Growth Question

[mandel878]

1 have two puppies, 1 boxer and 1 rottie. They are 3 weeks apart. My boxer was diagnosed with HOD (Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy) several months ago. This is when puppies grow too fast causing lots of pain and lameness in thier limbs. Luckily he overcame it and has not had any episodes since and is doing fine. My vet and trainer however recommended that I switch him to adult food to slow down his growth process. I also asked whether my female rottie should be fed adult food and they recommended that I also feed her adult food starting at 6 months old to slow down her growth, so that she will not have health problems later on, which I did. She's now 7 months old and weighs 65lbs, she's a good size and weight and is not overweight or too thin but I was wondering if feeding her adult food was gonna affect her from reaching her height potential or if genetics will kick in and she'll be as tall as she's supposed to be.

Any comments/advice would be appreciated. Thanks

Daisy's Mama

[groupieindenial]

Depends on the food, what exactly are you feeding?

[mandel878]

I'm feeding Eukanuba Large Breed Adult and occasionally I'll mix in 1 cup of Eukanuba Puppy so that she can get some extra protein. I was feeding Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy but my trainer recommened that I switch to Eukanuba. She said that she feeds all her dogs (15 in total) Eukanuba and highly recommended it.

[groupieindenial]

There's barely any difference in the large breed puppy and large breed adult, cept for protein is 23% on the puppy, and 26% on the adult, but the adult only has about 10 cals/cup more. Will not make a significant difference.

If your asking should you switch to adult from puppy formula. This food specifically, no. An adult dog does not need less protein. 23% is too low for me. That is pretty much the only difference in the food. Oh, and they don't say what the calcium is on the adult, so I can't comment there. That is the biggest issues with large breed puppy foods. They do a really low calcium, but there is no reason to cut back on the protein, just ration the amounts the pup gets.

I think this food is WAY overpriced for what you get. Just about any other premium food like Canidae, Innova, Timberwolf Organics has MUCH better ingredients, better fat/protein percentages, and much more dense. These foods will last you 2x as long as your Eukanuba, and hence, save you money iin the long run, and your feeding MUCh better quality diet.

EDITED: OOPS, i meant the puppy food has 26% protein and more calories.

[mandel878]

Thanks for your reply. I was considering switching over to Canidae for quite some time now, I think that once I finish out this bag of Eukanuba, I'll switch them gradually over to Canidae. Thanks a bunch.