a 4-5 generation pedigree showing the dogs it was bred from have hip clearances/certifications. It is unfortunate but true that being a champion in any breed, or even a top producing champion in a given breed, does not necessarily mean the dog’s hips are good or even were evaluated.

Perhaps I have misunderstood you or we are miscommunicating, but I’m not sure I understand what genetic testing you’re referring to that would tell you at 10 weeks or earlier that a pup’s hips & elbows are fine. OFA prelims occur at 1 yr, with full certification at 2 yrs. Other countries, such as Germany with the “a” stamp & ratings or former OVC in Canada (etc.), also evaluate dogs at 1+ years. Penn Hip, which judges hip laxity, may be done at 16 weeks at the earliest.

Anyway, I am in much the same boat as you as I have been waiting for a large breed puppy for the past 2 years, going through good breeders who health and temperament test all their breeding stock and title their dogs and have had to wade through pedigrees myself. And I will be having to do the same thing, choosing a good selection of large breed appropriate foods and watch activity/exercise during growth, also decide how long to delay neuter/spay since this also affects proper structural development.

Anyway, congrats and good luck again with your puppy! 🙂

[Wicks Ma]

I have seen a few articles that say that research shows probiotics as a puppy helps decrease allergies later on in life! I personally have a 12 week old puppy (large breed) that gets them due to chronic diarrhea but wanted to use them even if that hadn’t been the case, especially since he had been given antibiotics. Just like humans they can have imbalances… although you can also feed them yogurt and kefir (if they are not lactose intolerant!) Look it all up first bc I obviously am no expert:)
Ps can anyone tell me how to add a picture to my profile and also please update us on your pups status and what you ended up doing if you don’t mind!!

[Akari_32]

I wouldn’t recommend any of the foods you’ve listed. Canidae and Blue Buffalo are both Diamond brands, who is know for terrible quality control and equipment repair, and Innova (along with EVO and Califorina Natural), are owned by Mars, who also makes brands such as Pedigree and Iams, and of course, human candy bars.

What I do recommend is that you head over to the Diet and Health section, and check out the Large and Giant Breed Puppy Food list. These are all reputable brands that all contain the proper amounts of calcium and phosphorus for growing large breed puppies. The most up to date list is near the end of the thread.

/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

Good luck with your new puppy! Post some pics, too! I love Afghans 🙂

[GSDsForever]

Congratulations on your new puppy! Good for you in wanting to provide a good diet & care for him.

When feeding a large or giant breed, particularly one especially prone to structural development problems, I would exercise extreme caution in diet & exercise/movement restrictions during growth and make that my priority.

French Mastiffs (or Dogue de Bordeaux) have a rate of more than 50% of individuals having hip dysplasia, per the OFA. This is one of the highest of all breeds.

Most of this is genetically inherited, and so much of your risk depends upon the breeder of your puppy & the 4-5 generation pedigree behind him (& their littermates), the percentage OFA’d (or given a similar non-U.S. normal rating).

So I would look for foods like on HDM’s DFA list that have appropriate total calcium & calcium to phosphorous ratios. You also want to carefully avoid over feeding, feed to keep your pup on the skinny side & with frequent weight checks to ensure that your pup does not grow too fast. But I would also recommend to you that you get in touch with breeders of your breed who have been breeding a long time & have had an excellent track record of producing dogs with normal hips & feeding for normal hips. Beyond diet it will be important to take care with the type of exercise and amount — again following successful breeders’ recommendations and researched guidelines.

Good luck and welcome!

[Akari_32]

People also always rave about Purina, but you know….. LOL (that said, I do use some Purina products, but I don’t rave about them! I know what they are, and that’s average at best lol).

It does appear that Wellness CORE Puppy is on the large breed list, btw, in case you didn’t see it. You might want to consider picking at least three different brands, each with different types of proteins (chicken, beef, etc), and go between the three.

I don’t like to buy dog food online either, but only because I live in Florida and it’s 1,000 degrees most of the year, and I don’t want dog food sitting on my front porch baking all day while I’m at work. I also deal hunt due to budget, and I can get everything so much cheaper in store with coupons and sales than I can online lol

[Akari_32]

It appears that Acana is All Life Stages, meaning it can also be used for puppies. Just make sure to pick one that has all the fight stuff large breed puppies 🙂 Chewy.com has a ton of different formulas.

I have heard of Flint River Ranch, but that’s the extent of it. I don’t know anything about it. Check the review side of the site and see if it’s been reviewed, and go from there.

Yes, WellPet (Wellness and Holistic Select) finally got sick of Diamonds crap and broke away from them after the last major recall in 2012 or 2013, and began manufacturing their own foods with very strict standards. Good for them, too, because they are my favorite brand!

[aquariangt]

I have nothing to add, as I haven’t had a large breed puppy in about 13 years, but to piggyback on Akari’s link, the most recent list is page 36. I don’t know how much it changed from the earlier ones, but HDM has a lot of experience with that size dogs, and has done lots of research (the links are in the first few pages)

I’d also agree about Blue-I don’t touch them, but there are a few foods that I don’t mind from the big chain stores, though I order a lot online myself

[Akari_32]

Ah! Here it is. The list starts a few pages in.

/forums/topic/large-and-giant-breed-puppy-nutrition/

[Akari_32]

I wouldn’t touch Blue Buffalo, or anything Diamond made (Taste of the Wild, Kirkland, Diamond Natural’s, etc) with a 10ft stick. Wellness is definitely a great food. However, I’m unsure if it’s appropriate for a large breed puppy. There’s a list somewhere around here of food that are suitable for large breed puppies. You should check it out 🙂

Acana and Orijen are not available at chain stores, unfortunately. If you’d like to buy online, you can buy them (and plenty other brands) on websites like PetFlow and Chewy.

[Suzette A]

This question gets asked a lot, I know but to be fair I think each individual breed or breed type needs different nutrition.

I fell in love with the French Mastiff the very minute I heard the fancy name, when I actually saw one? I think the entire world melted away and I completely tuned everything out for what seemed like an eternity. I’ll cut the dramatics, I love these dogs. Everything about them, the personality, the drool, the size, everything.

We all want whats best for our babies and sure I’ve done a lot of research on nutrition (what decent pet parent doesn’t?) but I want answers from real people with real experience with this breed or a similar large breed (110-140)lbs+

We’re bringing Kilo home in 8 days and I’m deadlocked as to what to feed the little big guy.

I was looking at Wellness Core for puppies and I like it but I also like BLUE Wilderness for large breed puppies I have to be able to purchase them in store like petco or petsmart. I don’t know if they sell ACANA at one of those stores because I’ve heard rainbows and unicorns nothin’ but good stuff about them.

I would like to pay no more than like $65 for a 25-30LB bag but if one food is more “super” than the other and the difference isn’t too insane I’d go for it.

Help a parent out… pleeeeeeease (:

• This topic was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Suzette A.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 2 months ago by Suzette A.

[Becky H]

Should I introduce each ingredient of my supergreen mixture separately to make sure there are no allergies? I’m thinking back to when I gave my kids new food, I didn’t give them all at once. The supergreen mixture I’m going to give has alfalfa, kelp, chlorella, wheat grass, and spirulina. My newfie is 14 weeks old and is getting Fromm’s Large Breed Puppy Food, but I want to supplement some greens.
Thanks for any advice!

[DogFoodie]

Take a look at Addiction Wild Kangaroo and Apples, but check the Calcium. Are you making sure the foods you’re looking at have appropriate Calcium levels for large breed puppies?

[dana i]

Hi! I’ve been reading this forum all day today, but am overwhelmed by all the choices. I’d really love to hear people’s actual experiences and thoughts– what is on paper does not always match what makes the dogs happy and healthy.

I have two lab mix dogs– both rescues.
Diesel is a 1 year old Lab/Shephard mix who has allergies. 65# dog
Dudley is a 1 1/2 year old lab/Greyhound mix who has gas issues when he eats ANYTHING other than the current food… (even treats) 83# dog

They were both given horrible diets before they came to me.
I have them on Science Diet Lamb and Rice Large Breed formula.

At the time, it’s the ONLY thing that I found that helped Diesel’s allergy symptoms (they are completely gone on this food but when I try anything else it comes back) and Dudley’s gas is now a very rare thing on this food.

However, reading it seems that people don’t like this one and that there may be better out there… And the fact that when I went to buy it today I found it went up in price AGAIN. uugh. Maybe now is a good time to switch…

I want what is best for them, with budget kinda on the mind at the same time.

Right now, it takes us 11 days to go through a 33 pound bag of Science Diet Lamb and Rice large breed formula dry food and used to cost us around $45 a bag but did just go up to about $50.

I’d really love to get them something better. Maybe something that also makes their poop a little smaller too? (I know–wishful thinking? LOL)

Any suggestions based on the gas/allergies?
I priced raw diet– which I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to do, but it’s way out of our price range from what I am reading.

I CAN and will supplement a little bit of our cooked food on top (If I can avoid the gas and allergy issues– that will take a little experimenting)….

I have a feed store 1 mile from my house that sells some food but he’s kinda expensive on some items. I also live near Petco, Petsmart and have Amazon prime… I live in Texas, suburb of Dallas if that helps.

Any thoughts or tips would be greatly appreciated!

[GSDsForever]

I’ve had good success crumbling Stella & Chewy’s freeze dried raw medallions over the food, just about a quarter to half of a medallion, crumbled fine enough that the dog cannot pick it out and just eat the S&C. I honestly think of it as like doggie crack (lol).

Some dogs have also been attracted to virgin coconut oil mixed into the food.

Turkey/chicken/beef broth warmed & poured over the food is another winner.

Other ideas: parmesan cheese or garlic powder* (or a minced clove*) sprinkled over

*NB: Although this is considered a controversial item by some, I’ve always used it in medium to large breed dogs without problems. I regard it as safe and beneficial to health. The dogs seem to like it. And my vet approved it.

[pugmomsandy]

If a food is rated for “all life stages”, you can feed this to puppies and adults and seniors. An all life stage foods includes foods that meet “growth” and “maintenance” requirements. You can also feed a “puppy” food to puppies and adults and seniors. Is that confusing? Puppy foods tend to have controlled levels of calcium and phosphorus, a little more fat, protein and DHA. There’s nothing in a puppy food that an adult can’t have. Since your dog is going to be about 35 lbs full grown, I wouldn’t consider him a large breed so you don’t have to worry about choosing an appropriate large breed puppy food. I would feed him a puppy food or all life stage food though till at least 12 months and then try out other foods. But you don’t have to move on to just “maintenance” food. Not sure if this helped.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Earl-
I’m not HDM, but I have the answer for you. Unfortunately, she doesn’t come here too often lately as she is in school. Yes, Wellness is appropriate for your pup. It has the correct calcium levels for a large breed. There are no guidelines for a company to call their food LBP. In fact most of them lower the protein and fat in their formulas where actually it has been proven that it is the calcium that needs to be monitored, not protein. Wellness is a great choice. Good luck!

[Earl W]

Hound Dog Mom,

In your spreadsheet you created you listed Wellness Core Puppy. This is not specifically a large breed formula. Is it still good for large breeds? I’m currently feeding my dogs Blue Buffalo wilderness and I want to change it to the Wellness Core but I’m worried that the formula doesn’t specify that it’s for large breeds Is it still okay? Thanks in advance for your answer.

[kevin w]

I have bought small bags of Nutrisource, Wellness Core, Fromm, and Chicken Soup all in Large Breed Puppy. Going to see what the the pup likes and does the best on. kw

[aimee]

Dori,

I don’t know what her recommendations are in regards to stones. I was referring to the recommendation for Science Diet for growth of large breed dogs in an article she authored on that topic.

[crazy4cats]

Hi Kevin-

Congrats on your upcoming pup! Have you checked out the large breed puppy information on the review side? It is /best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/

Sounds like you are off to a good start. Already thinking about what to feed the pup before you get it. I have large dogs, but not poodles. I think they are cool dogs though. We see one almost everyday on our walks. He is a very well behaved dog.

What are the foods that you are contemplating? If I was starting over, I’d probably feed the Nutrisource large breed puppy formula.

Good luck!

[Oleanderz]

Narutrella- Yeah, those Trixie puzzle games are amazing! We have like two, I believe she has fun with them, either that or she just plays with them to get the snacks. Yeah maybe, according to the sizes that I’ve been buying for K9AII- she’d be in the large breed, I suppose. I’ll go with that! lol.
The 28-lb bags of EB usually last her about 2 1/2 months, sometimes longer. With the “free feeding” methods that they’ve been unintentionally doing she doesn’t go through food as much. I actually just recently bought a 28-lb bag that we haven’t even touched yet. She seems to really like the half cooked eggs and sardines mixed in with her EB:GP.
30-lb bags are cool, it’ll just give her more time to get adjusted to the food, I’ll probably try to get her used to that brand over the summer. Thanks for the book, I’ll look it thank you!! I may have to hurry and get her on a better food regimen. She looks to be a 4 almost a 5. I’d like to put a little more muscle on her bones. My vet says she’s completely healthy, but I think Lucille and I both need to begin our new years resolution to start eating better. I appreciate all the helpful links and tips!! (; w ; )<3 Thank you!

[Naturella]

@Oleanderz, we have the same dog puzzle at home! Bruno loves it! 😀 And she is just adorable. She’s not huge, but probably still can be classified as a “large breed”? Idk… Sorry. We got just a small guy, and the roommate’s dog is about 55-60 lbs, but she doesn’t look too big either. I think the medium bags of each food should be lasting her about a month, no? How long does each of the large EB bags last her? Also, on sportdogfood.com all of the GF Victor bags come only in 30-lb bags, just FYI. But it’s still a great food, and even if all the other bags you feed are mediums, it’s fine if the Victor are the large ones.

Anyway, as for the tripling the toppers – I highly recommend buying this e-book: http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DN330EBK – it is just under $3.00 but very informative about adding fresh toppers (such as eggs, canned sardines, raw or cooked meat) and in what proportions based on the dog’s weight. You won’t necessarily have to triple the toppers just because she weighs 3 times more than Bruno – maybe double them, the book will tell you, particularly about the eggs and sardines. But, for example, Bruno used to eat 1/2 of what Casey (our roommate’s dog) eats, and she ate 2 cups of food/day, at 55-60 lbs. He ate 1 cup ever since we got him at under 10 lbs or so,
and a little pup. When I began introducing toppers, I put him on 3/4 cups of dry/day, and then added toppers and treats, and that was when we were exercising very vigorously in the summer. I think then he was getting a bit more than 1 cup dry calorie-wise, but he was burning it off and his body needed the extra boost. Now he’s at 1/2 cup dry with toppers (we’re not getting as much exercise :/ ), so calorie-wise he’s still at around 3/4-1 cup per day, and then the occasional treat. I watch more his body condition than weight, and speaking of, here is a good link for that too: http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=8&ved=0CDMQFjAH&url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearch.unc.edu%2Ffiles%2F2012%2F11%2FCCM3_032387.pdf&ei=M5jjVJCwLYOuggSfnoSwAw&usg=AFQjCNHtVxv9oSG6wDJy-eYgbHFmyKag_Q&sig2=T1KHIfunn_GiCqOKGXYcfg&bvm=bv.85970519,d.eXY 4-5 is ideal, so that’s what we strive to keep Bruno at. That’s what I should strive for myself, lol!

And lol! Well, whatever works for you, your fam, and Luci! LoL. And good, glad we’ll be having you around! 🙂

[Naturella]

@Oleanderz, Lucille looks so cute in your pic! 🙂 But the link you posted says I don’t have permission to view it or something…

Yes, I would probably have her stay overnight. She won’t hate you, I promise. And yeah, I would say she is about medium… I think large breeds are the ones 50+ lbs when adults.

And awwh, you’re welcome! I hope it helps! I really tried to make it as diverse and balanced at possible. I would say that for a start, 4 brands are fine to rotate between. By the time you finish the suggested schedule, you can decide whether to repeat it or add more to the mix. I personally always add more, cause there are so many foods I want to try on Bruno, but many of the pros here stick to just a few brands and rotate between them and the flavors. I think 4 brands is a good start.

If Luci doesn’t have a grain allergy, it won’t hurt her to have grains again. It is only 2 formulas with grains anyway, and if you notice her reacting to them, just keep alternating between the Kinesis and RPM GFs.

Eggs: dogs’ digestive tracts are much shorter than ours, so the probability of them getting salmonella is much lower. They were meant to eat raw food. If it bugs you though, you can totally lightly or fully cook the whole egg and give it to her. You can use coconut or olive oil to cook it in, or no oil if you’re poaching it. It is, in fact, recommended that you lightly cook the egg white, and not cook the yolk at all, because there is an enzyme (I believe) in the egg white that could mess with the dog’s body properly absorbing the biotin in the yolk. If you cook the yolk, some of the biotin goes away too, is my understanding. So cook the egg white lightly. BTW, for Luci, I would probably give her 2 eggs together when I do give eggs, and a whole 3.5-oz can of sardines if I were to give her any. She is 3 times Bruno’s size after all. 🙂

Now, for food storage and rotation. As long as you keep it in a dark, cool, dry place, as long as you use it up by the BEST BY date, you should be fine. I personally have a bit of a stocking-up (NOT hoarding… Not yet, hopefully not ever!) problem with dog food because of amazing deals, so I basically stocked up enough food to last Bru till the end of this year. Luckily, I will be able to use it by or close to the BEST BY dates. But for the future, I would probably still get 3-4 months’ worth at a time, depending on deals, because in case a food doesn’t work out for him and I have to scrap it, I don’t want him to be foodless till I order or buy the next bag. So, what you can do, is stock up with say, the first line of medium-sized bags of EB, Dr Tim’s, Nulo, and Victor (medium-sized should be good, just so you see how she’s taking it) and start going through them and when you get to the Nulo, order the next line. This way you will always have about 4-5 bags at a time in case something goes wrong. Plus, at all times there will be an EB there if she can’t or won’t eat any of the other foods. But I hope she likes them!

As for the keeping track – make sure your family doesn’t feel like Big Brother is watching, lol. It is mostly important for feeding to keep track of times, amounts, and toppers, etc., as well as making sure no treats are given till she learns to eat her food quickly when put down. It shouldn’t take her too long. After that, still make sure she’s not getting too many treats to make her skip her next meal. And that’s about it. Exercising with a dog can be fun, so I’m sure someone will do something with daily, it doesn’t have to be super tracked, but you can do it if you want. I probably will track everything one day when we have kids and another dog though, lol! But that’s still far in the future.

One last thing that I’m sure you probably know, but I will just throw out there – all the foods in Luci’s future rotation, including EB, are pretty calorie-dense (Especially Dr. Tim’s Momentum). So keep track of how much she is being fed also, because she may just be one of those dogs that can self-regulate and between possibly too much food and too many treats, she is skipping meals. Use the bag feeding guidelines as a guideline only, not as a rule, and just adjust accordingly. She should have a waist when looked at from above, and her ribs should be easily-felt.

I am happy if I have been able to help with anything. Please do stay around in the forums, keep us posted, and let us know if you have any more questions! 🙂

[pugmomsandy]

Just looking at those numbers for Beams, it doesn’t appear to be a high fat item. You can also compare it to the Primal recipe you are currently feeding. How does Beams compare to that? In general, “puppy” recipes are higher in fat. Even Purina’s Focus Small Breed Puppy dry recipe has a minimum of 20% fat, and Purina is a large company that has veterinarians and nutritionists on staff. It would be interesting to know what food your vet would have recommended for your puppy to see how much fat is in that! I know that Beams are just a treat, but fat in food and treats are the same to me.

[Melissaandcrew]

Hi Don..

To me, it sounds like the dog is getting ready to bloat. I am guessing the vet was suggesting tacking the stomach? Bloat is an emergency, bloat with stomach torsion is a killer. Unfortunately there is no definitive cause, but deep chested and large breeds are more prone to it and many have a genetic factor. If this is the case I can not imagine how food would stop the issue.

As for the Retriever I would change that if for no other reason then it’s very poor quality.

Melissa

Find out what kind of surgery was recommended.