Can I start feeding the adult formula at nine months old?

[Camilla and Darwin]

Darwin is turning nine months old soon, and we have made the switch over from Eagle Pack, to Eagle Pack Holistic Select. We picked up the adult formula chicken and rice... but now I am wondering if it might have been too soon. He is doing great on it, and hasn't had any problems with the transition. But is nine months too young to feed adult formulas, or does it not really matter?

[Camilla and Darwin]

That is a good idea. I hadn't thought about the fact that it wasn't medical. I have tried to call them before about little questions, but the receptionist refuses to even transfer your call over to the vet. I have asked the actual receptionist questions before... and they always tell me "we aren't allowed to give you any information unless you schedule an appointment."

You know, they really aren't a great vet. I think I'm going to switch over to the university clinic. Perhaps I will call them.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

The refusal to transfer you over to the vet, I can understand. They may be with patients. My vets' offices won't do that either. But they should agree to ask the doctor a simple non-medical question and get back to you. The receptionist can certainly call you back herself and relay whether it's okay for Darwin to eat adult food or not, you don't actually have to talk to the vet.
When I hear about these kinds of vets, I am so grateful for mine. (Of course, they can afford to give me the royal treatment...I'm there every two weeks) Maybe you should switch.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Orijen does have a large breed puppy- didn't realize that! But not a large breed for adults. The basic difference between the large breed puppy and the regular puppy is the fat content...16% VS 20%. And it's the reverse of what i've seen in the adult large breed formulas...the higher fat is in the regular version, not the large breed.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, I just was looking up to see if anyone posted the large breed puppy food question. We are getting our puppy end of this month and I want to put him on Innova Puppy food. He is supposed to be around 60 pounds and I went ahead and bought the Innova Large Breed puppy food, but now I am concerned after reading this post that maybe that was a mistake. What are your thoughts on this? Thank you so much!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Laurie, I don't think it makes much difference. The concern with large breed puppies is that if they put on weight too fast, it may put too much stress on their joints. But this is really only a concern with the extra large breed dogs...Danes, St. Bernards, etc. You can try to exchange an unopened bag, or just use it and buy the regular formula for the next bag...one bag won't hurt either way. A dog who's expected to be 60 lbs at maturity doesn't really need a large breed formula.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Karen! I think I will use this bag, because it is a one hour drive to exchange, and then start with the regular after this bag is gone.

[Azure & Muppet]

I think it depends on the size of the dog. Smaller dogs reach their full growth earlier than larger breeds, so therefore can be transitioned to an adult formula sooner than a bigger dog (some people already mentioned this). I believe around 9-10 months is old enough for most dogs. Our dog Muppet is a miniature/medium doodle, so he stopped growing a few months ago. We waited until we used up the remainder of his puppy formula before making the switch, and moved him to the adult formula just a few weeks ago at about 9-10 months old.

[Camilla and Darwin]

I was actually looking at the wrong label just now. The puppy food we were feeding has just about the same fat and protein content as the adult food we are feeding him now. The feeding guidelines are less for the adults food though.

[Anna and Achilles]

Did you ever get the answer you were looking for? What age did your vet rec. switching? I had Achilles at the vet yesterday and I forgot to ask that same question.

[Camilla and Darwin]

We switched him to adult food when he turned nine months old. We also switched to Holistic Select instead of regular Eagle Pack. he seems to be doing great on it, so I think it was a good move.

[Kristine and Charlie]

Charlie is 9 months and we just made the switch from Wellness Large Breed Puppy Super 5 Mix to Wellness Adult Super 5 Mix.  We were feeding him 4 cups a day (he weighs 55lbs) and the new bag says 2 - 2 1/2 cups a day for 46-65lbs but it has a note to add 25% more for puppies which would be approx. 1/2 a cup more.  I'm wondering how much he needs because he is in the middle of the 46-65lb range so does that mean 2 cups plus a 1/2 cup since he technically is still a puppy?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Tachnically, since he's in the middle of the weight range, he'd also be in the middle of the recommended feeding amount, or 2.25 cups per day. But the puppy formula contained 366 k/cal per cup, and at 4 cups per day, that's 1464 calories. (Which seems like too much to me.) The Adult formula contains 336 k/cal per cup, so two cups per day would be only 672 calories, or less than half of what he was getting before. He needs more than that. So I'd probably start out by giving him 3 cups per day, and ask the vet a few questions:

1. Does the vet think Charlie has reached full skeletal growth?

2. Does the vet think Charlie's weight and body mass are at a healthy level right now?

3. How many calories per day does the vet think he should be getting?

(I'm guessing it should be about 1000 k/cal per day)

 

Vets aren't very good at recommending foods, but they are usually pretty well-informed about what the appropriate weight for any particular dog should be. Just don't let the vet recommend any foods, lol.