Hello All,

The guy I have been working with for food and dog products has been extremely helpful. He sold me Innova Puppy Food and I was at a dog show over the weekend and ended up buying Innova Large Breed Puppy Food so I thought maybe he sold me the wrong type.

I called him today and asked him about it, he told me that the Large Breed is for Great Danes and St Bernards (other really big dogs fall in here too). He nailed it right on by telling me the Large Breed food actually has less calcium and it's better to give her the regular puppy food because that's the one she should be eating.

He will help me exchange the large breed food but i'm curious which one is the right one. Does someone here have any experience or knowledge on this?

Our dog trainer (who sells Innova) told us the same thing.

I see no problem continuing with the Innova Puppy formula. Labs aren't considered large breed in stature, but some people believe their physical growth patterns are similar. The old belief used to be that too much protein caused large breed puppies to grow too quickly and unevenly. More recent studies show that overfeeding and too high of calcium / phosphorus levels may be to blame. Lab owners often look to keep calcium levels below 1.50% for the first year.

Innova regular puppy formula: 28% protein; 16% fat; 1.07 calcium

Innova lg breed puppy formula: 24% protein; 12% fat; 0.9% calcium

The calcium level, while higher in the regular puppy, still falls below 1.5%. In my opinion the higher protein and fat levels in the regular puppy formula supply ideal % for a growing and developing puppy. Protein and fat are what a puppy utilizes most - not carbs.

We fed Grace the plain Puppy version of Innova. We only fed it until she was 4 months and then put her on plain Adult food.

we fed the large breed puppy and toby did fine

Charlie was on the large breed puppy for several months. I really liked that food for him. His coat looked great and his body weight was ideal, but he has soft poop so I switched.

Nancy

Thank you very much! I'll take the guy up on exchanging the Large Breed food for the regular puppy food since we started giving it to her today and she took very well to it.

I think the Innova Puppy is a better choice...the large breed has fewer calories, so you will have to feed more...stick with the regular puppy