Age of a puppy

[donna hughes]

Can someone tell me what age is considered a puppy? I want to make sure I am feeding Marley the right food.

[Patty]

Generally about 6 months but there are variations. Ease Marley into adult feeding gradually when he is ready..

[DebraDownSouth]

I generally get dogs off puppy food by about 5 to 6 mos. The "puppy chow for a full year til he's full grown" crappola is meant to sell puppy food, at a higher price per pound than adult food. Is typically not necessary for anything but tiny breeds. In fact, too much nutrition can result in both obesity and too fast of bone growth.

[lisastewart]

I do not feed puppy food, I have used canidae, innova and taste of the wild which are all stages of life food.

[Kipawa]

Kipawa has only ever been on Taste of The Wild. I mix half and half with their fowl and bison flavours. His supper meal also contains some veggies - usually squash, sweet potato or broccoli, which he really loves.

[tanza]

@lisastewart:

I do not feed puppy food, I have used canidae, innova and taste of the wild which are all stages of life food.

Like you Lisa, I do not feed puppy food either… If I whelped the litter I will use puppy food till about 8wks (or when the bag runs out) and then switch to regular adult food.

[sharronhurlbut]

So, you can do a quality food for puppies that isn't "puppy chow"..correct?

[tanza]

@sharronhurlbut:

So, you can do a quality food for puppies that isn't "puppy chow"..correct?

IMO, yes you can

[Nemo]

@sharronhurlbut:

So, you can do a quality food for puppies that isn't "puppy chow"..correct?

There was an older thread about this and what it came down to was that the higher quality foods already meet the minimum nutritional "guidelines" as stated for puppies (if you go by those). There is no benefit of using a puppy food from that perspective.

I'm not planning to feed puppy food in the future after looking at that information.

[lisastewart]

I found that most of the higher quality foods are sold as for all stages of life. My pups are doing great on Taste of the wild with raw twice a week.