What’s The Difference Between Puppy Food And Adult Food
It is highly recommended that your puppy eats a commercially formulated dog food specifically for puppies until they are fully grown. This is because growing puppies have different nutritional needs compared to adult dogs. Puppy diets tend to be higher in calories to support growth and have a slightly different balance of vitamins and minerals to provide optimal nutrition for growing bones and muscles. Most veterinary nutritionists do not recommend homemade, raw, or adult diets for puppies because they do not contain the right balance of nutrients to support rapid growth. Therefore, these diets may lead to developmental abnormalities or deficiencies.
While an adult dog is less likely to become unwell from eating puppy food, there are still some concerns with feeding your dog a diet that does not match their current life stage. The biggest problem with giving a puppy food or a generic “all life stages” diet to an adult dog is that these diets are often too high in calories. Adult dogs that are no longer growing do not require as many calories as puppies and can gain weight if they are fed puppy food. Spaying and neutering your dog, while very beneficial, also causes a decrease in your dog’s metabolism that can lead to weight gain. Specifically formulated diets for neutered dogs are available and contain fewer calories to keep your dog’s weight healthy.
How To Know When To Switch To Adult Dog Food
How long should a puppy eat puppy food? Maybe youve wondered this yourself, and rightly so. It can be a confusing topic, but its important to know when your puppy is ready to make the transition to adult dog food.
The important thing to realize is that because puppies are still growing, they need more calories and nutrition than adults. In fact, feeding an adult diet to a puppy could lead to nutritional deficiencies.
Likewise, feeding a puppy diet to an adult could cause excessive weight gain and its related issues. This is important to avoid, since obesity is the most common nutrition-related issue for canines. Knowing when to switch to adult dog food will help your puppy grow into a happy, healthy dog.
That being said, theres no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. Instead, youll want to change from puppy food to dog food based on your dogs breed, size, and age. Read on to learn how and when to switch to adult dog food.
When To Switch From Doberman Puppy Food To Adult Food
- Switching From Doberman Puppy Food To Adult Food At 18 to 24 months, its time to switch your puppy to an adult diet. This shouldnt be a sudden change. The following guideline can also be used if youre switching from one brand to another.
The age to switch from puppy food to adult food should really be decided by your puppy’s growth. When they are close to full adult height is best. Don’t switch before 6 months, but really, anytime after is OK and you don’t have to wait until 12 months old as written on most labels.
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When To Switch Puppy To Adult Dog Food
You should switch to adult dog food when your puppy is within the age range of 9-24 months old. As you can see this is quite a big range, so this is just a general rule of thumb. The exact age at which a dog is ready for adult food actually depends on the size of the dogmost dogs should switch to adult food when they are 75-85% of their full adult size.
Is It Ok To Feed My Puppy An All
An all-life-stages formula can provide a convenient but still nutritionally sound option. All-life stages appeal to pet parents with more than one dog in the house, or for those who want to take the guesswork out of transitioning to an adult formula.
What is an all-life-stages diet? The Association of American Feed Control Officials sets nutritional guidelines for pet foods. There are three main diets under AAFCO:
- Puppy
- Adult
- All-stages
An all-life-stages diet is a diet that is formulated to meet the needs of puppies as well as adult dogs. For NutriSource, formulas labeled as adult food are also considered all-life-stages formulas.
If your puppy is a larger breed, its critical to read the label before offering an all-stages diet, explains Tufts University. What youll want to look for is AAFCOs qualifier for nutritional adequacy statement. It will tell you whether that all-stages formula meets the standards of larger breed puppies. In particular, the formula should have a roughly 1:1 ratio of calcium to phosphorous to support healthy bone growth.
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How Should I Transition My Dog To Adult Food
Transitioning to a new diet should always be done gradually to prevent causing a digestive upset. A good diet transition should take at least 7 days but may need to be longer if your dog has digestive sensitivities or is prone to diarrhea. When you begin a diet transition, on day 1, start by mixing around 25% of the new diet with 75% of the puppy diet. As long as there are no signs of digestive upset, you can increase the proportion of the new diet to 50% after a few days. Finally, you can continue slowly increasing the ratio of the new diet to 75%, then 100%, when your dog should be eating the new diet with no adverse symptoms.
If at any point your dog develops symptoms of an upset stomach such as diarrhea, loss of appetite, flatulence, or bloating, this is a sign that the guts are not yet adapted to the new diet. Slowing down the transition or adding a probiotic supplement can usually resolve this issue. However, If the symptoms persist for more than 24-48 hours, switch to a bland diet of boiled chicken and rice, white fish, or scrambled egg, and contact your veterinarian for further guidance.
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About Switching Dog Food
If your not careful when switching dog food, you could have quite a mess on your hands. It might seam that dog’s have an iron gut, but their digestive tracts can actually be quite sensitive.
Changing dog food should be done gradually over at least a 2 week period. Puppies are usually the most susceptible to stomach upset when a dog food switch is made.
The reason is because puppies already have rather sensitive stomachs because they’re still developing. When a puppy comes home to her new family, she goes through many, many changes all at once.
Usually one of the first things new puppy parents do is switch dog food. Along with all the other changes and stress , a new puppy food tends to really upset their tummy’s.
So, regardless of whether your dealing with a puppy or an adult, a dog food switch should be done gradually over time. There are also a few things you can add to your dog’s diet to help the transition to a new food.
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Why Should You Be Careful In Switching Dog Food
A sudden change in food can be very stressful for your dog. As a result, they may stay away from their regular diet, vomit, produce loose stool, or have an unusual bowel movement for a few days.
If you are thinking of switching your dogs food, it is important to contact your veterinarian first. You need to know the specific nutritional requirements of your dog so that your vet will recommend a good choice for your pets diet.
How To Feed Your Dogs Growing Needs
As your dog grows, their dietary needs change. Each blend of Just Right is uniquely crafted to support your dogs lifestage or lifestyle, so you never have to worry if you are missing an important dietary milestone.
Follow these tips for feeding your dog at each lifestage:
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Puppy food should help support areas like healthy brain and vision development, proper bone and muscle growth, and a strong immune system. · Now that you know when to switch from puppy food to adult dog food, keep in mind that adult dog food should help support their unique nutritional needs and lifestyle.
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Consider your dogs activity level, skin and coat health, body condition, and digestive health.
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As your dog grows, their metabolism changes can lead to weight gain or loss of lean body mass, so calories and type of diet should be adjusted accordingly.
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Dog food designed for the nutritional needs of your dog from puppy to senior should help support areas like bone and joint health, strong muscles, and changing activity level.
Ready to switch dog food? Create your dog’s personalized blend of dog food that grows and changes as your dog does. Start your dogs unique blend today.
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When To Only Feed Puppy Food
During the first 12 months of life, a puppy should be fed strictly puppy food. This refers to a diet that is specially formulated to meet his nutritional needs. Puppy food usually comes in the form of dry kibble but is soaked or mushed until gradually the dog is given plain dry puppy food.
Smaller breeds begin this transition at about 7 to 9 months. Larger breeds of dogs can do it at 12, 13, or even 14 months. After a dog has reached the age of one year old, most dog owners are already feeding their puppys adult food in adult portions. Just keep in mind, do not rush this procedure. It is always best that puppies stay on puppy food a bit longer than not long enough.
When Do Dogs Stop Feeding Their Puppies?
How Do You Change A Puppys Food
The first thing youll need to decide is which food to feed your puppy as an adult.
A good place to start would be an adult food from the same brand of puppy food youre currently feeding, assuming your pup likes the food and is doing well on it. If you are transitioning from one Fromm product to another, like Puppy Gold to Adult Gold, a transition period is not absolutely necessary, but is encouraged.
That way, the transition wont feel like such a big change, and it will be less likely to upset your pups tummy.
However, ANY food change can potentially result in an upset stomach or diarrhea. Thats because it takes time for the digestive tract to get used to something new, especially if your puppy has a sensitive stomach.
Making the change slowly and gradually will help prevent these symptoms. A slow change will also make your dog more likely to accept the new food if theyre a picky eater.
Here are two ways to make the switch slowly
- The Mixing Method.
- Mix the puppy food and new adult food together, starting with a smaller portion of the adult food. This works out to about 1 part new adult food per 3 parts puppy food.
- After a few days, switch to a 50:50 mixhalf puppy, half adult.
- After a few more days, switch to 75% adult food, 25% puppy food .
- In another few days, switch to 100% adult food.
From our family to yours,
Fromm Family Pet Food
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How Do I Make The Switch
When switching to adult dog food you should allow 7-10 days for the transition. Gradually add more adult dog food and less of their puppy food to your pups dish each day until the change is complete. This gradual transition will help avoid dietary upsets.
Remember individual needs can vary. Feed your dog to maintain an ideal body condition.
Slight appetite changes and occasional digestive upsets are normal in young dogs. If upsets become severe or last longer than a day or two, contact your vet.
Dog Breeders Say That A Few Kinds Of Dog Food Actually Contain Less Protein Making Them More Suitable For Small Dogs Than Big Dogs You Can Also Find Some Dog Foods Which Are Particularly Created For Small Dogs
Another element that should be taken into account when you are selecting your dog food is the amount of fat content. Dog foods that contain low to moderate amounts of fat are ideal. However, dog owners can choose between low and high-fat dog foods too. Dog owners who arent acquainted with this issue should consult a vet. The vet may advise you if the dog food you are thinking of buying is acceptable for your dog or not.
Whenever youre picking dog food, dont forget to look at the ingredients. Make sure you read the label carefully so you will know precisely what you are feeding your pet.Eventually, they need to think about the frequency of feeding your dogs food. If your dog needs a lot of meals at the same time, you might consider purchasing dehydrated food.
So now that you are aware of the fundamentals of dog food, its time to decide on the best kind of dog food. Now, if you would like to take another step and begin your own family, remember that it is not the food that you feed your dog, but the way you treat your dog that counts. It truly is all up to you.
Dog food can be quite a stressful thing to think about. However, when youre ready to purchase pet food, make certain you do your research first.
If you have just brought home a new puppy, you might feel concerned about the notion of feeding it. However if youre patient and persistent, you then will see how simple it is for you to feed your puppy food. Just follow these strategies.
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Is It Worth It To Buy Expensive Puppy Food
Premium food has higher nutritional density, so you can feed your dog less to achieve the same results. Also, premium foods have stable ingredient profiles the composition of bargain brands can vary from batch to batch.
The major dog-food companies invest heavily in product development and research, constantly upgrading formulas to keep up with their competitors. This means that feeding premium food puts you on the cutting edge of canine nutrition.
When Do I Switch My Puppy To Adult Dog Food
Depending on the breed, most dogs will not stop growing for the first year or two. You can continue feeding them a puppy formula until their growth plates have sealed, as long as they are not overweight. However, you must work closely with a veterinarian to assess your puppys body condition score. This will ensure that your puppy switches from puppy to adult dog food at the ideal time. Your veterinarian can also recommend how much adult dog food you should give your dog, as too many extra calories and nutrients may be harmful.
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The Timeline Of Puppy Growth And Dietary Needs
As puppies age and grow into fully grown adults, they switch up their food routines. This is usually done in very specific stages of life, and for great reasons that will be covered later on.
This schedule varies by breed, which is an important distinction because differently sized breeds grow at different rates!
First, though, you may be wondering why to even bother sticking to a set routine at all. Why not just feed them adult food when you think your pups teeth are strong enough? Lets talk about that.
When To Switch From Puppy Food To Adult Dog Food
So, what is the best time to switch from puppy food to adult dog food?
Like humans, dogs have different nutrition requirements for different life stages. Puppies need food that has two and a half times the calories of adult dog food to provide the energy they need in order to grow as quickly as they do. They also need more protein to build muscle and more calcium and phosphorous to grow strong, healthy bones. And since their stomachs are small and their digestive systems are immature, they need food thats easy to digest.
Puppy food fills all of these requirements, but switching over to adult dog food at the right time is essential to prevent obesity, the number one nutritional disease and a top cause of death in adult dogs, as well as other health problems due to inappropriate nutrition.
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Offer Small Meals Gradually
Once you get the new dog food home, start by offering your dog a small meal. If he or she eats it and doesnt develop any tummy troubles as a result, offer another small meal a few hours later. Gradually increase the size and decrease the frequency of your offerings until you are back to your normal schedule in a day or two. If your dog doesnt dig in to the new food, pick it up and dont offer anything for eight hours or so. It is okay to let your pet get a little hungry, so long as you continue to offer the new food every 68 hours and then pick it up if it is not eaten. Continue this pattern for 48 hours. If you cannot get your dog to eat the new food within this timeframe, consult your veterinarian and try another formulation but avoid frequent changes in flavor as this can promote finicky eating habits.