Switching from Puppy food to Adult...

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Bailey will be a year old May 2nd.  She is eating Orijen but is really getting bored with her one flavor of puppy food.  I add toppers to it ie yougart, little bits of chicken or steak, sometimes  beef or chicken stock.

 

Two questions:  When do I change from puppy to adult formula? and Do I wean her from puppy to adult even though I will be sticking to Orijen?

 

I haven't called my vet to ask...Bailey doesn't go back til August...

[Gregg Aprahamian]

Wellness recommends switching to adult at 2 years old. Vet has said you can switch but since we are active, Puppy formula is fine. So, will keep Cooper on for next 10 months

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

There's no reason to feed a puppy formula once the dog has reached full skeletal growth. That's usually between 9-12 months for standards and can be as early as 6 months for minis. Only the giant breeds such as Great Danes, Irish Wolfhounds, etc. may require a puppy formula for longer than a year.

There is very little difference nutritionally between puppy formulas and adult formulas. If you compare the nutritional analysis of the Orijen puppy formula with that of the Orijen Adult, you'll see they are very similar. Many people feed ALS (all life stages) formulas from puppyhood right through adulthood.

I see no reason not to switch Bailey to the adult formula now. You don't need to "wean" her, as it's very similar to the food she's already eating. Just stick with the same proteins, which would be the Orijen Adult formula. Stay with that for a little while before trying one of the other varieties.

 

[Anne G.]

We switched over to adult food at around 10 months. We did mix it in with the puppy food for a week or so but that was only because we also switched brands.

[jessica (Rufus)]

Rufus will be two in june and we going to switch his very soon in the next couple of weeks to adult slowly he is staying with the same brand but going to adult  food we also give him wet food as well as a little of what we eat like hamburg or chicken and fresh cooked vegs