OK, first a bit of background about my pup and what he has been fed.

When we first picked up dexter, he was on purina puppy chow. I picked up a 40 pound bag and didnt think about it. after having him home and feeding him for a week or so we noticed he sometimes had red poop. After reading over the ingredients we noticed it had red dyes in it. Since then, the vet recommended a higher quality kibble such as iams large breed puppy chow. i wasnt super active on this part of the forum at the time, but had read a post about the kirkland brand of kibble being a great choice and also being economical. I asked the vet about this but she stressed that dexter needed to be on a puppy forumla kibble. So he is now on iams large breed puppy chow. Now problems whatsoever. He doesnt seem to have any skin issues, poops normally (i think? 2-3 times a day), and seems happy.

OK, so after reading this part of the forum for about an hour or so, i can see its a general consensus that iams isnt the greatest kibble. It also seems the topic "what food should i feed" gets argued pretty regularly. im not trying to bring on another argument, just trying to see what your opinion is on dexter staying on a puppy formula kibble right now versus going with a kibble such as the kirkland brand? What is it that a puppy formula has that a regular kibble doesnt?

Thanks!

Adam

You don't mention how old your pup is right now.

IMHO and what my vet told me is to only feed regular puppy food to a lab for about 4 months (16 weeks) then switch to an adult food. Reason: to slow down the dogs growth, you want slow growth, most puppy food increases the growth to rapidly. As long as the calcium level in the food is under 1.5% it would suitable for a pup or adult dog.

Innova Puppy has a calcium level of 1.07% which is fine and is an excellent food for dogs without any allergies or intolerances. You can even feed this food to your dog when he gets older as it's an ALS food (All Life Stage)

http://www.innovapet.com/product_line.asp?id=502

or Innova Adult food, also an ALS food. More calories per cup than the Puppy formula and 1.23% calcium level, still low enough for a puppy.

http://www.innovapet.com/product_line.asp?id=1

Both these foods are corn, wheat and soy free, which is much healthier for your dog not to eat. Also both these foods are MEAT based, not grain based like Iams or Kirkland.

How much and how often does your pup eat? Pooping 2-3 times a day is probably normal for a young pup, but as a dog matures the pooping becomes less. My dogs are adult dogs and poop once a day. Over feeding can cause a dog to poop more than necessary and eating food with corn will cause a dog to poop more frequently because only a very small percentage of the corn is utilized by the dog, the rest is pooped out.

Both the above foods are made by Natura, one of, if not the most, respected quality dog food producers in the world.

http://www.naturapet.com/

Good luck.

haha, posting his age would definitely be helpful. Dexter will be 4 months old on november 15. Right now we feed Dexter twice a day and about 1 1/2 cups per feeding. He also gets training treats several times a day such as hot dog bits and string cheese. The vet says he looks healthy so stick with that measurement. He weighs 37 pounds right now.

I never thought about calcium intake vs growth potential. Should i back off on the string cheese treats for training. He absolutely loves string cheese. I have a recipe for liver cookies i have yet to make, maybe i should go with something like this for training? the cheese is just easy to cut in to small pieces and he eats them quickly.

Thanks for your input!

Adam

personally if i were you, since your dog is thriving so well, i would leave him on the Iams large breed until you transition him to adult kibble which you can do in the next 3-4 months. In the meantime start researching adult foods so when the time comes to switch, you wont get swallowed into dog food hell, you will be able to make a solid choice based on your own opinions and research.

personally if i were you, since your dog is thriving so well, i would leave him on the Iams large breed until you transition him to adult kibble which you can do in the next 3-4 months. In the meantime start researching adult foods so when the time comes to switch, you wont get swallowed into dog food hell, you will be able to make a solid choice based on your own opinions and research.


I second this


kathy

Some good advice has been given above. For the most part, the puppy formula and especially large breed puppy formula has a controlled calcium content, which is important to ensure the bones do not grow too fast. I have read many times that the calcium should be under 1.8%, so as long as you feed him a kibble with calcium lower than 1.8%, you are fine there.

As you indicated you have spent quite a bit of time reading in the diet section of this forum, you will also have noticed that with the exception of a few people, everyone will stand by the phrase. If the food works, keep feeding it. With that being said......It seems that Iams that you are currently feeding works. You seem to be happy with the results you are getting and also seeing. Based on that, I would continue to feed the Iams that you are feeding until you are ready to move to the adult version, whenever that may be. I have seen recommendations that it could be anywhere from 4 months (in my opinion too young to be put on adult food) to 12 months. It truly is based on what your feeling is. There is no set age as to when you must switch your pup to adult food.

And lastly, you mentioned kirklands food in your post. It is a very good food. It has very good ingredients that place the food in the high middle of the food spectrum (imo). It is not the best, but it also is not the worst. The main argument that you will see regarding Kirklands is that it is manufactured for Kirklands in a Diamond Pet Foods Plant. In the past few years, Diamond has had recalls of some of their brands of food, however the Kirklands brand has never had a recall on their kibble. I personally think very highly of Kirklands and will attempt to try it when I switch my pup to adult food in the future (it is my first choice due to ingredients, price, proximity to me, etc). Is it guaranteed to work for my pup. No it is not, but I will try it.

So with all of that being said....remember......feed what works for your pup, no matter what anyone on this board says to you about a specific food they feel you should or should not be feeding him (including me).

Good luck.
Doug

In the future (for your next puppy maybe?) Kirkland makes a puppy formula too.

what is it a puppy formula has that an adult formula doesn't??...depends on the brand of food you decide to feed.

Have to tell you to though, there are many more food alternatives and ways to feed your pup then just what's most commonly mentioned here. 90% of teh recommendations you're going to hear here (on this board) are going to be for Purina or Diamond; but there are many other k-9 nutritional boards where members feed much differently with superb results.

Mine was on Eukanuba large breed puppy...which I didn't think was that great of a food, but mine was doing good on it. So dumb me thought I would find a higher quality puppy food for him. After 5 puppy foods, duck poop, numerous trips to the vet because I assumed there had to be something wrong with the dog....couldn't be all the high quality foods...not all 5, right? So after about a grande at the vet, numerous stool samples, all negative....finally put him back on Eukanuba as a last resort. Guess what...next morning, stools perfect. So take some advice....listen to the other posters and leave him on the food til you change to adult food. :rolleyes: Should have took the grande and went to Atlantic City.

personally if i were you, since your dog is thriving so well, i would leave him on the Iams large breed until you transition him to adult kibble which you can do in the next 3-4 months. In the meantime start researching adult foods so when the time comes to switch, you wont get swallowed into dog food hell, you will be able to make a solid choice based on your own opinions and research.

I second this...you'll have plenty of time to join the food roller coaster when your pup is an adult :)

Sounds like you got some good advice already. Good luck with your new pup

thanks everyone for the advice! we will be sticking with the iams for a while it sounds. you all were very helpful!