Puppy food

[southtexasff]

Anybody here feed their adult dogs puppy food?  I know a pregnant or nursing gyp is better off on puppy food, what makes it better than adult dog food, and would it be good to feed it to adult dogs?  I started feeding puppy food to the grown dogs and they are looking pretty good.  Anyone have any negative effects on feeding puppy food?  I know if you feed a quality dog food it should be good enough, what about a quality puppy food, would it be that much better?

[arrowbar]

puppy food has more protien than its counterpart and I think more vitamins and minerals, when hunting goes into full swing we either switch to puppy food all the time or just add ground beef and eggs, in short it will just cost a few more dollars a bag but they should benefit from this

[BobbyB]

What arrowbar said. Most puppy foods will have 30-32% protein and more fat as well.

But these day in the large breed puppy formulas, they cut down on the fat and I think protein to cause the pup to develop slower so it does not get too heavy for its bone structure and cause bad hips, elbows, etc.

[wilton]

I agree with BobbyB's statement about cutting down on growing pups, so as not to cause too fast growth that they're structure cannot handle it. I believe in starting pups off weaning on straight puppy food for a couple months, then start mixing in adult feed in order to slow down growth, to a good maintience level. About using it for adults i believe some is good, also mixed with raw food,etc.

[Oly]

I feed my puppies adult feed, slow them down a tad as BobbyB said.

[southtexasff]

The only time you need to worry about slowing a pups growth if it is one of the larger breeds.  Buy feeding adult food for pups you might casue it to be smaller when it is mature.  What I was trying to find out was if it benifits a dog feeding him puppy food.

[BobbyB]

The only time you need to worry about slowing a pups growth if it is one of the larger breeds.  Buy feeding adult food for pups you might casue it to be smaller when it is mature.  What I was trying to find out was if it benifits a dog feeding him puppy food.

It will not cause a dog to be smaller. I have been feeding the same adult food to my Britts as puppies and they grow out the same size as always. It causes slower growth, not less growth. I have fed pups Diamond Premium, Black Gold Black Bag and Victor purple. All are 26/18 and they develop normally. I feed it to my bird dogs and curs and they stay in good shape with energy to spare. IN a good quail year or when we get to go out of state, my bird dogs get run hard all day for multiple days and the 26/18 keeps em going.

To answer your question, look at the analysis on the Black Gold puppy food

http://blackgolddogfood.com/ultpup.htm

32% Protein and 21% fat.

Or Diamond at 31/20

http://www.diamondpet.com/products/diamond/puppies/dry_food/puppy_formula/

and it says for special needs adult gestating or lactating dogs.  Unless you are running your dogs miles and miles about 7 nights a week, that is far too much protein. That is pushing sled dog percentages.