[Ivan G]

Hello all,

I am new to this forum but have many concerns about my puppy food. I have a 5 month old Belgian Malinois and I was recommended the Royal Canin German Shepherd formula for puppies. But the more research I do the less I trust any of these brands. When you go into PetsMart or Pet Supermarket for some reason they are really pushing the Blue Buffalo brand and convinced me to try the Taste of the Wild all protein food. my puppy liked it but I am really looking to find out the truth about these foods that I know nothing about.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

[Pitlove]

Hi Ivan- Congratulations on your pup firstly. Malinois are absolutely stunning dogs.

Like GSD’s, Malinois’ are most often over 50lbs at max weight which means they are a large breed. Large breed puppies require a very strict diet and a food that is formulated to meet the needs of a growing LBP. This means, a food with controlled levels of calcium which will help the body grow slowly, reducing the risk of your pup developing devastating orthopedic disorders even later on in his/her life. Another thing to make sure of is that you do not overfeed too many calories. So no free feeding!

Here is a link to Dr. Susan Wynn’s site which you will find an article about Large Breed Puppy nutrition that you download to Word. Dr. Wynn is a very well respected veterinary nutritionist.

http://www.susanwynn.com/Literature.php

Also a link to the Hill’s website about LBP nutrition-

http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/dog-care/nutrition-feeding/special-diet-needs-of-large-breed-dogs

Some food suggestions to look into that are known to have safe levels of calcium are Fromm Gold Large Breed Puppy, NutriSource Large Breed Puppy, and Precise Holistic Complete Large & Giant Breed Puppy. There are a lot more out their including Royal Canin, Hill’s and Purina if you want to go that route- those I listed are just my personal favorites.

Edit: Oh you mentioned Taste of the Wild. Both their puppy formulas are formulated with safe calcium levels and would be fine for a large breed puppy.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by Pitlove.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by Pitlove.

[zcRiley]

Just get everything from Chewy.com after you read the 4 or 5 star food listings on this site. Super fast free delivery & very competitive prices. The ingredients are listed for everything with reviews. The good stuff is not in the commercial chain stores, unfortunately. It’s also good to be aware of which company bought whom, a change in facilities or ingredients and recall history.

[InkedMarie]

I suggest going to the Health forum here…on tp is a stickie on Large Breed puppy feeding.

[Ksenia M]

Hi

I just recently emailed Taste of the Wild to ask them about certain ingredients listed in their dog food. I also have a large breed dog and inquired about their Calcium and phosphorus levels in their foods. They have the Kcal/Kg of each type of food on their website. You can use the calculator found on this website to calculate the ratios. See the email reply below.

Thank you for your inquiry.

Our bison, beef, roasted venison and buffalo originate or are sourced from suppliers in Montana, Colorado, Wyoming and Australia. Our lamb and lamb meal come from New Zealand and Australia.

Lamb meal is lamb that is cooked and ground to a fine consistency. We receive it as a dry ingredient. Egg product is cooked and dried whole eggs. Natural flavor is an ingredient that is applied to the outside of the kibble to enhance the flavor and acceptance of the dry pet food. It can be from vegetable or chicken sources (it does not contain MSG). Examples are parsley or other herbs and hydrolyzed proteins (processed so the average molecular weight of the protein is too small to be detected by the immune system which helps avoid adverse reactions in allergic pets, there is no intact protein from the chicken).

We also received your second email. The levels below are based on an as fed basis of a typical analysis of the formula.

Phosphorus Calcium
High Prairie Dog with Roasted Venison and Roasted Bison 0.9% 2.1%
Pacific Stream Dog with Smoked Salmon 1.5% 1.9%
Sierra Mountain Dog with Roasted Lamb 1.1% 1.6%
Wetlands Dog with Roasted Wild Fowl 1.1% 1.4%
Southwest Canyon Dog with Wild Boar 1.1% 1.9%
Pine Forest Dog with Venison and Legume 0.9% 1.4%
Appalachian Valley Dog with Venison and Garbanzo Beans 0.9% 1.8%

Sincerely,

Ivie
Product Specialist

I hope this helps anyone who feeds their dogs Taste of the Wild dog food. Not sure about the formatting, but the first percentage is phosphorus and the second percentage is calcium. Based on the calculator found on this website, the Roasted Wild Fowl has the optimal ratio.

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