Puppies and the protein debate

[Paegan]

The breeder I purchased Willow from had her on Iams Large Breed puppy food. When the dog food scare happened last year, I did a lot of research into the commercial dog foods and was not impressed with what I found out about Iams.

So while doing the research for a new food, Origen large breed puppy food came highly recommended by several contacts. So over the course of thesse past 3 weeks I have gradually changed over to the Origen.

I'm on another dog forum, and people are telling me I am headed for big trouble because the Origen has too much protein for a growing Newfie.

So, after doing some more reading in the internet, I have no idea which camp I should be in - low protein - high protein / low calcium. Frankly it makes more sense to me to understand that dogs are carnivores and their digestive systems are not designed for all the "grains" that are in the low protein foods.

I need some experienced people here to help me with this issue.

Thanks you very much.

 

[Bär]

I have been feeding Orijen to Bär for a couple of months now & have great results.
There is a diffrence between protein from grains & protein from meat. If you check some older threads you will find some good info from Peter Maniate, he is a newf breeder & has lots of info on Orijen.

 

[ozzysma]

my stevie has been on orijen since whelping!! no issues, no overweight! she has the most incredible thick shinny coat possible!!! check out peter maniate's website Hannibal kennels . or the old orijen posts. i have truly become a no grain believer!!

 

[Ohana Mom]

I think if you do a search on here you will find a ton of info on this very subject. And you will find 2 very distinct camps. Some believe it's really a ratio of the calcium & phosphorus than the protein....

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

The one thing most of us agree on is no puppy food. Newf pups should be on adult food from day one. Lower protein is better since it allows your pup to grow slowly for good future joint development.

 

[Jess664393]

Just curious how many people think there should be no puppy food?

 

[LiquidBlue]

I am also curious about the no puppy food thing...personally I would prefer to have both my dogs on the same food.

 

[Sound Bay Newfs]

Just curious how many people think there should be no puppy food?

If you do a search here, you will find that just about all of us do.

 

[DreamTime Newfs]

I do not agree with the "no puppy food" rule but I am in the minority. My dogs are on puppy food until the are 8-12 months old and then I switch them to adult food. The breeder that I got my puppies from has always done this and has had good health results and I have also. This has worked for our lines so I would not switch at this point.

 

[NKlein]

I also recently switched to Orijen and the plan is to stick with it when we get a pup down the road.

One of the issues was calories per cup in Orijen vs. other premium foods. Because Orijen has nearly twice as many calories per cup (thus you have to feed significantly less), the 44% protein isn't comparable to other foods. Per calorie, the protein is similar.

I remember researching this a couple of months ago, I will try to find the thread...

 

[Paegan]

I read Peter Maniate's sight and it seems he has his pups on the Origen Puppy Food. I also read the feeding recommendations on the Origen bag and it seems like the recommendation for daily feeding is too much food per day. Willow will eat about 1/2 cup in the morning and again in the evening. She's 11 weeks old.

 

[ardeagold]

IMO, at 11 weeks old, Willow should be eating 3-4 times a day. Smaller meals, more frequently. They have little tiny tummies....and need to fill it more frequently instead of getting so much at one time. This also helps keep digestive issues at bay. Too much at one meal can cause diarrhea.

Cole was on 3 meals a day until he hit a year old. Most of ours just stopped wanting lunch at about 6 mos old. But we had to "up" the breakfast and dinner amount to cover the "missed" lunch.

I'm in the camp that believes that the phosphorus/calcium ratio is the *most* important factor for proper bone/joint formation. Protein is necessary for good musculature.