[luvMyBRT]

Thanks for all the thoughts on my other thread about when to switch our new puppy over to a new food. I am going to begin switching him right away, very slowly. Getting him on a better food asap is top priority in my book. :smile:

I talked to the breeder yesterday and remembered to ask her what food she is going to be starting the litter on. She told me Eukanuba! Yuck! I was shocked! That even gives me more reason to switch him as soon as he comes home!

Anyways, living in a very small Eastern Oregon town I have been looking around as to see what large breed puppy foods I can find. I don't have much to choose from! :frown: I am able to get Wellness Large Breed Puppy and Innova Large Breed Puppy.

I would love to hear from those that have fed these foods. Pros and cons. Which did your puppy like? Which do you feel is a better food?

 

[DaneMama]

Why not feed both in a rotation? To my understanding I think that people have liked both (and even disliked both) for various reasons since they are both higher quality kibbles. Usually people don't like one or the other because it didn't sit well with their dog for some reason. But if your dog can handle both just fine I would rotate them and switch off between them.

Variety is key in any diet, even a kibble diet. So feeding a rotation of different foods can give your dog a bit of variety in foods.

 

[luvMyBRT]

That's a great idea! I have read many times about that and have done a rotation from time to time with my older GSH Pointer. Now why hadn't I thought of that with the puppy?? Duh!! :tongue:

It's been almost 10 years since I have had a puppy so I am needing to brush up on puppy stuff! LOL.

With a large breed puppy I will feed the puppy food for the first year and then switch to an adult formula, right?

 

[DaneMama]

You definitely can. There is some skepticism and controversy over the whole "large breed puppy food" versus other dog foods and the high protein scare with large breed dogs...but I personally think its bogus. Dogs and puppies both thrive off of protein, so the more the better. BUT it has to be appropriate protein, which means animal derived and not plant derived. Unfortunately some protein in kibble comes from plant based ingredients which are pretty much useless to the dog.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with using either of those foods for a year and then switching to an adult formula.

 

[chowder]

I used Innova Large Breed Puppy with Rocky at first before I switched him to Orijen Grain free large breed puppy. I couldn't get the Orijen locally but I order all my food online at petfooddirect.com. When I have a coupon code from them it more then covers the shipping and I usually can get it within a week from them. Rocky did really well on both the Innova and the Orijen. Now he is on EVO and Orijen. Evo is made by the same company as Innova. Usually someone online here will post the coupon codes but if you get on their email list, pet food direct will email you the latest coupons.

Both foods are really good for puppies. The only Wellness foods I use are their grain free version.

 

[buddy97]

i spend most of my time on a GSD board, and it seems many people have been very happy with the Wellness Super 5 Large Breed Puppy. id stay away from anything labelled just "puppy" as well as grainless foods (other than orijen) because often those two are not designed with slow growth in mind (which we want for our larger breed pups). even any adult food with around 1.6% maximum Ca or less would work fine as well. as long as the max Ca levels are in this range, a higher protein level from a meat based food is not an issue.