Puppies & Feeding

crabcake · Jul 21, 2005

So we had all the puppies and their momma at the vet Tuesday for shots and spaying and all, and the vet tells us that it would be wise for us to move the puppies to adult dog food at 4 months to slow their growth ... that they'd still get the needed nutrients, but that it'd help slow their growth a bit (at 13 weeks, they're 26, 29 & 36 lbs) which would help reduce their chances of suffering hip displaysia when they get older due to such rapid weight gain on under-developed bones.

Anyone ever heard this before? It seems to make sense, and the vet seems knowledgeable and all ... just never heard it before. :ohwell:

If it makes any difference, the puppies are rottie and golden retreiver mix and we know they're gonna be big doggies when they mature.

pixiegirl · Jul 21, 2005

Do't switch them to adult food. Make sure they're on Large Breed Puppy food. Eukanuba (sp?) makes one. I think Iams does as well. It's made to support the development of large breed puppies and has much more nutritional value then Adult dog food.

K_Jo · Jul 21, 2005

pixiegirl said:
Do't switch them to adult food. Make sure they're on Large Breed Puppy food. Eukanuba (sp?) makes one. I think Iams does as well. It's made to support the development of large breed puppies and has much more nutritional value then Adult dog food.

mAlice · Jul 21, 2005

pixiegirl said:
Do't switch them to adult food. Make sure they're on Large Breed Puppy food. Eukanuba (sp?) makes one. I think Iams does as well. It's made to support the development of large breed puppies and has much more nutritional value then Adult dog food.

I wo't let 'er.

DoWhat · Jul 21, 2005

pixiegirl said:
Do't switch them to adult food.

Figures.
She should know, right?

crabcake · Jul 21, 2005

K_Jo said:

I'll have you know that glasses and big ta-ta's make her look even hotter! :really:

Thanks for the suggestion Pix ... I'll look into large breed puppy foods when I hit the store today. :yay:

I've had them on puppy chow with some extra nutrients or something and they love it and have grown so much, but I don't want to put them at risk down the road for hip problems. :frown:

Their siblings who are with friends of ours aren't as big, so it has to be the difference in food. They're only about 20 lbs each.

pixiegirl · Jul 21, 2005

DoWhat said:
Figures.
She should know, right?

Lick my butt. :razz:

cattitude · Jul 21, 2005

pixiegirl said:
Do't switch them to adult food. Make sure they're on Large Breed Puppy food. Eukanuba (sp?) makes one. I think Iams does as well. It's made to support the development of large breed puppies and has much more nutritional value then Adult dog food.

They should NOT be on large breed food. And Eukanuba is crap.

Kizzy · Jul 21, 2005

cattitude said:
They should NOT be on large breed food. And Eukanuba is crap.

What would you recommend?

K_Jo · Jul 21, 2005

cattitude said:
They should NOT be on large breed food. And Eukanuba is crap.

This thread is more interesting than I thought it would be.

Go on...

teverheart2002 · Jul 21, 2005

Found some info. for you, I highlighted where it states about puppies. I feel for you since my puppy was diagnosed with hip dysplasia when he was only 7 months (we adopted him from the pound when he was 6 months old).

http://www.workingdogs.com/vchipdysplasia.htm
Transmission or Cause:
Hip dysplasia is a legacy disease, passed through the genes. Chances are that a loose-hipped dog that mates with another loose-hipped dog will give birth to a dysplastic puppy. It would seem, then, that the solution would be simple: to reduce the incidence of the disease markedly, refrain from breeding two dysplastic dogs. But the difficulty in preventing, as well as treating, hip dysplasia is that not all dogs with hip dysplasia will show signs of the disease. Thus, many seemingly normal dogs are bred together, keeping hip dysplasia within in the gene pool.
Environmental factors also play a role in hip dysplasia. For example, it is well known that obesity is a risk factor for the development of arthritis. In addition, dog food that has been over-supplemented with extra proteins, vitamins and minerals to make puppies grow faster can create orthopedic problems in extremely large breeds of dogs that may lead to hip dysplasia and arthritis."

http://www.cah.com/library/hipdysp.html
"Hip dysplasia is considered a hereditary condition. The problem primarily affects large dogs. Even when a dog carries genetic traits that will cause it to develop hip dysplasia later in life, it is born with seemingly normal hips. Veterinarian's are usually unable to diagnose the condition until a dog is 6-10 months old when the dysplasia has developed and the dog is in pain. When a puppy is 5-7 weeks old, however, a veterinarian experienced in the Bardens Palpation technique can make a subjective determination of a tendency toward hip dysplasia."

thakidistight · Jul 21, 2005

crabcake said:
If it makes any difference, the puppies are rottie and golden retreiver mix and we know they're gonna be big doggies when they mature.

Do you have any pics of the new pups?

huntr1 · Jul 21, 2005

Heck with this store-bought crap! Feed them organic angus beef N.Y. strips and a side of cornbread soaked in the juice.

cattitude · Jul 21, 2005

Kizzy said:
What would you recommend?

I would recommend Wellness Puppy, Chicken Soup - Puppy or Canidae.

Large Breed puppy foods cause the puppies to grow too fast. What you need is a balance of fat and protein for the puppy.

The three foods above are human grade foods. The contain no fillers, preservatives, grain or tallow, etc.

It's really too much information to put in here. I did the research and decided what was best for my dogs.

crabcake · Jul 21, 2005

thakidistight said:
Do you have any pics of the new pups?

These aren't recent ... they're taken when they were around 9 weeks, I believe. :smile:

huntr1 · Jul 21, 2005

crabcake said:
I'll have you know that glasses and big ta-ta's make her look even hotter!

teverheart2002 · Jul 21, 2005

http://forums.somd.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10078

How cute is this one, of course they are all adorable!!

The one behind the golden looks like my Bandit :lol:

Kizzy · Jul 21, 2005

cattitude said:
I would recommend Wellness Puppy, Chicken Soup - Puppy or Canidae.

Large Breed puppy foods cause the puppies to grow too fast. What you need is a balance of fat and protein for the puppy.

The three foods above are human grade foods. The contain no fillers, preservatives, grain or tallow, etc.

It's really too much information to put in here. I did the research and decided what was best for my dogs.

for the good info.

The puppies have gotten so big.

crabcake · Jul 21, 2005

teverheart2002 said:
http://forums.somd.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10078

How cute is this one, of course they are all adorable!!

The one behind the golden looks like my Bandit

That's my Chunky Monkey. :biggrin:

She has her momma's eyes and temperment ... a VERY good puppy. She's not all "ADHD" like her sister, Sammie. :lol:

thakidistight · Jul 21, 2005

crabcake said:
These aren't recent ... they're taken when they were around 9 weeks, I believe.

They are great lookin dogs, I really like the beach pics, especially the one where the pups are followin (mom?) out of the water. :yay:

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