Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy FoodQuestion:My baby Gracie comes home the first part of December. I emailed her breeder and asked what food to have ready for her and he said they'll be on Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy Food. Can I hear for you all on the best food for lab puppies..............I am not sure - there is so much out there.:confused: Answer: Here is the list of ingred. in this food. Chicken, brewers rice, corn gluten meal, whole grain wheat, poultry by-product meal, whole grain corn, pea bran, beef tallow preserved with mixed tocopherols (source of vitamin E), fish meal, natural flavors, dicalcium phosphate, egg product, hydrolyzed sunflower oil, salt, potassium chloride, potassium citrate, l-lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, zinc sulfate, ferrous sulfate, vitamin supplements (E,A, B12, D3) manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, riboflavin supplement, copper sulfate, biotin, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of vitamin K activity), calcium iodate, sodium selenite. Bolded items are not the best choice in a dog food. I stay away from them. Many dogs are allergic to wheat and corn and by-products are not the best quality of protein. Plus it says poulty by product. What type of poultry? Could be pigeion for all we know or crow LOL - you get the idea. These ingred. are taken from the Petco site. However the pro-plan site (I cold not copy and paste from there) also lists animal fat and digest as an ingredient. Not specific enough. What kind of animal? While your breeder may feel their lines do well on this food - there are better quality foods out there. However, you should continue to feed this food when you first bring your pup home for about 3 + weeks until your pup acclimates to its new home. The stress of moving to your home plus immediately changing the diet can cause upset stomach and diarrhea. If you decide to change foods make the change slowly and be sure to compare calories/cup so you are not over feeding on the new food which can also cause diarrhea. Answer: Thank you so much for the insight! Can you suggest a better food? I want to maintain a healthy happy puppy, with energy, shiny coat, and NOT ucky poo................ Answer: Forgot to answer that sorry. California Natural www.naturapet.com Orijen(grain free) www.championpetfoods.com Natures Variety Prairie www.naturesvariety.com I'm sure others have other suggestions on the board. Answer: I would say Innova Puppy, Orijen Puppy (Not necessarily large breed, because labs may or may not be considered a large breed dog, ALSO- large breed foods are intended to make the dog grow SLOWER- which is not really necessary), Natures Variety (Yes, even though the calcium is high, the phosphorus levels allow for it to be used or expelled as necessary. That bit of information is from a company rep.)... I would say grain free (Innova puppy is not) would be your best bet. Blah sorry for the ramble. Answer: I would say Innova Puppy, Orijen Puppy (Not necessarily large breed, because labs may or may not be considered a large breed dog, ALSO- large breed foods are intended to make the dog grow SLOWER- which is not really necessary), Natures Variety (Yes, even though the calcium is high, the phosphorus levels allow for it to be used or expelled as necessary. That bit of information is from a company rep.)... I would say grain free (Innova puppy is not) would be your best bet. Blah sorry for the ramble. I will continue researching....and finding where these foods can be purchased on Cape Cod. Answer: I would say Innova Puppy, Orijen Puppy (Not necessarily large breed, because labs may or may not be considered a large breed dog, ALSO- large breed foods are intended to make the dog grow SLOWER- which is not really necessary), Natures Variety (Yes, even though the calcium is high, the phosphorus levels allow for it to be used or expelled as necessary. That bit of information is from a company rep.)... I would say grain free (Innova puppy is not) would be your best bet. Blah sorry for the ramble. Can you elaborate on that please and what the rep said? The Natures Variety Instinct is 2.49% calcium - and way too hi for a growing Lab pup. Not safe till one year of age - when pup is basically at their adult weight. I personally would not feed this to a growing pup. Not enough is known at this point IMO about phosphorous levels controlling how much calcium the pups body will use or expell. Have you heard this info from anywhere else other than this one rep for NV? Curious if other grain free / hi calc. manufacturers are making the same claims. Even the Evo is high at 3.3% cal. and the company says not to feed it to pups under one year of age. Answer: My baby Gracie comes home the first part of December. I emailed her breeder and asked what food to have ready for her and he said they'll be on Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy Food. Can I hear for you all on the best food for lab puppies..............I am not sure - there is so much out there.:confused: My view is that the breeder is in the best position to know what food works well for his/her puppies :) While some may not care if their puppies are switched, others make this a requirement, so it's always good to check. In any case, switching foods right away is ill advised, as the puppy is going through a lot of stress at this time, and a food change just adds to the stress. Personally, I have had excellent results feeding Pro Plan for puppies. My two year old ate it (regular puppy formula and then performance) for the first year and has done extremely well - she's never had a loose stool - which I find quite remarkable. When I fed other foods that looked better on paper, I was not as lucky. Good luck with the new puppy! Answer: That bit of information is from a company rep.)... I know some wonderful company reps, but even so, they may not always be the best source of unbiased information. Natura as a company flip-flopped on their recommendations for EVO and large breed puppies, originally marketing it aggressively for all dogs of all life stages based on their AAFCO approval. I always prefer peer reviewed research, and the excellent work of Hazewinkel, et al finally seems to have convinced the folks at Natura to recommend holding off until 12 months or so. The work of Dr. Hazewinkel and others has shown that large breed puppies gradually gain the ability to excrete excess calcium after 6 months of age, so waiting until a year seems prudent. :) Answer: Patty, I think she might be talking about the NV Prairie kibble. That's a bit high in calcium (although under the 1.5% limit), so I bet that is what Tricia meant...maybe! :) Also wanted to point out the first ingredient of the Pro Plan...Chicken. Sounds great, but remember, whole chicken contains the water. When the food is processed and the water is removed in the cooking process, the actually percentage of chicken to the rest of the ingredients could be far less. Hence, you could be feeding a food primarily made up of grains and mysterious poultry by-products. A reputable company that uses a high quality meat meal (chicken meal, lamb meal, whatever meal) has MORE protein coming from the meat source than if it just lists chicken, lamb etc. Answer: I put Cheyenne on Eagle Pack Holistic Large Puppy the day we brought her home. She was having severe diarriah, and after one day her stools firmed up. She loves the food, and has had no problems. Answer: My view is that the breeder is in the best position to know what food works well for his/her puppies :) While some may not care if their puppies are switched, others make this a requirement, so it's always good to check. In any case, switching foods right away is ill advised, as the puppy is going through a lot of stress at this time, and a food change just adds to the stress. Excellent advice! I too have had excellent results with Pro Plan...I've tried all of the foods mentioned and many, many more and keep coming back to it. Answer: Jen, good point on the meal vs. just chicken. Should have mentioned it too. At first I thought Tricia meant the prairie but at (what is it?) 1.2% calcium I would not consider that hi for a pup - so therefore thought she meant the Instinct. I also mentioned and agree that the breeder "may" know their lines best but I still think there are better choices out there. Remember we do not know this breeder so we have to keep in mind that the food may not be a large factor in their program. Answer: I meant the Instinct. Sorry. I don't think that he was being biased when he stated that if the phosphorus levels were relative to the calcium, it would be okay. Like I said above, I have heard it said that labs -within breed standards- don't have to be considered a large breed dog. What was I going to say... I forget. I'll be back, no worries. :D |
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