What did the breeder send the puppy home on? Is she having issues?
To answer your question, I don't personally feed or recommend large breed foods.
After much thought, research and samples I have decided to go with the Nutrisource puppy food but do have a question. Should she be on Large Breed Puppy?
What did the breeder send the puppy home on? Is she having issues?
To answer your question, I don't personally feed or recommend large breed foods.
She has been on Purina puppy chow(what breeder had her on) and I want to get her off of that to a better food. I will gradually do it. Can I ask why you don't recommend large breed foods?
Labradors aren't a large breed. When LB foods were initially created, the regular foods had calcium/phosphorus levels that was leading to fast growth but that has been corrected (for the most part). LB foods certainly won't hurt your dog, but at this point you're pretty much paying more for a gimmick.
If she's doing well on puppy chow but you want a step up, I'd look at pro plan. It won't be so drastic that you're likely looking at an upset stomach, but it's the top of purina's line and most labradors do very well on it. I send puppies home on Pro Plan Focus Puppy.
janika28 (06-23-2014)
Usually I would say to not feed the large breed formula because it is often a more expensive marketing ploy as piccadilly says. In the instance of NutriSource though, I might actually consider it.
There are two NutriSource puppy formulas. One is called the small and medium puppy formula with a whopping 32% protein and 21% fat. That is a fair amount more than many regular puppy formulas. NutriSource's large breed puppy formula has 26% protein and 14% fat and is recommended for dogs that will end up over 50 lbs. I think labs do better on 16% fat than 14% fat; but once the puppy was well-transitioned to the new food you could always add a bit of salmon oil or coconut oil to round out the fat a bit.
I think you will find that NutriSource is a good company with some sound formulas. I personally like that their puppy formulas rely on meat meal ingredients for protein rather than plant-based gluten.
janika28 (06-23-2014)
Thanks for the replies!
Not sure how old your puppy is but I really believe in feeding what the breeder recommends for the first 6 months, at least. Granted puppy chow is not a great food and I personally would transition her to Pro Plan. A Purina product is working for her now and will most likely continue to. Once she is older you can try a different/"better quality" food. To be perfectly honest, most of the Lab breeders I know feed and recommend Pro Plan and it seems to work great for their dogs. That is the most important thing, what works for your dog! Try not to get hung up on all the other nuances, especially with a young puppy. And just for the record, I do not feed and never have fed Purina products but it obviously works very well for so many. You just can't beat the experience of so many good breeders with proof to back up their recommendations, IMHO!
Would stick with medium puppy food. Hoping the transition goes really well for your pup!
KAZ
I actually like the large breed formulas for Sam. I raised him on large breed puppy and switched to large breed adult. I have the most luck maintaining his weight on large breed food. I switched to a different Pro Plan formula from the Focus large breed adult and he gained a bunch of weight. He's back on the Focus large breed adult and we only have a couple more pounds to lose. He's gone from a chubby 99.6 pounds down to 92.8. I know everyone says labs aren't large breeds but in my mind they're pretty big dogs. We had boxers before Sam and to me, they were medium sized at 50-65 pounds. To me, a 90 pound dog is a big dog. So, I don't have a problem with the large breed formulas. They say they're for dogs over 50 pounds. Anyway, that's just my humble opinion.
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Sam and Frank
I've personally had great luck w/ Euk Lg breed puppy food thru the first year.
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