# 14 week Standard Poodle- Reg puppy food vs Large Breed puppy



## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Jin said:


> I asked my vet and he said to give her regular puppy food because large breed doesn't contain as much fat, protein, etc and could make her grow too quickly


Hi, Darcy! Perhaps the vet misunderstood your question, because I understand it's actually the opposite. Large breed puppy food is designed to limit the rate of growth.

Here's a good explanation:

_Overnutrition plays a large role in excessive growth, which is why it is important to feed your large breed puppy a diet specially formulated for large breeds. These diets differ from regular puppy diets in four ways:_

_Lower in fat_
_Lower in calcium_
_Lower in phosphorus_
_Lower in vitamin D_
_While it is tempting to think that large breed puppies need more calcium to support healthy bone growth, studies have linked high levels of calcium and phosphorus to DOD. Limiting the intake of calcium, phosphorus, and vitamin D helps reduce the risk of DOD in puppies, and limiting the number of calories in their food helps to slow growth rates.

How much you feed your puppy also matters. Veterinarians discourage free feeding of large breed puppies, as this too has been linked to DOD. Instead, feed your puppy several smaller meals throughout the day and monitor his weight to make sure it stays within a healthy range. Ask your veterinarian for help determining the appropriate weight range for your dog’s breed._









Best Dog Food for Large Dogs & Puppies


Owning a large breed dog comes with large responsibilities, especially when it comes to choosing the best large breed dog food. After all, you want your do




www.akc.org


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

Peggy's right, the normal puppy food can make a large breed grow too quickly, the large breed food helps to regulate it.
By her puppy weights it sounds like she is going to be a bigger standard (for comparison my boy was 18 or 19 lbs at 4 months and was expected to be 45-55lbs; at 7 months now he is 48lbs already). Generally a dog that is expected to be 50lbs or more at adult size is considered large breed and could benefit from large breed puppy food. Since my dog is right near the line I talked to my vet about it too. He said that while it was possible that he doesn't need large breed, it wasn't going to hurt and he would err on the side of trying to regulate growth. So my boy has been on large breed puppy food since about 3 months.


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## Jin (Jan 17, 2015)

Thank you both for the response! I do agree that large breed seems like the better choice after reading up on the topic and your replies so, thank you! The vet gave us a sample bag of the science diet large breed puppy and from the few pieces of kibble I let her try she seemed to like it. Do you have any suggestions? We’ve always gone with Merrick but Wellness stuck out to us too just because the breeder had given her that food previously (even though it wasn’t the large breed puppy formula)


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

I am currently transitioning Peggy from Nutro Ultra to Farmina N&D Ancestral Grains (both large breed, puppy formulas). 

She so far prefers the taste of Farmina and it has no peas, lentils, potatoes, etc. which have been recently named as possible contributors to heart disease. It also has a smaller serving size, making it much more cost-effective than I originally thought.

But both are considered high quality kibbles.


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## Starvt (Nov 5, 2019)

I vary the brands I feed. I have used Wellness, Fromm, Science Diet, Royal Canin all with good results. Blue Buffalo (several years ago- I have since heard about too many recalls anyway) and ProPlan did not agree with my animals.


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