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Do I have to feed large breed puppy food?

STEVSH

Well-Known Member
Hi there. I have a english mastiff/weimaraner 13 week old pup along with my 7 yr old catahoula. My catahoula has been on Chicken Soup Adult food for most of her life, and I was feeding it to our new pup when we first brought her home at 10 weeks. However, my vet told me to put her on the Chicken Soup large breed puppy because it has higher protein (not that much higher that I can see). So I did that. And now she is the gassiest dog I've ever come across, and her poop is now like peanut butter. Whereas with the adult food, she was totally fine and had nice hard poops.
Suggestions as to what I should do?

And one more thing - If I should keep her on the large breed puppy food, when is an acceptable age to take her off of it?
 
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Mongo

Well-Known Member
For the loose stool - did you transition her from the adult to the puppy or just switch? That can cause loose stool.

NO! You do NOT need to feed LARGE Breed Puppy food and its NOT recommended. Especially if it is higher in protien. You want to feed a LOW protien, grain free diet Adult food.

I believe Chicken Soup is a good brand... but I do know that Taste of the Wild and Blue Buffalo are GREAT for giant breeds.

I would also like to say please search thru the forum as this is brought up quite often.
 

STEVSH

Well-Known Member
Sorry. I'm new and lazy. ;)

No I slowly transitioned her, but maybe not slow enough.
I'm going to take her off it then. I've heard conflicting things about the large breed puppy food and whether it is harmful or helpful. So I'm going to go with my gut instinct and just stick to the adult version.

I know there is better food out there, but I buy the best brand that I can afford. And Chicken Soup is it I've found. I did a lot of research on the dog food about 7 yrs ago when I realized that the Science Diet my 13 yr old golden ret. had been on her entire life caused all of her skin and allergy issues. I never knew how downhill SD went until it was too late for poor Caddie. Our dalmation we had when I was a teenager was on it and did fabulous. But that was back when it was a good brand.

Thanks for the advice!
 
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sleewell

Well-Known Member
with my vets recommendation i fed yogi large breed puppy for the first year and then went to large breed adult. honestly i think this forum is awesome but certain things i would rather trust to my vet more than random (nice) people on the internet. your vet is an expert and will have your dog in their office in real life to see for himself or herself what is best for your friend.
 

Enzos Dad

Well-Known Member
I agree some vets are clueless about giant breeds she tried telling me that there was no reason to wait to have my em nuetured that it doesn't effect there growth which I disagree with and she also told me science diet was the best food out there I am definitely switching vets
 

STEVSH

Well-Known Member
I don't believe my vet has much "up to date" knowledge about large breed care. He is a super nice gentleman, and is getting ready to retire. So I'm sure he hasn't kept up with the developments made in the past 10 yrs or so with nutrition and such. Although my neighbors see him and they have two irish wolfhounds and are happy with him. But I do my own research and just use what he says as more of advice/guideline than anything. I've been through a lot of food with my catahoula and Chicken Soup just ended up being one that works great for her. If it doesn't end up working for Topaz (our pup), then I'll move on to something else.

As soon as I can figure out how to put pictures on here, I'll post some of her. I'm new to all this message board stuff, so I apologize for my incompetence. It is definitely an interesting mix to say the least! I Googled it myself and only came up with one or two pictures of the cross. And they look exactly like her. Mom was a smaller EM (110lbs) and was a reverse brindle (not sure what the difference is with regular brindle?), and dad was a blue weimaraner (dark - 90 lbs). Mudflaps for ears, weimaraner eyes, and a sort of droopy mastiff face/eye shape. Sometimes she's blackish/grey, sometimes she's blackish/brown. Her coat is like a seal's coat. The weimaraner shimmer gray color is definitely in there and throws you off sometimes, depending on if she's outside or inside.

---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 AM ----------

Here's Topaz when we first brought her home. 9-10wks old

9wks.jpg


Here's her mudflap ears gone backwards again. She looks almost like a dane pup sometimes.
11wks.jpg


You can see the white "gem" on her chest here. This is why the name Topaz. Our other dog is named Blue, so it just fit.
IMG_20110305_165038.jpg
 

Mongo

Well-Known Member
You have to make sure your vets know about giant breeds, vets like to push the foods they endorse...I have heard from vets to feed science diet(ew) or one that had no idea what raw was. I switched moose to adult food early. There is some good info on this thread.

I AGREE 100%

So many people relay on their vets and believe every little thing their vet says... its just not many vets know about giant breeds. Good for you for doing your homework first! And like I said Ive heard good things about Chicken Soup.

I love my vet! But he is also up there in age and doesnt know much about big dogs. So Ive done quite a bit of homework about shots and nutrition.

ETA: You pup is precious!
 

sleewell

Well-Known Member
yeah i guess i should have included to only trust your vet if they know about these breeds. i guess i am kinda spoiled and forget that every vet isnt a lifelong mastiff owner like mine. if at anytime a vet recommened science diet or some of the other things mentioned in this post that would be the last time i went in that office.
 

Cody

Well-Known Member
My vet is very up to date on my breed, and I ADORE her, but I do not listen to her in regards to dog food.
They are vets. The food that they sell and recommend is based on which sales rep is the better pusher. I have friends who are sales reps, it is a business. Vets are also given incentives to sell certain foods. Most vets have turned to Hills foods which is trash. No offense to the "nice" people on the internet, but doing your own research, talking to as many people who have been involved in the breed as possible, is always more helpful.
Hell, when it came to feeding my son, I went on what worked for me and him and not what the Dr or health nurses decided was the "right" method this week.
Many vets will also say that the RAW diet is horrible ;)
 

Kandie

Well-Known Member
I don't believe my vet has much "up to date" knowledge about large breed care. He is a super nice gentleman, and is getting ready to retire. So I'm sure he hasn't kept up with the developments made in the past 10 yrs or so with nutrition and such. Although my neighbors see him and they have two irish wolfhounds and are happy with him. But I do my own research and just use what he says as more of advice/guideline than anything. I've been through a lot of food with my catahoula and Chicken Soup just ended up being one that works great for her. If it doesn't end up working for Topaz (our pup), then I'll move on to something else.

As soon as I can figure out how to put pictures on here, I'll post some of her. I'm new to all this message board stuff, so I apologize for my incompetence. It is definitely an interesting mix to say the least! I Googled it myself and only came up with one or two pictures of the cross. And they look exactly like her. Mom was a smaller EM (110lbs) and was a reverse brindle (not sure what the difference is with regular brindle?), and dad was a blue weimaraner (dark - 90 lbs). Mudflaps for ears, weimaraner eyes, and a sort of droopy mastiff face/eye shape. Sometimes she's blackish/grey, sometimes she's blackish/brown. Her coat is like a seal's coat. The weimaraner shimmer gray color is definitely in there and throws you off sometimes, depending on if she's outside or inside.

---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:41 AM ----------

Here's Topaz when we first brought her home. 9-10wks old

9wks.jpg


Here's her mudflap ears gone backwards again. She looks almost like a dane pup sometimes.
11wks.jpg


You can see the white "gem" on her chest here. This is why the name Topaz. Our other dog is named Blue, so it just fit.
IMG_20110305_165038.jpg


She is a gorgeous dog!!! What kind is she??
 

TxHorseMom

Well-Known Member
We recently switched to Diamond Naturals. I know it isn't the "best" like maybe Blue Buffalo or TOTW, but it is a very good food for the money. No corn, no wheat, no soy. I pay $28.99 at TSC in my area for a $40# bag. I have never heard of Chicken soup food, but it wouldn't hurt to research the Diamond Naturals.
 

STEVSH

Well-Known Member
Topaz is doing much better now that we have her off the puppy food. She is on Chicken Soup Adult Large Breed along with my other dog and had her final deworming too which help. Saw one last roundworm in her poop last week, so that had something to do with it too.

I'm very happy with Chicken Soup and after doing alot of research on dog food ingredients after my golden died, it just works for us! I used to switch from this and TOTW every now and again, but just stick with Chicken Soup now. The ingredients are below.

Protein: 23% Fat: 13%
Calories: 3,566 kcal/kg (334 kcal/cup) Calculated ME
Available in 6 lb, 18 lb and 35 lb bags.
Ingredients

Chicken, turkey, chicken meal, cracked pearled barley, whole grain brown rice, oatmeal, millet, white rice, turkey meal, chicken fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols), potatoes, tomato pomace, duck, salmon, egg product, flaxseed, ocean fish meal, natural chicken flavor, potassium chloride, salt, choline chloride, glucosamine hydrochloride, dried chicory root, chondroitin sulfate, kelp, carrots, peas, apples, tomatoes, blueberries, spinach, dried skim milk, cranberry powder, rosemary extract, parsley flake, yucca schidigera extract, L-Carnitine, dried fermentation products of Enterococcus faecium, Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate, manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin, vitamin D supplement, folic acid.