When to switch from puppy food?

[snuggly mama]

Our puppy will be 5 months old in a couple of weeks. He's been on the Wellness Puppy kibble and the same brand of canned since we got him home at 9 weeks old. Our vet isn't much help at all (we're getting a new one as soon as we can), so I'm just wondering when to switch him to an adult or all-stages food? We'd like to stick with the Wellness and the kibble/canned mix, since he seems to be doing well on it.

[mom0810]

I stop puppy food at five months, or whenever I run out of puppy food around that time. Just switch to adult or "all life stages" food now, would be my rec.

[PlayaMama]

how big is your dog? i kept our 80 pound dog on puppy food until she was about 1-1/2 because she was still growing and using a LOT of calories. my 40 pound dog i switched at about a year.

[slimkins]

I think we usually switched our dogs somewhere around 6 mos. That is also when we go down to just 2 feedings a day. Since little ones do use up so many calories like one of the PP said, I would definitely feed your pup a bit more than the recommended amount when you do switch.

[mom0810]

Originally Posted by PlayaMama

how big is your dog? i kept our 80 pound dog on puppy food until she was about 1-1/2 because she was still growing and using a LOT of calories. my 40 pound dog i switched at about a year.

BIG dogs are exactly the ones that should NOT be on puppy food past 5 or 6 months.

[Ola_]

Yes, and in fact many large breed breeders ask that you not feed puppy food at all but rather use an "all life stages" food.

[snuggly mama]

He's a small dog. Right now, he weighs about 8 pounds, and will be about 15-16 full grown (he's a larger-than-average mini-dachshund). He's getting fed twice a day, which seems to be working well for him, and he does get healthy treats in between.

[mom0810]

Yes, you would be fine to switch to adult or "all life stages" now. I would stay with two feedings, but switch the food.

[PlayaMama]

well, we didn't know that she was going to get that large (and switched to a large-breed puppy food once she was about 7 months) plus she regulates her food intake on her own so we free feed. i figured, if she doesn't overeat then i'm sure she knows when she's had enough calories.

i'd always heard that a year was a good time for a mid-size dog to switch and a little less for a smaller dog.

[mom0810]

That's kind of old information. Some breeders wait a year, but most stop at 5 months or so. Around the age of "puberty".

[PlayaMama]

i have been out of that aspect of pet ownership for about 10 years so i could see how it would be. we moved into training and rescue work rather than raising puppies.

[Carolinamidwife]

For a small breed I would wait a year, if it were me.

For our Great Dane we never fed puppy food but for my toy poodle I fed it for over a year because she was teeny weeny.

[mistymama]

We feed our mini-dachshund raw - but if I was doing puppy food, I would switch around 5-6 months.

[Sol_y_Paz]

With my breed of choice (large breed) I never feed puppy food at all past 8 weeks old, it encourages too fast of growth and puts too much extra stress on bones and joints and can cause Pano.
Really, I don't get the marketing of puppy foods after weaning. All dogs eat the same thing in a "pack". I know dogs are far removed from the wild and all of that, but my common sense still knows it is marketing to encourage fast growth, and I don't think fast growth is always a good thing. I think some of the best foods are all life stages, and raw patties (think Nature's Variety) or homemade raw, and high quality holistic dog food brands like Eagle Pack, Innova, etc. with high quality add-in's like yogurt, cottage cheese, real meats, etc.

[mom0810]

Yup. We do Eagle Pack Holistic here. Start out with the puppy food and then once that bag is gone we switch to the adult Holistic. I LOVE their food. :

(for my dogs, I mean --although ds2 eats it sometimes!)