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Puppy growth and feeding

dogue guy

New Member
Hey guys I am a first time DDB owner and my female pup is 14 weeks now. All seems to be going well but I'm slightly skeptical that I am feeding her correctly. I ask this because my breeder said to transition her at 8 weeks(when I got her) to extra large breed adult food high protein low fat. On the other hand my Uncle is a vet and he told me the opposite, he said that she should stay on puppy food until min 6 months of age. Being family I naturally am going to trust my Uncle , so until this point she has been on puppy food ,2 cups per day . So at 14 weeks she is 22 lb right now. Her mom was 90lb and her dad was 135lb . What are the advantages and disadvantages with this breed in regards to my feeding situation ? I am on the fence about if I am feeding her enough or not, and if she is on the right type of food and also on track for her growth at this stage in her life. Thanks for your help,dogue guy
 

Ajizy

Well-Known Member
I raw feed my bordeauxs. As far as kibble some switch to adult at that age, and some stay on puppy formula.... I would follow breeders recommendations tho... With large breed on kibble your concern should be calcium/phosphorus ratios instead of protein and fat.
 
Welcome to the forum. It's been my experience that most vets have great general knowledge and most dogs fall under their advice. Our big dogs are not most dogs. I would follow your breeder's advice at this point. In my experience it's best to feed these giant breeds adult food to prevent them from actually growing to fast which can cause problems.
 

Jaszies_dad

Well-Known Member
My Jaszie is 11 1/2 weeks old now 30lbs and i read a lot of info and decided to transitioning her to an adult all natural no grains lower protein food. Reason is to keep growth rate steady with bone structure. Which is also what our breeder advised.. Part of our decision was based on breeder and other EM owners advice the rest was research on Mastiff forums and Mastiff pages. But you ultimately make the decision so research and make informed decision.

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Yamizuma

Well-Known Member
Welcome here! General wisdom here is that puppy food, while maybe great for normal pups, is not so great for the giant breeds. It tends to encourage quick growth, and the big dogs need to go a little slower for long term structural health. No doubt your uncle knows lots, but do you know if he has good experience with giant breeds? Our very good vet thought our pup would top out at 60 lbs...she's just under 100 lean, fit pounds. We've had her on Acana Pacifica for about a year now. Started her on adult food with a good for her phosphorus / calcium ratio since she was about 8 weeks old. BTW, our DDBs are often sensitive to chicken and wheat.


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dogue guy

New Member
Hey guys thanks for all the reply's.So I did a bit of research on my own and I have come to basically a 50/50 split between extra large breed breeders saying it should be adult food or puppy food I appreciate all of your input of course and will make my decision at the end of this bag of puppy foodMy next question is her weight as I touched on in my previous post. She is 23 lb at 14 weeks which I believe is low but at the same time my vet and my uncle who is a vet said she is in great shape and told me not to change anything I am doing with her. You guys said that the puppy food will accelerate her growth and the adult will keep it at a steady pace. My first thought is that slowing her growth down , especially when she is behind in what she "should" weigh is the wrong decision ? When she was at the breeder , they told me she was always bullied out of eating and she was a slow eater to begin with. Is it possible that she had a slow start to her lifein means of growth and I will see a dramatic growth period with her eventually ?
 
Weight is just a number IMO. Body condition should be the indication if she is a "healthy" weight or not. See her spine and all ribs showing? Prob to skinny. See her last two ribs and a visible waistline? Prob median weight. Can't feel ribs and her belly is as wide/wider than her chest? Prob to fat.
 

tmricciuto

Well-Known Member
Agree with EverythingEM. Your pups genetics were determined at conception and she may not be as big as the others in her litter. I have two female litter mates and one is always shorter and weights less by seven to ten pounds. I call the smaller one my mini mastiff, she's just at 9 months and 77 lbs. but she may jump up and outgrow her sister. No way to know until she's done growing. I love her as a mini or full grown mastiff.


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Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
My EM is a slow grower. He was upto 20lbs lighter than other puppies his age or even a month younger than him. Which was somewhat concerning as I had been told he was supposed to be over 200 lbs full grown and some of those puppies were from breeds that should be around 100lbs at maturity. I learned to ignore what he 'should' weigh and instead instead go by his body condition. He is certainly taking his time and at almost 4 years old he has just reached 200lbs and as far as I can tell is still growing.
So my advice based on experience is to ignore what anyone says she 'should' weigh and just keep her at a good body condition because she will get to the size she is supposed to be it just might take longer.

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Redsupremacy

New Member
I breed dogues, and the only time I give my pups actual puppy food is the first couple weeks I am weaning them from mom. At this time, they aren't 100% sure of the food, so it's harder to get them to eat consistently. So I give them puppy food that is very high in nutritional content. By 5-6weeks i transfer them over to high quality adult food. I feed my pups and my adult dogues Orijen, great locally based kibble. The best way to tell if you are feeding your dogue the correct amount is looking at the dog. As a puppy, they should be pear shaped after feeding if viewed from above. Nice and round. As they get to 3 months, you want to look at the last rib or 2. They should be barely visible.
 

Wilsy

Well-Known Member
We moved our DDB Wilson onto adult food from about 12 weeks old and feed Aatu kibble. I don't worry much about weight and look at overall body condition instead. It's the same with how much you are feeding, the bag of kibble states a guideline but you can adjust this dependent on your DDB's needs. We have always kept Wilson on the lean side and balanced his diet and exercise as its important to not put too much strain on their joints at an early age. With regard to your comment about adult food slowing her growth down, its more an issue of some puppy foods accelerating growth and the health consequences of that.
 

Wilsy

Well-Known Member
what kind of problems have you seen in dogues raised on puppy food ?
As I say, its some puppy foods not all and a lot of it is down to calcium content. Examples of issues are pano, developmental orthopedic disease and osteoarthritis. Many puppy foods are also more energy dense than their adult varieties which can cause additional weight gain in puppies resulting in similar joint issues. Just to be clear, I'm not a vet. This information is from personal experience, the advise of the breeder we used and the advise received from our vet.
 

marke

Well-Known Member
i was under the impression large breed puppy foods were formulated to take all that into account ?
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
i was under the impression large breed puppy foods were formulated to take all that into account ?
Part of the problem is the North American theory of 'bigger is better' and the 'I want it now' mentality. Too many people want their big dog to be really big now instead of being willing to wait for them to reach their weight naturally. Manufacturers have catered to that philosophy. I can't tell you how many people told me Kryten was too small as he was growing up but at 4 years old he is now 200 lbs and definitely one of the big boys.

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Wilsy

Well-Known Member
i was under the impression large breed puppy foods were formulated to take all that into account ?
Again, its some brands not all and opinions vary about what exactly is best to feed and in what amounts. That's why one brand of puppy food does not contain the same ingredients as another brand of puppy food.
 

glen

Super Moderator
Staff member
We've got 3ccs and have never fed them puppy food, we've got 5 6 week old puppies here we did start on puppy food now glens starting to get them off it before they go home to new owners, we feed no grain based kibble, our dogs have raw bone also.
 

marke

Well-Known Member
i'm pretty sure it's calories that put weight on dogs ?from orijen on down are adult dog foods
............................................................................. eukanuba large breed puppy 337 kcal/cup .................. ....................................... diamond large breed puppy 342kcal/cup....... ............................................................. solid gold large breed pup 345kcal/cup ................................................................. innova large breed pup 377kcal/cup ................................................................. orijen adult 478kcal/cup .........................................................merrick adult 460kcal/cup .......................................................................................... arcana 454kcal/cup ....................................................... ........................................ .earthborn 445 kcal/cup ............................................................................................ blue buffalo 378 kcal/cup............................................................................................. taste of the wild 370 kcal/cup
 

marke

Well-Known Member
eukanuba large breed puppy is 1.8 g calcium per 1000kcal ................................................. orijen grain free adult is 3.3 grams of calcium per 1000kcal