[NiseyNorris]

Hi everyone! I’m new to this forum but have been obsessing over dog food since we found a golden to adopt! Will be getting him in a few weeks! He’s currently eating Purina Puppy Chow (sigh). I got some Wellness Super5 large breed puppy to try, but also would like to have a few backups in case that one doesn’t agree with him. So far I’ve found 4health puppy from Tractor Supply and also have been looking at Blue Life Protection large breed puppy, but the “life bits” is kind of turning me off and I’ve seen some negative reviews on here. It seems like the life bits would be hard to keep in the proper ratio with the kibble pieces..anyway..if anyone has good suggestions for me I’d appreciate it. The Wellness was about $2 a lb and I really don’t want to spend more than that if I don’t have to for a good quality food. I do love the brand tho..my cat has done excellent on it for most of his life so far.

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi NiseyNorris –

If you head over to the large breed puppy topic area there’s a lot of information there about appropriate foods for large breed puppies (it’s located in the “Diet and Health Issues” forum) and even a list of grain-free foods that are appropraite. A fried of mine got a golden pup last summer and the pup did really well on the Wellness Super5Mix Large Breed Puppy formula – she tried Blue Buffalo Life Protection Large Breed Puppy first and it made the pup really sick. Even if the Wellness does work out though I’d recommend rotating in a least two or three other brands on occasion – it’s not healthy to feed the same food continuously. Look for a food with 3.5 g. calcium per 1,000 kcal. or less (roughly 1.2% calcium or less – be sure to contact the company to obtain the actual calcium level, don’t base calculations off the minimum stated on the package). A food doesn’t need to state “large breed” on the bag, it just needs to meet AAFCO requirements for growth or all life stages and have appropriate calcium levels.

[NiseyNorris]

Thank you so much for the info!!

[NiseyNorris]

Oh and I also want to ask about rotating food…how do you do that? Wait until a bag is gone, then switch to a different brand? Or do I have to gradually make the switch every time? Thanks 🙂

[theBCnut]

At first, you may have to make a gradual switch, but as your dog gets used to the process and his gut becomes healthier, you won’t have to anymore. I used to have to take a month to transition with one of my dogs, now I just switch.

There is no one way to do a rotational diet. Some people switch bag to bag, some weekly, and some, like me, every meal. I have multiple dogs and go through a bag fairly quickly so I started having four bags open at once and as one gets empty I rotate in something else. I also feed some raw and change that every day too.

[Author]

Posts