So i have posted about this before when Gus was 12 weeks but i need help again with portion control. Right now Gus gets fed 3 times a day, he is 20 weeks old and 24kg. It says on his clinivet food to feed him 30-50g of food per kilo of body weight. I currently feed him 350g of food a day and he will eat most of it but not all. So if i fed him what the guidelines says at 30g x 24kg would be 720g of food which seems like far too much. My sisters rottweiler gets 700g of food a day and hes an adult. Any insight in this would be great
I suppose if that is what your food guide says, then thats what it should be, although i alway knock off a wee bit of what they tell me. But 24kg x 40g does seem a lot. That would be 960g, about 3 x what I feed my 10 month old (he is twice a day now).
I found this on their website, which makes a bit more sense. Clinivet Puppy Feeding Guide (approx.) per day. Medium (10-25kg) 1-2 months 50-150g 2-4 months 100-350g 4-6 months 150-500g 6-9 months 200-500g 9-12 months 200-500g 12-18 months Adult Junior
The amounts which almost ALL food packets, tins, containers, raw food chubbs etc advise to feed are almost always too much. Do not ask me why this is (maybe so they can then whisk out their expensive diet formula and make you put your dog on that instead) but I can safely say that I have NEVER fed the recommended amount of any food. Feed according to eye: If your dog seems a good weight, continue what you're feeding. If your dog seems underweight, feed more. Overweight, feed less. Keep viewing your dog with an objective eye at least weekly - deliberately keep assessing their body condition - and adjusting what you feed if necessary. Roly poly fat puppies are not desirable... See: https://oregonvma.org/files/Purina-Dog-Condition-Chart.pdf
I have questioned Purina several times on their feeding chart as they state that an 8 week old puppy should get only 1/2 cup of food per day! Each time I question whether this is "per meal" or "per day", they tell me that "per day" is correct.....so Purina - at least on their Pro Plan puppy foods are the exception to the rule of feed less than the bag calls for. BUT, this is exactly why it is far better to use the visual and touch rule of thumb than to worry too much about the amount the bag calls for. Personally I'm far more concerned about upward growth because it should be slow and steady they say, but we all watch our puppies go through "growth spurts". Because of this, I actually have kept track of each of last five puppies height on a wall in my office and am constantly comparing them to ensure that the rate of growth upward is similar. I began this after our Angus was diagnosed with Hip and Elbow dysplasia from growing too fast and too tall - he dwarfs all the other now five year old litter mates. The two puppies that followed him were OFA's "excellent" hips and so I use their growth upward (measured beginning at 12 weeks) as my rule of thumb - and I transition off of puppy food to an all life stages at the first sign that one might be growing too fast upward. Angus was the ONLY Labrador I ever kept on puppy food longer than 6 months and the only one to date that had hip and elbow dysplasia (knock on wood) despite coming from two "Excellent" parents with generations tested as "normal" before them.
This I find interesting, as my response would actually be the opposite, I would keep my puppy on puppy food, as long as it is puppy designed for large breed puppies OR I had analysed the mineral content carefully. I am not so bothered about protein and fats as they are essential for good muscle growth. I say this because the actually ratio of calcium to phosphorous is pretty important in maintaining the correct skeletal growth rate, especially in large breed dog. Too high a ratio and there is the the risk of increasing bone turnover and early joint remodeling Equally this can be said of over feeding large breed puppies as has already been mentioned. This study is useful one looking at bone turnover and growth and the influence of calcium. I am sure there are lots more studies out there, but just picked this one out... https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?meta=Generic&pId=11181&id=3852276 This article talks about recommendations and guidelines: https://todaysveterinarynurse.com/articles/giant-expectations-nutrition-for-the-large-breed-puppy/ The recommended range for dietary calcium in large-breed puppies is 0.8% to 1.2% on a dry matter basis Dietary calcium and phosphorus are considered together and must be provided in a ratio of 1.1:1 to 2:1 to maintain an appropriate hormonal balance. ref: Bassert, JM, John Thomas. McCumin’s Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians, E-Book. 8th ed. 2014. (Atlanta, GA, Elsevier Health Sciences 319. The issue with transitioning to adult dog food that I have, is that the calcium content tends to be higher at around 2% or more.
Yes, I'm with Beanwood on this one.... Did that puppy which grew too fast too quickly get neutered early? Only we know that is a side effect of early neutering - dogs grow taller and lankier.
No, he was not neutered until 18 months. As I said in an earlier post, we have raised Labradors since 1965 and none of them were ever diagnosed with Hip and/or Elbow dysplasia. The ONE puppy fed on a large breed puppy food to the age of 10 months (at which point he was put on adult food). Both of his parents both OFA certified as Excellent Hips and Normal Elbows is the one who was diagnosed. Generations of his line had been OFA certified. His diagnosis led to months of my researching the issue and the claims of large breed dog food which require that more be fed than regular puppy food in many cases. Environment (from birth and not just after they go home at eight weeks) and growth rate play as large a role in dysplasia as do genetics else generations of testing would see fewer with the disorder. Every other Labrador we've raised from a puppy was off puppy food at 6 months.....
He was on a Large breed puppy food with the correct balance of phosphorus and calcium. And the all - life - stages food we transition to is Purina Pro-Plan Sport...with 1% Calcium to 0.8 Phosphorus. HE was not transitioned to that until AFTER he was diagnosed with the dysplasia.
Correction (time to edit expired) He was transitioned to an all life stages food - AFTER diagnosis and not before.
I just find it a bit strange because Large breed puppy food exists in order to see that growth occurs more gradually and to balance calcium and phosphorus levels specifically for large breed puppies - ie - it has been designed specifically to avoid and prevent the problems you are claiming it caused. Coincidences do happen, and weird as it sounds, maybe this just was one. Often people "over learn" from single trial learning (just as dogs do) and come to the wrong conclusions...
Often, people go back to what worked for them in the past when following a relatively new trend is shown to give a false sense of assurance. I cringe when I see people believe that because a breeder has warranted good hips and elbows and that because they are following the "large breed puppy food for a year" mantra think that they have it all covered. And I have never "claimed" that Large Breed Puppy food "caused" the Hip and Elbow dysplasia. I'm sorry if that was the impression you received. American Field Labs have in some cases been bred to be taller and longer than the "traditional" labrador. Three generations back, Angus was from such a line. Did that have anything to do with his rate of growth and his height at maturity (he is 27 inches at the shoulder). Probably; Large Breed Puppy Food with the correct balance of phosphorus to calcium till he was diagnosed at 10 months and parents with Excellent OFA certifications and a host of "normal range" certification in his ancestry didn't stop it from happening. The reality is that Labradors are "genetically predisposed" to dysplasia. We do what we can to prevent it but it still happens. Much research has been done lately because it still happens despite genetic testing and large breed diets and the conclusion five years ago in several studies was that it is 50% genetic and 50% environment (including food and activity and exercise); a more recent study showed that it is likely to be more like 30%/70%. There is also some evidence that it is more prevalent in males than in females. The upshot of it all is that we do the best we can and hope that it is enough to protect our dogs. Based upon my own research AND living with a five year old Labrador who is already arthritic - and whom I just let go live with my daughter's family so that he could live in a single story home with no steps at entry/exit points to decrease his pain - I have determined that I will use a combination of the old with the new. Large Breed Puppy food until 6 months and a move to an All Life Stages food that underwent AAFCO food trials with the correct balance of calcium to phosphorus...and I have raised two younger dogs with OFA certified Excellent hips and normal elbows in the process - one of them being of the same line as Angus.
Darn it I keep letting the five minute edit time expire.... There is also some evidence that it is more prevalent in males than in females - the "it" refers to elbow issues in males, not HD.
