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When did you switch from puppy to adult food?

CoachKG

Member
I'm getting different answers depending on who I ask (vet, breeder, trainer, etc). Our mastiff is 4-1/2 months now and I was thinking of switching to adult food at about 1 year. So far he's been doing well on Costco puppy food which was breeder recommended. Thanks for your input.
 

maryl

Well-Known Member
When I was breeding Newfys, I weened my pups directly to a high quality adult kibble. When I got my Mastiff at 9 wks. his breeder had him on puppy food. I changed that within a week.
 

CoachKG

Member
When I was breeding Newfys, I weened my pups directly to a high quality adult kibble. When I got my Mastiff at 9 wks. his breeder had him on puppy food. I changed that within a week.
Why did you switch your mastiff to adult food so quickly?
 

kingmark

Well-Known Member
I'm getting different answers depending on who I ask (vet, breeder, trainer, etc). Our mastiff is 4-1/2 months now and I was thinking of switching to adult food at about 1 year. So far he's been doing well on Costco puppy food which was breeder recommended. Thanks for your input.
Stick with puppy food until he is a year old or year and a half. It also depends what is the quality of that food you are feeding him? Is it made for large breed puppies? Also what kind of mastiff do you have?
 

glen

Super Moderator
Staff member
Never fed any of my 3 puppy food I'm from UK and feed mine eden it's for all ages
 

CoachKG

Member
Stick with puppy food until he is a year old or year and a half. It also depends what is the quality of that food you are feeding him? Is it made for large breed puppies? Also what kind of mastiff do you have?
Thanks. He's an English Mastiff. The Costco puppy food says it's for large breeds. We've had him since 10 weeks and he's been healthy and steadily growing.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I prefer an all stages food with the appropriate calcium to phosphorus ratios. Our EMs aren't large breeds, their giant breeds. Not all large breed puppy foods have the correct ratios of calcium to phosphorus to promote proper growth. I don't recall seeing a large breed puppy food at my costco. Just the yellow bag of regular puppy food and I've never looked at the ratios. Your food may be just fine. When my girl was small I fed her 4Health salmon from Tractor Supply and now she's on Costco's Nature's Domain all life stages salmon. My girl is almost five now, but unless something has changed, both used to have the correct ratios for a puppy.

I like calcium to be between 1.0-1.8% and phosphorus to be 1.0 to 1.4%. I'm looking for a food that gets the levels as close to a 1.2 : 1 ratio as possible. Generally that means that the levels look something like this: calcium 1-1.5% and phosphorus .08-1%.

Here's a link with some info and a calculator to analyze the food towards the bottom.
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/best-large-breed-puppy-food/
 
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