Following my other post on large breed puppy foods, I was wondering if people feel large breed puppy foods are necessary or just a way for companies to charge slightly more money? I thought that they had reduced calcium and added glucosamine and chondroitin, and that this was beneficial to larger breeds?

Personally I can't see how they differ from the adult recipe in any crucial way and are dearer.  The adult AG has these supplements too.

i have never fed large breed puppy food just the standard puppy, my dogs have grown to be healthy good examples of the breed along with the litter of pups we bred too.

Think that for the owners of giant breeds it is not just a matter of nutrition but one of kibble size, as giant puppies are kept on puppy food far longer that the large or medium dogs tiny or small kibbles can be breathed in. If there is no difference in the protien and fat content between the puppy and adult then there would be no point.

I didn't feed large breed puppy to my boy but now he is adult I have changed to large breed kibble. My reason for this was really just down to the oil content. I had noticed that he had started to get dry skin and was advised on CD to check the oil content. I realised the oil content on the normal adult food was quite a bit lower than the puppy version I had used. I changed to the largekibble because the oil content is quite a lot higher. It also makes him chew a bit more rather than just bolting it down. His skin is much better - although I can't say this is purely the food as I also started to give him oily fish every week

Twinny, it could be just one of those things a number of the heavy coated breed with get a dry flake skin when the are coating particularly when they change from puppy to adult coat but once the adult coat arrives the skin will return to normal.