Hi folks. We have our lad cross springer on Hills science plan large breed puppy. He is just coming up to 4 months old. The vet told us to get him on a food for a large breed, so we did. My question is, does he need a large breed food and which food is good? He doesn't really go a bundle on the Hills. We can't afford the high end food like Eukenuba and Orijen. Many thanks :-)

I personally don't think he does need large breed food.  All large breed food is is slightly lower protein calorie food to encourage slower growth.

to me a springer is not a large breed, Labradors are, especially the show type, but many of the working type are quite light anyway.

Affordable but decent foods are certainly out there.   Look for foods where the ingredients are listed in full not meat and derivatives but precisely, such as lamb meal, salmon meal, chicken meal. 

I would not feed any dry food that has less than 25% of a meat or fish meal content, as dogs are omnivorous carnivores, not like us who are true Omnivores.

Some quality foods are Arden Grange, Simpson's Premium, Fish4dogs, and I am sure many others board members use with success.  Avoid anything with lots of colours and shapes designed to please the human buyer, and anything with added sugars, canine diabetes is on the increase and I AM SURE ADDING SUGAR TO THEIR DIETS IS NOT HELPFUL AT ALL.

contact this lady Ceri Rundle <ceri@csjk9.com> csj offer many extremely good low cost foods and Ceri is very helpful and will send samples for you. Many people on here recommend this food including me. http://www.csjk9.com/ will show you all the types of suitable food but Ceri will advise which is best for individual dogs.

I've just looked at the cjs website it looks fantastic! I will contact her and see what she advises. Thanks you both for your replies.

I rate Arden Grange and Fish4Dogs very highly and although I've bought CSJ, and my dogs thought some of it tasted ok, they didn't like the size of the kibble in their preferred flavour!! 

I can't remember the age of your youngster but I think he still an age to be on puppy food - many people keep medium/large gundogs on puppy food til they are 10 - 12 months old.  Several of the companies mentioned run 'puppy clubs' for buyers to qualify for special offers.  Also do look around at online prices for comparison - a lot of companies will deliver two or more 15kg bags with free postage.

If you're buying from Fish4Dogs do have a look at their fish skin treats which are excellent, and their salmon mousse which is a superb filler for chew toys and as a topping to make the kibble more interesting :)

Taste of the Wild and Logic are really good food if you can get it there. Orijen I would def say is better then Eukanuba.

I found the more better food they less the dog actually needs to eat.

My guys are on the newish Autarky Salmon - 35% salmon, very good quality food.  Everyone's is doing really well on it :-)

Just wanted to thank you for your advice regarding food for our pup Mac. I contacted Ceri at CSJ and she sent me samples. He is now on the puppy food from them and thriving with a lovely shiny coat, and the best bit is it doesn't break the bank either. Thanks again.

There's no doubt the better the quality the less you need to give your dog. The cheaper (well known) brands are false economy. Go for at least 25% meat (make sure the type of meal ie chicken meal, salmon meal, lamb meal is listed first on the ingredients). In the long run you'll save money without the health risks.

Agree at least 25% specified meat or fish meal.