[Brian K]

Hello everyone, I’m a new Editor’s Choice member and this is my first post here…

I’ve found a lot of conflicting information out there about when we should transition our dog from “Puppy” formula food to adult food, so I thought I’d ask for advice here. Our puppy, named Reggie, is a 20-week old rescue “farm mutt.” The only breed in his ancestry that genetic testing returned with any confidence was Cocker Spaniel (1/4), with a highly mixed cocktail including 3 different terrier breeds, greyhound, shar-pei, and havanese all potentially in the mix. At just under 25 lbs now @ 20 wk we’re expecting him to reach an adult weight of approximately 35 lbs.

We have been feeding him a mix of Orijen puppy, Wellness Core Puppy, and Wellness Complete Health puppy sometimes supplemented with Wellness Complete Health puppy wet food or plain cooked chicken. We want to work some more variety in, but he’s a pretty finicky eater (he will even separate individual kibbles of foods he likes from those he doesn’t, which he neatly deposits next to his bowl), so if I’m going to spend money trying some new things for him it might as well be age-appropriate. So I’m wondering when the right time to start feeding him adult food is, either entirely or as part of his mix? Thanks in advance for the advice.

[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.

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