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Canidae for a pup?


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I've raised my pup so far (four months) on adult food (mostly Solid Gold). My vet, who seems very knowledgeable, told me that puppies need more fat in their diets and was satisfied when I told her I was adding salmon oil.

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Look for a high quality food that has passed feeding trials for growing pups, whether it is marketed as a puppy food or an "all life stages" food. The % protein DOES NOT MATTER, though I prefer to go low grain myself. The key is to keep the pup thin while meeting all it's requirements.

 

 

ETA:

 

Canidae has NOT passed feeding trials.

 

"CANIDAE® All Life Stage formula is formulated to meet the AAFCO Dog Nutrient Profiles for all life stages."

 

To compare, here is what I have raised my most recent pups on...

 

"Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that EVO Red Meat Large Bites Dry Dog Food provides complete and balanced nutrition for ALL LIFE STAGES."

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I've feed Canidae, and my dogs did fine on it. It's a good food for a good price, IMO. And yes, as an "all life stages" food, you can start puppies right out on it.

 

ETA: I'm SURE someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the idea is have slow, steady growth for your puppy. Puppy foods can cause rapid growth and chubby puppies.

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ETA: I'm SURE someone will correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the idea is have slow, steady growth for your puppy. Puppy foods can cause rapid growth and chubby puppies.

 

Yes, the idea is for slow growth. Puppy food is great if you don't feed too much of it. You can make a pup fat and grow too fast on an adult food, it just takes a bit more to do it. I see people all the time with fat pups on large breed puppy or adult foods.

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Natura now has their own facility, which apparently is a very nice one. Other brands, I don't really trust - the whole feeding trial thing gives me the creeps. Something about the thought of watching dogs to see whether they get ill from some nutritional deficicency - "Welp. That didn't work. Cut him up and see what went wrong!" We don't do that for human rations - we know what people need more or less and don't need to put kids in a holding cell every time they come out with a new flavor of Pop-Tart or Hamburger Helper.

 

So, I have no problem feeding something like Canidae that has "only" been formulated to be in line what is known to date about canine nutrition. You have to be careful feeding an ALS food to a giant pup - just figure out how much actual calcium your pup would be getting and make sure it's in line with what the maximum is to prevent bone growth problems.

 

Otherwise, the only issues I've seen with ALS foods is they do sometimes seem to need a bit more oil for good skin and coat health, especially as they approach puberty. I add some canned fish, and also a fish oil supplement along with a little more vitamin E. Everyone gets that anyway, since I firmly believe no land-based commercial livestock has nearly sufficient levels of EFA and DHA anymore. But that's another topic, :rolleyes:

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Passing feeding trials? Some how, I think many of us utilize our own "feeding trials" when we chose a good food, and most especially raw, diet for our dogs. Feeding trials, do you know exactly what they consist of and how they are accomplished? Science Diet has passed feeding trials.

 

Yes, I do. I would rather a company make an effort to do a feeding trial after carefully formulating a diet than to just throw it on the market with no research. Would I feed SD to my dogs? NO! Do I think Canidae is a bad food? Not at all. Given the choice between C and SD I would choose C. Compared to some other pet food companies SD actually does very little research.

 

Why do I suggest buying a quality food that has passed feeding trials? Because some foods may look and sound good on paper (all natural, human grade, etc) but in fact be deficient in key nutrients. I see people recommending foods that were formulated by people with NO background in science, let alone nutrition, that at first glance look great. I would not trust the health of my dogs to companies like that by feeding their food exclusively and hoping that they have done their homework.

 

You have to remember that many of the regulars on these boards have the experience and knowledge to do their own "feeding trials" while most of the general public does not. Also, with growing puppies, by the time you notice a nutritional deficiency the damage has been done and may not be reversible.

 

As to feeding trials being creepy, would you rather they figure out something is wrong in a small group of dogs or in thousands of pets after the food has been sold? In a feeding trial for pet foods they are not trying to create deficiencies, they are trying to identify any holes/mistakes in their formula before the food hits the market. For example they may have added a plant based product that should provide some nutrient then discover through feeding it that while humans can utilize it just fine but dogs/cats need an animal based form.

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