when to move from puppy food

[Lory H]

My basenji Korben is now 5 months old and 19 lbs. He is still on puppy food and generally eats 2/3 of a cup twice a day. When should we move him to adult food and how much should we be feeding him?

[tanza]

@lory-h - I have never used puppy food with any of my litters, pups were raised on the same good quality grain free as all my adults. So no reason to not change to adult food now... again, good quality kibble. I also mix with Veggies, cooked/raw, Fruits, yogurt, meat (raw and cooked)... I change up kibble every few weeks so they are always getting something different. I never have to worry about changing foods as they are used to changes all the time. As far as how much, that is depending on the pup... hard to give direction without seeing pictures... and you can't really go by what food packages say as they are only general.

[Reddie]

Agreed! Never used a puppy food...
We have ducks so duck eggs, yogurt, all kind of raw or cooked meats/veggies.

[DonC]

I think the standard recommendation is a year. I doubt there would. be a big problem switching to adult food a bit early or late. But when you switch you want to do that gradually.

I'd have to look, and I'm not sure I have records for that late, but 19 pounds at 5 months seems about right. Hard to say though. Some have posted here with what I'd say are insanely low weights and they have done OK.

As for how much to feed him, the best way is to look, keeping in mind that at under a year it's probably better to err on the high than the low side. Cups are not such a reliable way to do it because some mixes have a lot more calories than others per unit volume.

Seems like everything is good. No doubt 1000% better than what they would have gotten in Africa.

[eeeefarm]

There's an old saying horse people have, "the eye of the master maketh the horse". IMO it is the same with dogs. Feed according to what your eye tells you. It usually isn't hard to tell if your dog or pup is gaining or losing, and once mature you should be able to observe whether the dog is chubby or lean. A nice covering of the ribs is good, but you should be able to easily feel them! Slightly underweight is healthier than overweight, and especially puppies should not be fat.

[Zande]

Mine were always on adult food from the get-go. At first I ground the kibble to almost a powder, then let them eat it more and more coarse until they could cope with it exactly as it came out of the sack. I'd make sure it was softened a bit (with water) and saw to it that there was always fresh water available to the pups.

Puppies were sent to their forever homes with enough for the first week or so in order that the new owners could gradually wean them over to a food of their own choice.

[Lory H]

Thank you all for the comments about food. We have tried broccoli and cottage cheese but does not seem to enjoy it. We will try other veggies to set if he likes those.

[tanza]

@lory-h - Don't give up on veggies just because they didn't like it the first time.... and try yogurt also

[morgansc]

@lory-h said in when to move from puppy food:

We have tried broccoli and cottage cheese but does not seem to enjoy it.

Try everything. My girl did not like raw carrots but loves them when cooked. She used to like raw green beans/ now she likes them cooked. She adores frozen green peas, cooked yam, bananas, mango, yogurt, and cooked broccoli. Keep trying.

[Zande]

@morgansc said in when to move from puppy food:

@lory-h said in when to move from puppy food:

We have tried broccoli and cottage cheese but does not seem to enjoy it.

Try everything. My girl did not like raw carrots but loves them when cooked. She used to like raw green beans/ now she likes them cooked. She adores frozen green peas, cooked yam, bananas, mango, yogurt, and cooked broccoli. Keep trying.

I have yet to find a vegetable mine will NOT eat / steal. Green beans - it's like feeding a nest of sparrows as they all stand on hind legs and you drop green 'worms' into eager mouths.

Keepurr will even leave his arm chair last thing at night to the magic word 'cabbage.' I have learned over the years always to cook more veggies than the family will eat in order to have some over for the Basenji pack.

You'll find something - cooked or raw - it all the same to mine.

[tanza]

@zande Agree...Mine too Zande... they love all veggies... for sure root veggies...

[DebraDownSouth]

There is a lot of research and I am too tired to care. Basically, they don't digest fruits and veggies raw much unless you grind them up. Since I feed them as treats and snacks, I don't care. Mine eat everything from lettuce to carrots, cabbage, green beans.. cooked and raw.

[Lory H]

Thanks for the suggestions. We have started giving peas and carrots with his dinner and he seems to enjoy them. We will start adding more as time goes on.just experiment just like we do with kids.