Recommendations on adult dog kibble

[abbiediciaccio77]

I currently have a 10 month old female doberman that is still on puppy food. I know lots of people recommend switching them around 3 or 6 months to adult dog food or not give them puppy food at all but she seems to tolerate this food well so I was going to wait until about a year to switch her. Are there any brands or kinds of dog food I should switch her to? When I got her from the breeder they gave me some Costco brand cheap puppy food that eventually caused her to have growing pains and the vet recommended switching her to a puppy food meant for large breeds. She currently is eating Purina Pro Plan Large breed puppy food sensitive skin and stomach and she seems to like the food and hasn’t had any more issues with growing. I choose the sensitive skin and stomach since it had some better ingredients and since it’s starting to get cold in Upstate NY she’s starting to have dry flaky skin. I would love to keep her on this food but just switch to the adult large breed version but I’ve heard so many people recently say the food has changed and their dogs are having bad reactions to it and they are trying to get the company to create a recall on all of the purina pro foods. I would love to feed her raw food but that is way too pricey and hard for me to get without ordering it and paying expensive shipping fees. I’m just curious as to what everyone’s recommendations are for adult dry kibble food I should change my dog to.

 

[JanS]

Welcome from Minnesota!

You can switch to an all life stages food when they're even younger than this.

I'm not a huge Purina fan but Pro Plan is one of their better lines, if that's what you're feeding. I guess part of it is what you have available in your area, but we've always had good luck with the Taste of the Wild Ancient Grains food. It's not a bank buster and it's very high quality.

We'd love to see some photos of your girl.

 

[abbiediciaccio77]

Welcome from Minnesota!

You can switch to an all life stages food when they're even younger than this.

I'm not a huge Purina fan but Pro Plan is one of their better lines, if that's what you're feeding. I guess part of it is what you have available in your area, but we've always had good luck with the Taste of the Wild Ancient Grains food. It's not a bank buster and it's very high quality.

We'd love to see some photos of your girl.

Thank you I will definitely look into that brand!
Here is a couple pictures of Athena !

 

[JanS]

What a pretty girl!

 

[Doberman Gang]

we always use an all life stages food never feed puppy food. Switch to that and you will be fine

 

[AresMyDobie]

I don’t fee kibble but I would say Honest kitchen clusters if I did

 

[WANTED]

I currently have a 10 month old female doberman that is still on puppy food. I know lots of people recommend switching them around 3 or 6 months to adult dog food or not give them puppy food at all but she seems to tolerate this food well so I was going to wait until about a year to switch her. Are there any brands or kinds of dog food I should switch her to? When I got her from the breeder they gave me some Costco brand cheap puppy food that eventually caused her to have growing pains and the vet recommended switching her to a puppy food meant for large breeds. She currently is eating Purina Pro Plan Large breed puppy food sensitive skin and stomach and she seems to like the food and hasn’t had any more issues with growing. I choose the sensitive skin and stomach since it had some better ingredients and since it’s starting to get cold in Upstate NY she’s starting to have dry flaky skin. I would love to keep her on this food but just switch to the adult large breed version but I’ve heard so many people recently say the food has changed and their dogs are having bad reactions to it and they are trying to get the company to create a recall on all of the purina pro foods. I would love to feed her raw food but that is way too pricey and hard for me to get without ordering it and paying expensive shipping fees. I’m just curious as to what everyone’s recommendations are for adult dry kibble food I should change my dog to.

I switched my girl to Costco salmon and sweet potatoe at 10 and she has done fine ...now over 3. I also add an egg 2×/wk, 1T olive oil 4×/wk , cheese 4x/wk, or peas a few x/ wk. Never a problem

 

[Ziva23]

we always use an all life stages food never feed puppy food. Switch to that and you will be fine

What is wrong with puppy pro plan

 

[BGpa]

Welcome from Minnesota!

You can switch to an all life stages food when they're even younger than this.

I'm not a huge Purina fan but Pro Plan is one of their better lines, if that's what you're feeding. I guess part of it is what you have available in your area, but we've always had good luck with the Taste of the Wild Ancient Grains food. It's not a bank buster and it's very high quality.

We'd love to see some photos of your girl.

There is a 3 generation dobe breeder/trainer of PPD in SoCal who swears by the Ancient Grains, last I looked.

@Ziva23 hou didnt ask me but I'll poke my nose in;
I haven't heard "bad things" about Purina, and note since theyy are very active in sponsoring research, educating vets, you tend to get that answer from breeders who trust their vets...Hills Science is similar.

and I read that other dobe owners mention the PPP for sensitive tummies often.

@WANTED (?) I'm interested in the Costco salmon/sweet potato for cost efficiency, glad to hear it works.

Bonnie turns up her nose at sweet potatoe treats, however so we are sticking with Inukshik which if you buy online at Chewy in large size on subscription with free shipping shows up on doorstep roughly same price as PPP.

I like the advice I read somewhere, probly here:
Use what the breeder suggests and if you do change and its working "dont fix what aint broken".
Watch their weight and health, esp skin, and check for typical dobe stuff in annual wellness visit at the vet. Watch for thyroid and copper levels in dobes...
You know the food thing makes dog owners craziest, including me...so remember the old saying about opinions on the internet: they are like (insert anatomical reference here); everyone has one and they all stink!

 

[JanS]

I haven't heard "bad things" about Purina, and note since theyy are very active in sponsoring research, educating vets, you tend to get that answer from breeders who trust their vets

They are great when it comes to helping out organizations and such. The PPP isn't the worst food but I would not feed the puppy formula for any sort of food since I don't want to risk Pano with a growing pup. All life stages is much better. I personally won't feed PPP since there are some ingredients in it that I avoid.

 

[MichiH]

They are great when it comes to helping out organizations and such. The PPP isn't the worst food but I would not feed the puppy formula for any sort of food since I don't want to risk Pano with a growing pup. All life stages is much better. I personally won't feed PPP since there are some ingredients in it that I avoid.

I will second that with PPP, as you all know we had ongoing Gi issues with Pepper while she was on the SS one.

@BG1 My breeder used a Costco kibble- forget which flavor- , but my store doesn’t carry it- when the pups were new and sent us home with some. Then we were to transition to the kibble she used for all her dogs. I listened to my vet did PPP as the new food and yeah never seemed to work out.

We use now what our breeder said to use, lesson learned, Holistic Select and it agrees with Pepper.

 

[JanS]

Holistic Select and it agrees with Pepper.

It's great you finally found something that agrees with her.

 

[Aaron56]

They are great when it comes to helping out organizations and such. The PPP isn't the worst food but I would not feed the puppy formula for any sort of food since I don't want to risk Pano with a growing pup. All life stages is much better. I personally won't feed PPP since there are some ingredients in it that I avoid.

Once upon a time I was an idiot and used my girls as a disposal for a few cans of corn that were nearing the best by date...

One broke out in little red hives on her tummy.

 

[BGpa]

They are great when it comes to helping out organizations and such. The PPP isn't the worst food but I would not feed the puppy formula for any sort of food since I don't want to risk Pano with a growing pup. All life stages is much better. I personally won't feed PPP since there are some ingredients in it that I avoid.

TY @JanS btw what is "Pano"?
I'm a dobe noob...

 

[JanS]

Panosteitis or simply put, growing pains. They say that feeding a pup a puppy formula can cause them to have growth spurts too fast and may cause it.

 

[BGpa]

Panosteitis or simply put, growing pains. They say that feeding a pup a puppy formula can cause them to have growth spurts too fast and may cause it.

TY, Jan! So Dobes need to grow slowly but completely until the long leg bone growth plates are closed- one reason why delay spay/neuter to two years vs the standard vet advice at 12 months?
Is pano related to knuckling,
Ie what can happen to dobe pups if fed too high protein?

 

[JanS]

one reason why delay spay/neuter to two years vs the standard vet advice at 12 months?

Yes, we had to have our first Doberman neutered by 7 months per the breeders contract and he was nothing but legs, even though he was half Euro.

Is pano related to knuckling,
Ie what can happen to dobe pups if fed too high protein?

I'm not entirely sure and there are a lot of different opinions out there about it. I know knuckling often happens in younger pups but pano can come on when they're a little older pup.

 

[Madzy420]

I found a recommendation here for Voyager Dog Food company and followed it. We've been feeding ours the high performance formula ever since and she does well on it. I love that there's nothing in it which will aggravate her allergies and it's copper free.

 

[BGpa]

I found a recommendation here for Voyager Dog Food company and followed it. We've been feeding ours the high performance formula ever since and she does well on it. I love that there's nothing in it which will aggravate her allergies and it's copper free.

Copper free? Thats a good tip.
After Bonnie popped positive for the copper storage disease gene (thats more "penetrant" than DCM markers, according to U of Utrecht study) I did some more homework,
emailed Embark and got the detailed breakdown on copper and switched to lowest level formula, to be proactive, just in case.

Adding liver tests at each annual wellness check to build a baseline...and thyroid at age three.
Btw AAFCO doesnt have a copper standard reporting, yet. There's been talk about it.

So for more me its more about comparing A brand to B, and then year after year to see the signs early, similar to DCM. Markers dont say you are getting it, nor is the absence proof you wont...
Some agreement that there is a dietary impact on DCM so you can do same on that. See vet seminar on "DCM healthplan" at DPCA education forum for more.

 

[Aaron56]

Copper free? Thats a good tip.
After Bonnie popped positive for the copper storage disease gene (thats more "penetrant" than DCM markers, according to U of Utrecht study) I did some more homework,
emailed Embark and got the detailed breakdown on copper and switched to lowest level formula, to be proactive, just in case.

Adding liver tests at each annual wellness check to build a baseline...and thyroid at age three.
Btw AAFCO doesnt have a copper standard reporting, yet. There's been talk about it.

So for more me its more about comparing A brand to B, and then year after year to see the signs early, similar to DCM. Markers dont say you are getting it, nor is the absence proof you wont...
Some agreement that there is a dietary impact on DCM so you can do same on that. See vet seminar on "DCM healthplan" at DPCA education forum for more.

DVM360 is a website you might enjoy.

I personally like the videos from the behaviorists. Pick up useful tidbits all the time from those...