Age to change from puppy to adult food?

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Hello to everyone.

Yesterday I had to run out and buy Daisy her Orijen (Large Breed Puppy) because PetFlow was unable to supply our need as promised (an entirely different story). Daisy was with me and the owner of the store was surprised that she was still on puppy food. She is nearly 16 months old. I was under the impression that she should remain on puppy until the age of 2 because she is a large breed. He told me that she should have already transitioned to adult at 1 year and that I could be damaging her renal (sp?) organs with the high fat content.I am worried now....anyone have an answer for me. The Vet is who told me the original information but as we all know Vets are not really the best source of advice for nutrition.

 

Thanks,

Lisa

[Amanda and Cody]

Hi Lisa,

I have Cody who is 9 months old also on Orejen (large breed puppy).  Just this past week I began to transition him to the regular Orejin all life stages.  It was suggested surprisingly by my vet.  Am I transitioning too early? Cody is about 60 lbs. currently.  Karen, what are your thoughts?

[Pinky T]

I just asked my vet this question.  I have a medium sized labradoodle.  My vet said at 8 months I should transition to adult food. He talked about the high calorie content of puppy food and it can make them fat.  If it was me, I would switch to adult food.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Doodles (and most dogs) should transition to adult formulas when their skeletal growth is complete. For standards, that is usually between 9-12 months. The vet advice about large breed dogs staying on puppy food up to two years applies only to giant breeds like Irish Wolfhounds, St. Bernards, etc., and even for them, I would question the necessity of staying on puppy formula that long. There is just not that much difference in the macronutrient content in age-related formulas. This is why it's possible and perfectly acceptable to feed all-life stages formulas. If the nutritional requirements were all that different for puppies VS adult dogs, it wouldn't be possible to have so many puppies eating the same formulas as adult dogs and thriving on them. Puppies basically need more calories per lb of body weight than adult dogs do, simply because they're growing rapidly. It doesn't really matter all that much whether the calories are provided by fat, carbs, or portein, as long as the percentages of each are within recommended ranges for dogs, which all premium food formulas are.

 I would absolutely not worry about the fat content of the puppy food having damaged her kidneys. Orijen Large Breed Puppy Food contains 16% fat. Orijen Adult formula contains 17% fat. So your store clerk doesn't know what he is talking about, because the puppy formula you've been using actually has a lower fat content than the adult formula. Even if you'd been using the regular Orijen puppy formula, which has a fat content of 20%, it is very doubtful that a few months on a higher fat food would have damaged any organs.

Amanda, you're fine with switching now. And Lisa, go ahead and switch to the adult formula and do not worry- you haven't damaged anything.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I agree entirely. Even if the fat content were very different the kidneys would not be among organs I would worry about sustaining damage from it. Switching now should be fine.

[Harper]

What a lovely thing for him to say to you - you might be killing your dog! Thanks a lot! Considering you are feeing Orijen to begin with, as opposed to the crap food or table scraps other people feed their dogs, I think you are obviously fine. As another commenter mentioned anyway, Orijen doesn't have much of a difference in fat content in those two foods. Sounds like it is time to transition, but there was no harm in feeing the puppy food for so long anyway.