Anyone familiar with this Puppy/Dog Food TCL

[AlmondKC]

Our breeder (who we absolutely love) feeds all her dogs, food from a company called TLC (https://tlcpetfood.com/). They have food for both puppy and adult dogs. I have not changed our girl (Holly, 15 week old Black Lab/English) from the food. She is growing like a weed, one week tall and skinny and the next week she fills in a little bit, then back to tall and skinny. My question is I have not heard anything negative about this food and it is not inexpensive, I am just looking to see if anyone else has experience with this brand of puppy chow. It is a dry kibble.

Thanks in advance for taking the time to help.

David
(AlmondKC)

[barry581]

While I've never heard of this food, looking at the ingredients I don't see anything that would be of great concern. It does say "Atlantic Salmon" on the bag, which is most likely farmed salmon, which I am not a big fan of, especially not knowing where it came from. Not all farmed salmon are equal. One other concern I would have in the calcium to phosphorus ratio seems a bit high. I pretty sure the recommendation for most breeds is 1:1, and overall calcium of 1%.

I've raised 5 Lab puppies over the past 12 years. I've used different food for each one, and with one exception I fed what the breeder recommended until the pups were at least 6 months old. The one I changed was at 12 weeks, a dog I had imported from the UK. The breeder had recommenced Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy, which was the food I had used on a puppy that I had imported about 2 years earlier. The pup came over at 10 weeks old and within days I started having really loose poo's. Turned out Royal Canin had changed the ingredients in the food here in the US, and it was completely different than the food in the UK. Exact same name and bag, completely different food.

Besides the Royal Canin, I've fed Purina, Fromm, and Eukanuba, all were recommended by the breeder and all the pups did well on those foods.

[smartrock]

Like Barry, I am not familiar with that food either. The 3 breeders I've worked with all had their puppies on Purina ProPlan, either the puppy formula or an all life stages formula. I also kept them on that food up to about a year of age or whatever the breeder recommended. Our vets seem to prefer the grain-inclusive foods from Purina, Royal Canon, Eukanuba, Iams, or Hills since the information about nutrition-related dilated cardiomyopathy was published a few years ago. I'm not sure where the research on that is right now. I've stuck with grain-inclusive foods from Purina and Royal Canin but I didn't make any changes until they were about a year old. I rotate between 2-3 foods from 2 brands so that, should there be a recall or shortage of one food, I can easily pivot to the other. It did make it easier during the worst of the pandemic when I had some difficulty getting one food or the other due to "supply chain issues".

I've also read about the calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and while the TLC food seems a bit high, as Barry suggested, I only know what I've read online. You may want to check with your vet. Large and giant breed dogs need their calcium intake pretty carefully managed as puppies for proper skeletal development. Whether labs are medium or large breed dogs seems to be up for debate.

[AlmondKC]

Barry and Sue: thank you for your responses. I have checked with my vet and she likes the Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy food. She states that you don't want to get too much calcium and phosphorus and have the pup grow to fast. I am considering the change to Royal Canin Large Breed Puppy - but want to make the slow change once so trying to really check things out. My vet said for the very same reason (not wanting them to grow too fast) she does not recommend them getting vitamins - the thought is that if you are feeding a well balanced food you should not need to supplement. I really due appreciate you taking the time to share you knowledge! Just want to do what is best for Holly, she is such a good girl.

[barry581]

I do agree with your vet about not giving vitamins, as long as you are feeding a complete food.

I have my three on Purina Pro Plan Sensitive Skin and Stomach Salmon and Rice. I do add a couple supplements for the two mature dogs. Brooks, age 7, gets MSM, 2 Cosequen tablets and a fish oil tablet. He has some minor elbow problems and these seem to really keep it from flaring up. Rose, age 2, started getting one Cosequen when she was 18 months old, a fish oil tablet a a squirt of CBD oil as she's a bit of a crack head and it does seem to help her stay calm. Song just turned 1 couple weeks ago, and he gets a fish oil tablet. I also add about 3 ounces of a complete raw food to each dog twice per day. My Vet has a fit about it, but I think it's good for them.

When I found out about the Royal Canin food issue with the puppy I imported I switched him to the Royal Canin Labrador Puppy and he did quite well on it. I do think it's a bit of a gimmick, and it's ridiculously expensive. I did look at the analysis of the RC Large breed puppy and could not find the calcium/phosphorous amounts.

Realistically any of the foods from Purina (especially the Pro Plan), Eukanuba, Fromm, etc is going to be good food. It's just a matter of what your dog does well on.

[AlmondKC]

Barry: Thank you for the information. Sounds like your Labs get excellent care and thoughtful looking after. My vet seemed really focused on the RC Large Breed Puppy and I am torn between the RC and Purina Pro Plan High Protein Chicken and Rice Large Puppy. The RC is Calcium .85%min / Phosphorous .72%min and the Purina Pro Plan is Calcium 1.1% min/ Phosphorous .9% min. The RC gets some bad reviews if you look just at the 1star ratings and the common thread seems to be explosive diarrhea which no one wants that for their pup. I am grateful for the help!

[barry581]

Every dog is different in how they process various foods. I'm lucky all three of mine are doing well on the same food.

I had a black female I imported from my friends in the UK back in 2012. She did great on the Fromm 4 star foods. When I got Brooks in 2016, I had him on Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy until he was a year old. I went through the gradual process to switch him over to the same food. He did awful on it. Very loose poo's and constantly blowing his coat. I switch him the the Eukanuba Performance 30/20 and he did great on that.

Sometimes it takes a bit of work to find out what the best food is for that particular dog.

[smartrock]

You'd probably be fine with either food. The search for the "perfect" food can be frustrating so you just have to make the best decision you can without making yourself too crazy.

Interestingly, my older boy, who is now 5 years old, had explosive diarrhea when I got him home feeding the same PPP puppy chicken and rice he'd been eating at the breeder's home without issue. Poor buddy was having loose poops 8-10 times a day. He went through few rounds of metronidazole and tylan before he spent a month on a novel protein grain-free puppy food. The diarrhea finally ended and he was able to go back to the ProPlan. Ugh! Our younger boy is a half sibling to the older, he just turned a year old in May. He did not have the same issues, fortunately. Good luck, it'll be fine.

[AlmondKC]

smartrock: I think I have been driving myself crazy wanting the best for Holly, but after the help here and doing some online research I have just decided that for now I will go with the Royal Canin Labrador Puppy food and see how it goes. I have to laugh when I think of the amount of food we go through...and she is just a puppy and all that food starts 'piling up' in the back yard. Our girl is a real joy to have, we are used to small terriers that don't eat or poop as much. Great adjustment to make. Thank you again and glad that your older boy is doing fine.

[AlmondKC]

Just a quick update. Holly has been on the Royal Canin Labrador puppy food and is currently doing very well on it. No issues with eating it all and her coat is incredible, and I am not just being "one of those" dog dads. Trying to figure out the right amount for her and don't have the last bag of RC I purchased so I have asked RC for the right amount. She is now 19 weeks and about 30 lbs. She gets/eats 2 cups in the morning, 1 cup at lunch and 1 cup at dinner.