If you read about some of the foods (Nutrience in particular) they suggest
feeding puppy food from weaning until around 12 weeks and then for large
breed puppies slowly swap over to the large breed puppy.
The size of the biscuits is larger and also in particular Nutrience adds
chondroitin and glucosamine to help with growing joints and bones.

"Steve Crane" wrote in message
oups.com...

Nik And Mark Hurring wrote:
Hi

You really need to make sure that you feed your puppy a good quality
puppy
food until at least 12 months old ... wait until he is about 12 weeks
before
introducing the large breed puppy food.

"Nubian Enigma" wrote in message
...


http://community.webtv.net/NubianEnigma/NubianEnigma


On what basis would you feed a regular puppy food instead of a large
breed puppy food to a large breed puppy?

Nik And Mark Hurring wrote:
If you read about some of the foods (Nutrience in particular) they suggest
feeding puppy food from weaning until around 12 weeks and then for large
breed puppies slowly swap over to the large breed puppy.
The size of the biscuits is larger and also in particular Nutrience adds
chondroitin and glucosamine to help with growing joints and bones.

Does Nutrience provide any science behind this recommendation? The
objective of a large breed puppy food is to slow growth and reduce
calcium intake in large breed puppies. The growth rate of these puppies
can be too fast and there are several subsequent musculo skeletal
adverse reactions from growing too quickly. Among them HD, OCD, Pano
etc.

It is recommended for the growth period for large breed pups with an adult
weight of greater than 27kg.

It can be fed from weaning/16 weeks to 18 months of age.

Because it is a known fact that large and giant breeds are more at risk of
bone and joint problems you are right - you do need to be careful. You
really don't want fat roly poly puppies and you don't want them to grow too
fast.

Nutrience provides: (taken from the Nutrience website)

A careful balance between energy and protein to nutritionally help promote
an even growth rate.
.. Controlled levels of calcium balanced with phosphorus.

.. Large kibble size and a great taste. An even larger kibble size also
available.

.. As with all Nutrience formulas, able to be rehydrated and fed wet if
desired.

.. With Glucosamine and Chondroitin to nutritionally maintain healthy
cartilage.

.. Meat protein only (no gluten meal) to nutritionally support skin and coat
health plus muscle and tissue development.

.. Includes Yucca to naturally reduce stool odour plus highly digestible
ingredients for smaller stools.

.. With Lutein, a natural antioxidant. Antioxidants are vital for a pet's
natural defenses.


"Steve Crane" wrote in message
oups.com...

Nik And Mark Hurring wrote:
If you read about some of the foods (Nutrience in particular) they
suggest
feeding puppy food from weaning until around 12 weeks and then for large
breed puppies slowly swap over to the large breed puppy.
The size of the biscuits is larger and also in particular Nutrience adds
chondroitin and glucosamine to help with growing joints and bones.

Does Nutrience provide any science behind this recommendation? The
objective of a large breed puppy food is to slow growth and reduce
calcium intake in large breed puppies. The growth rate of these puppies
can be too fast and there are several subsequent musculo skeletal
adverse reactions from growing too quickly. Among them HD, OCD, Pano
etc.

Nik And Mark Hurring wrote:
It is recommended for the growth period for large breed pups with an adult
weight of greater than 27kg.

It can be fed from weaning/16 weeks to 18 months of age.

Nutrience provides: (taken from the Nutrience website)

A careful balance between energy and protein to nutritionally help promote
an even growth rate.
. Controlled levels of calcium balanced with phosphorus.

It's hard to tell if this statement is accurate, since the website only
provides Guaranteed Analysis, and does not provide an As Fed Analysis,
or preferably a Dry Matter Basis analysis. It would be interesting to
know what the calcium level actually is. Minimum 1.1% guaranteed level
could be ~1.2% or 5% on a dry matter basis.

. Meat protein only (no gluten meal) to nutritionally support skin and coat
health plus muscle and tissue development.

Since the ingredients include ground corn, a portion of the protein
being provided is derived from the protein in the ground corn, thus
this statement isn't accurate either. Corn contains about 7% protein.
6.93 grams per 100 grams of grain.

. With Lutein, a natural antioxidant. Antioxidants are vital for a pet's
natural defenses.

Considering this statement - it's interesting to wonder why the levels
of Vitamin C, E are so low - Vitamin E min. 110 I.U./kg, Vitamin C min.
50 mg/kg and no listing for beta carotene at all.