# age to start adult food.



## MaryLynn (Sep 8, 2012)

I think it's up to your preference. I know some people don't feed puppy food at all, and some will feed it up to 2 years. I would say it's more than safe to do a switch at his age. My vet recommends switching after 4 months if the pups start growing too fast, or putting on excessive weight.


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## waltersmom (Sep 8, 2012)

Oh wow, what you said about switching at 4 months if the pups start growing too fast really hit home. Walter's parents are both toys and his 4 siblings are all very small. I call Walter my baby Huey because he is already 12 inches tall and weighs 9 and a half pounds. I am now left wondering if the high quality food he has been on is partly to blame. Even my vet could not get over the growth spurt he went thru from 3 to 6 months. I do not care but must admit that I do feel funny when people see Walter with his siblings and do not believe they are siblings. I do appreciate the info and will start changing him to adult food.


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## Arcticfox (Dec 12, 2011)

I switched Tesla to an all life stages food around 11 months. Since it's for all life stages, I assume it's fine for puppies. I don't plan to feed adult only food until she needs to go on senior diets or something. 

For reference, she was on blue buffalo grain free puppy food before, and now is on Acana grain free rotating through the different regional formulas.

She's not a picky eater though, thank goodness. I'd bet money that she'll eat dirt if I stick it in her bowl at mealtime.


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## waltersmom (Sep 8, 2012)

My biggest frustration with Walter is that he seems to like everything he is not supposed to. While at a friends house who has a mixed breed puppy that Walter loves to play with, Walter quickly scoffed up all of Sophies Beneful dog food. He loves eggs and bacon which I will sometimes add to his kibble to get him to eat it. When I was raising Lhasa's, my ch. stud was very picky but he would eat Bil Jac like there was no tommorow. I think I will order Walter some, I prefer the frozen. Thanks for the suggestions.


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## sophiebonita (Jul 10, 2012)

Since I've brought my Sophie home, I kept her on the eukanuba puppy my breeder was feeding for a few weeks and then switched her to ALS - premade raw and Orijen 6 Fish. Her growth is slow and steady and she's the picture of health.


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## Kim (Sep 20, 2012)

My dog is a standard poodle, but I just asked my vet this question since Leo is new to us. His previous family had been feeding him Puppy Chow. I knew I wanted to change the food, but wondered if I needed to transition to a new puppy food, or if I could go to adult.

He said he'd keep him on puppy food till at least 8-9 months, then we can switch him to adult food.


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

My puppy was growing super fast. My vet had me take him off puppy food at 4 months old since my adult food of preference is a high quality food. He feels large dogs should grow gradually and it's better for their joints and muscles. He doesn't recommend large breed food as he said that was meant for dogs like saint bernards and mastiffs (heavy boned breeds). That was his opinion and I know other people are told differently by their vets. My puppy is growing well, has slowed his growth down somewhat and seems very healthy (he has been on adult food about a month now). Vet says that he will reach his full height either way and it is better to have his growth take longer (goal is full size at around 14-18 months instead of 9 months). We'll see. 

By the way, my other standard is a smaller girl. I kept her on puppy food until a year old at the same vets recommendation because her growth was gradual. 

The breeder of my dogs does not believe in puppy food at all, but uses a high quality all stages food (also prefers they grow slower).


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## outwest (May 1, 2011)

waltersmom said:


> My biggest frustration with Walter is that he seems to like everything he is not supposed to. While at a friends house who has a mixed breed puppy that Walter loves to play with, Walter quickly scoffed up all of Sophies Beneful dog food. He loves eggs and bacon which I will sometimes add to his kibble to get him to eat it. When I was raising Lhasa's, my ch. stud was very picky but he would eat Bil Jac like there was no tommorow. I think I will order Walter some, I prefer the frozen. Thanks for the suggestions.


They put chemicals and artificial flavorings in those foods to make the dogs want the crap. It should be outlawed, but then they'd have to do the same with fast food for people.


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## katbrat (May 8, 2011)

Our vet and Lexi's breeder recommended to swith Lexi to a medium adult food at 7 months. We tried Evo Inova first but it was a bit rich for her. We then switched to Blue Buffalo and she has done really well on it.


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