So I've decided to switch foods yet again. When we got Dixie she was one Purina Puppy Chow, corn first ingredient. Horrible gas and was told corn could be problem and should try one where corn isn't first. Well I found Maxximum which is Wal-mart brand where corn is 4th. Still horrible gas (She sleeps by my bed and I get up at night looking thinking she had an accident!). SO I'm ready to switch again. ALl this switching won't hurt her will it? I know to do it slow. I was thinking of Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul. My local feed store actually carries it (it doesn't carry alot of the other's you guys suggest, like Canidae or Eagle Pack) for $20 and $34 bucks for an 18 or 33 lb bag. Looking at feeding guidelines, Dixie and our new girl will both be at the height of the feeding, probably eating about 5 cups a day each. How many cups are in a pound... basically, how long can I expect a bag to last? Maxximum has Dixie eating 3 cups a day.

but I would say 5-6 weeks. We get a 30lb. bag and feed 4 cups per day and it lasts just a little over 6 weeks.

Gosh 5 cups a day sounds like ALOT.
When I fed kibble we fed 2-3 cups per day and there was still food left over so a bag lasted me (with two growing pups) about 2-3 weeks.

Edited to add out of a 30 ish (not sure) lb bag

So I've decided to switch foods yet again. When we got Dixie she was one Purina Puppy Chow, corn first ingredient. Horrible gas and was told corn could be problem and should try one where corn isn't first. Well I found Maxximum which is Wal-mart brand where corn is 4th. Still horrible gas (She sleeps by my bed and I get up at night looking thinking she had an accident!). SO I'm ready to switch again. ALl this switching won't hurt her will it? I know to do it slow. I was thinking of Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers Soul. My local feed store actually carries it (it doesn't carry alot of the other's you guys suggest, like Canidae or Eagle Pack) for $20 and $34 bucks for an 18 or 33 lb bag. Looking at feeding guidelines, Dixie and our new girl will both be at the height of the feeding, probably eating about 5 cups a day each. How many cups are in a pound... basically, how long can I expect a bag to last? Maxximum has Dixie eating 3 cups a day.

How old is your pup? I switched Emmi at around 3 months old from puppy food. 5 cups does sound like a lot. I rarely if ever feed what they recommend on those bags. I find it is way to much.. As far as how long will the bag last, gosh, feeding 10 cups a day, my guess is maybe 2 weeks (30lb bag)..

Jen

The website listed guidelines so thats what I was going by. Chicken Soup says a 30-40 lb 3-4 month pup (Dixie is maybe 35lbs? and just about 4 months) should have between 4 1/3 and 5 1/2 cups so I was guesstimating at 5. Maxximum says between 21-40lbs and 4-6 months of age should get 2-3 1/2 cups a day... Dixie gets 3 meals of 1 cup each. If I switch to Chicken Soup should I keep her at 3 cups then instead of going by their guidelines?

The website listed guidelines so thats what I was going by. Chicken Soup says a 30-40 lb 3-4 month pup (Dixie is maybe 35lbs? and just about 4 months) should have between 4 1/3 and 5 1/2 cups so I was guesstimating at 5. Maxximum says between 21-40lbs and 4-6 months of age should get 2-3 1/2 cups a day... Dixie gets 3 meals of 1 cup each. If I switch to Chicken Soup should I keep her at 3 cups then instead of going by their guidelines?

Are you still referring to puppy food? If so I would try her out on maybe 3 cups and see how she does. You may have to increase/decrease depending on how her weight is. IF you are referring to adult food, the guidelines would be different for a pup. For instance, I feed Emmi (5 months old) adult formula in Merrick. For a large breed adult dog it calls for 3 1/2 cups to 6 cups. 6 cups is WAY to much IMHO. My adult large breed dogs get 2 1/2 to 3 cups daily, which varies depending upon what else I feed them. Now Emmi is different, as the guidelines for a pup is MORE than for an adult dog. For Emmi it says I should be feeding her 4 1/2 cups to 7 1/2 cups daily..7 1/2 cups daily is outrageous. I feed her 4 cups right now. I was feeding her 3 1/2 cups, but she did not seem to get satisfied, plus she is VERY active, so I upped to 4 cups a day. But remember this is adult food.

I have a 13 month old GSD, that I just cut back from his "pup" feeding guideline to adult feeding guidelines.

Jen

Why switch to adult food so early? Shouldn't I atleast wait to closer to a year or 2? Chicken Soup's puppy guideline's go up to a year but I thought Labs weren't adults until 2 years? Alot of the large breed puppy foods had guidelines up to 2 years. I have noticed alot of you guys on here recommend switching to adult food at 5 or 6 months on here but while researching foods I got really confused. All the puppy foods recommend until atleast a year as far as I have seen... or have I misunderstood or is it different with labs?

Don't put too much value in the "puppy" food label. Go by the ingredients and the "guaranteed analysis" listed on the bag. The "puppy" label is largely a marketing thing.

As for amount, 5 cups does sound high, but it will depend on the food and the individual dog. Generally, when feeding a higher quality food, with less "filler," you will feed less volume. But, the best thing is to feel and look at your pup to determine if you need to cut back or feed more. Do be careful not to overfeed a growing pup though; getting heavy when young isn't good for the joints.

I was thinking Chicken Soup is a higher grade food than Maxximum... it being online a walmart brand. She is doing perfect for weight... lol though at first I thought she was too skinny but vet said your supposed to be able to feel some ribs... who knew? lol I grew up with some overweight dogs... you can feel her ribs some when you pet her and kind of again when she moves right. She doesn't seem anywhere near overweight, so I'm thinking how I feed now is good. Do dog foods have calories? Is it the same with humans? SHould I just figure out how much she is getting of maxximum and try to give her equal amount of the new food? Does it work like that or am I fanatsizing something way too easy...?

Why switch to adult food so early? Shouldn't I atleast wait to closer to a year or 2? Chicken Soup's puppy guideline's go up to a year but I thought Labs weren't adults until 2 years? Alot of the large breed puppy foods had guidelines up to 2 years. I have noticed alot of you guys on here recommend switching to adult food at 5 or 6 months on here but while researching foods I got really confused. All the puppy foods recommend until atleast a year as far as I have seen... or have I misunderstood or is it different with labs?

Because puppy food usually is designed with extra calories and calcium to encourage fast growth (which is fine in a small breed dog.) However, in large dog breeds, research has shown that slow growth is better on their bones and joints. Large breed dogs are already prone to bone and joint problems in adulthood.

Some will argue this with saying that large breed puppy foods are formulated with adjusted nutrient levels to help control the growth of large breed puppies. The nutrients in these foods are in different amounts and proportions than adult maintenance foods. Sure in a "adult maintenance food" this may be correct. I started Emmi out on Exclusive, thinking it was a all life stage food (someone here pointed out it was not:)) I immediately switched her to a "all stages" food, which is designed as it says for "all stages."....

Jen

Yes, dog foods do list calories. Look on the bag (often expressed as kcal). This is the measure you should use to determine how much food to feed. It should tell you how many calories per kg, per lb, and per cup. The per cup is the most useful. We currently feed our pup around 1400 calories per day. This is 3 cups per day of Canidae (which is the kibble we have now, but we also mix in raw meals and those servings are a bit harder to estimate). When she was a growing pup, we fed more like 1700-1800 calories per day. But, each dog will have different needs; a lot depends on how much activity and exercise the pup is getting. Again, go by how the dog looks and feels. Your vet should be able to help you here.

So I should go ahead and switch Dixie and her new sister to adult food. How do I decide on a feeding guideline for them? Stick with the 3 cups a day or start with guidelines on the food and work with that? I am so clueless at this. My family always free-fed but now that I'm "educated" I know I want to know exactly how much my pup is eating. (I imagine this will also make sickness easier to determine... in my family it was "Did the dog eat?" "I don't know, maybe?").

OK I have looked everywhere on that dog food bag (all the while torturing poor Dixie) and can't figure out where/how to find the calorie info. Where would this be?

OK I have looked everywhere on that dog food bag (all the while torturing poor Dixie) and can't figure out where/how to find the calorie info. Where would this be?
Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul, Puppy Formula, right? If so, it's 348 calories per cup. See http://www.chickensoupforthepetloverssoul.com/products/dogs/dry_food/puppy_formula/

I am looking on my maxximum nutrition bag now trying to figure out how many calories she currently eats. Can't find it on the bag or net... my search engine keeps trying to tell me I spelled it wrong

So I should go ahead and switch Dixie and her new sister to adult food. How do I decide on a feeding guideline for them? Stick with the 3 cups a day or start with guidelines on the food and work with that? I am so clueless at this. My family always free-fed but now that I'm "educated" I know I want to know exactly how much my pup is eating. (I imagine this will also make sickness easier to determine... in my family it was "Did the dog eat?" "I don't know, maybe?").

IF it was me, and this is based on me just looking at both puppy and adult formulas (which is NOT for all life stages, it is a maintenance) and I had no other choice right now I would stick to the puppy formula and start off feeding 3 cups:) However I'm saying this as you said you had no other choices except walmart brands correct? If so I would stick with the puppy formula for right now, until maybe you can find another food choice.

Jen

I really don't want to stick with this walmart brand anymore. I think the corn is making her gassy. Thats why I was looking at the Chicken Soup lines, along with the fact my local feed store doesn't sell alot of the other names I've seen while looking around this site. Chicken Soup will knock out the corn and some other icky things for her diet I am thinking. Chicken Soup's guide for adult food if I switch is 2-2 1/2 cups per day for Dixie's size. If I decided to go adult food would I want to feed more since she is still a puppy? Adult food says 336 cal/cup and Puppy food is 34 cal/cup. Thats not a real difference calorie wise. But it seems I'd need 4 or 5 cups to get to the 1400-1700 calorie suggestion earlier.

I really don't want to stick with this walmart brand anymore. I think the corn is making her gassy. Thats why I was looking at the Chicken Soup lines, along with the fact my local feed store doesn't sell alot of the other names I've seen while looking around this site. Chicken Soup will knock out the corn and some other icky things for her diet I am thinking. Chicken Soup's guide for adult food if I switch is 2-2 1/2 cups per day for Dixie's size. If I decided to go adult food would I want to feed more since she is still a puppy? Adult food says 336 cal/cup and Puppy food is 34 cal/cup. Thats not a real difference calorie wise. But it seems I'd need 4 or 5 cups to get to the 1400-1700 calorie suggestion earlier.

Sorry I "thought" you already bought the chicken soup. My post was referring to sticking to the chicken soup for "puppies" instead of going with the adult, due to the fact it was only a maintenance formula:) I would definitely get off the walmart brand..

Jen