Hi there,

I am the proud owner of Bruce an almost 6 month old black lab.

everything is going fine with him and i am looking for some advice on feeding.

he is quite a big boy, weighrd in yesterday at 25kilos, not fat the vet recently commented that he was just the right side of underweight,  and stands approx 20" to his shoulders, there was another pup at the puppy class last week two weeks younger than him and he was half the size!!

What i am looking to know is the following, bear with me!!

Should we change him to large breed food at 6 months, he is currently fed pedigree puppy complete food, which seems to come in for a lot of criticism on this site....

Or should we just change him to adult food at 6 months judging by his size?

I realise that there is numerous posts on subjects such as these but i would appreciate some feedback as i am getting concerned about protein and hip dysplasia etc, i have taken it easy at walks and limited his times of the lead etc.

any advice would be very welcome.

thanks

Hi Bruce

I am not going to give you any advice on feeding as there are so many foods and methods available.  However, when you do change look at the source of protein - meat is generally better than grain for dogs as it is a more natural food for them but the dog food companies have various ways of describing meat and I sincerely wonder if those whole, fresh chickens etc pictured on the containers ever find their way into the bags:)

I always get my Labrador off of puppy food by six months at the latest straight onto a normal adult food. As with Kerioak, I would not advise as to which food, some suit some dogs, some others. The only thing I would say is to make the change gradual, feeding a little of the new food in with the old and gradually increasing the new whilst cutting back on the old. A change of food can upset the stomach so give the dog time to get use to the new food before deciding anything.

Best wishes, John

thanks for your responses.

can anyone please advise how i could estimate the servings of the food if i were to change to adult as the servings rocket at 6 months using the puppy food, i assume this is due to an spurt in growth at this time until 9 months when the servings decrease again.

Using the pedigree puppy food i am basing the serving on 35 kg, roughly between the 25 kg & 45 kg servings, as i reckon Bruce will end up about there, so should i serve up the corresponding amount of adult food, or should i give more due to the difference in calorific content?

i realise this is probably very pedantic but i would appreciate some assistance.

Alternatively, should i move onto large breed puppy food?

thanks in advance.

Barry

Hi,

If he was mine I would forget about large breed puppy food and gradually switch over to adult maintenance.The requirements on the back of the bags are purely there as a guide only, some dogs will eat more or less of the given amounts.
Put your normal amount food you giving into his bowl probably twice a day see how he does, if he starts to put too much weight reduce by a cupful if he s going other way add an extra cupful until you have a balance with him.
But remember to switch gradually over.
With my Golden Retrievers I never bother with a large breed puppy food/junior food
to be honest I don't pay too much attention to the feeding guides on the bags.
I can tell by look of the dog that hes not too fat or too thin and alter amount food given as necessary.
As he gets much older and exercise increases you will have to give little more to compensate.You should be able to feel his ribs but not poking out and he should look nicely covered.

Briony :-)

Plenty of common sense in Briony's post Barry.

I don't think I've ever got near the recomended amounts on the food. Putting weight/size on a puppy can cause all sorts of problems with the puppy outgrowing it's self. I prefer to bring my puppies on slowly. They get there in the end but I have never had a Labrador finish growing until two years old.

Regards, John

Hi,

Sorry forgot to add be careful to increase too much food .Protein levels need to be reduced between the ages of 16 wksuntil 6 monhs.This reduction in protein slows down bone growth and enables the muscles to catch up!Thus reducing the stress on joints which is beneficial to the sound development of hips and elbows.

Briony :-)