Yet another kibble inquiry

[Angie H]

I know this must be covered elsewhere, but I searched with Puppy Kibble and went through 5 pages and did not see what I am looking for.

 

Most of you know by now since I've suddenly turned into a posting machine, that Binx is my 7 month rescue pup. When he was at the farm, he ate what all of our rescues ate - which is a mixture of whatever is donated - some puppy kibble, some senior kibble, some all life stages, whatever - and I pour all of the bags into a large garbage can that is kept in the kennel, and scoop it out. So from about 17 weeks when he came into rescue until 6 months, when I adopted him - that's what he ate.

 

I put him on Innova Puppy when he came home with me. My other fosters get either California Natural Lamb/Rice or Natural Balance or a combination thereof.

 

I have read that it is not good to keep them on puppy food too long as it can cause them to grow too quickly. He is 7 months old, but he has not been on Puppy food until recently. So my question is, should I switch or leave him on it? He was a wee bit underweight when I brought him home, but he has filled out a little bit already.

 

I was considering a grain free kibble, but of course it has high levels of protein (some are 42%)...is that a no-no for a puppy? I've also read that puppy's should not be on EVO - which is grain free - even though they state it is for all life stages.

 

Can anyone put this in a nutshell for me and vote whether Binx should stay on puppy formula, switch to adult formula, or go grain free?!

 

Note: I do give my dogs a raw soup bone once or twice a week and I also add some fresh food to their dish a couple times a week, such as canned salmon or mackeral, cottage cheese, yogurt, veggies (if taking weight off), left over chx breast or hamburger, etc.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Pippin's person]

I'd take him off the puppy kibble and use a high-quality adult kibble.

 

I recently heard that different breeds were better suited to different diets, and BCs were noted as a breed that does better with a high carb diet. I didn't get any actual scientific evidence or citations for this, so take it as you will (though they were fed oatmeal and meat scraps for centuries, so it wouldn't be all that surprising).

 

Personally, I think the grain-free kibble is too expensive and most of it is too high protein for the main kibble, so I mix in a little to give a bit of a boost to whatever adult kibble I'm feeding.

[Sue R]

I agree that adult food should be right for his age and history.

 

My two who have one parent each from Ireland would thrive on kibble with higher amounts of grain and fiber - they are both big "grazers" and food that is "too good" can upset and loosen their systems.

 

Why I was over in Scotland, the kibble that I saw professional shepherds using was full of coarsely cracked corn, the dog poops were huge, and the dogs could work on the hill for hours.

 

That said, I feed Canidae and Eagle Pack Holistic - but I think I could easily feed my dogs with something less expensive and lower quality (more grain, less meat ingredients) and still have healthy, good-looking dogs that would not lose stamina.

[Angie H]

Ahhhh! Thank you!!

 

I have also read in one of the BC mag articles that they seem to do well on Lamb and Rice...And although I hadn't thought of it, the info that you provided about their background of being fed oatmeal and scraps makes PERFECT sense to me why they may do best with some carbs in their diet.

 

In my experience with fostering different dogs/breeds (mostly BC's, but have been quite a few others sprinkled in) - it really does depend on the dog as to what formula they do best on, but I just wanted to know mainly if I should get him off of the Puppy stuff. I personally prefer small, firm poops to pick up in the yard - it makes me think 1) not as much waste of nutrients and 2) not as much poop to shovel or to step around!!

 

Sue, I have also experienced some dogs whose systems just cannot handle the "good stuff" and do better on something middle of the road.

 

I bought a bag of Regular Adult Innova (not the grain free EVO) last night, thinking I should probably switch him off of the puppy stuff. The protein and fat levels are decent but not over the top and I do like that they use more than one meat protein. I have never used Eagle Pack, but hear good things on that one also.

 

Thanks for the tips...

[hsnrs]

We always fed our puppies adult Costco's Kirkland Lamb and Rice. THey all did fine and so do our adults (Aussies).

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

I kept Daisy on puppy until she was about 1 year, the vet wanted her to gain more weight. I couldn't keep weight on her to save my life until I switched her to a higher protein diet, so it really does depend on the dog and what their requirements are, most of my dogs up until now were really "easy keepers"!