8month old puppy doesn't want his puppy food...

My friend has a black lab/chow chow mix who is going off his puppy food. Last month she ran out, and the store had none, so she got adult food. He took it eagerly, and had more energy, and was more playful than she's seen him since she got him 3 months ago. He's always been "lazy sleepy and doesn't want to go for walks on the puppy food....he eats about 1/2 cup a day out of 4cups she gives him.----------------on the adult food he plays more, goes for walks, is more social, doesn't tire as easily and eats all 4 cups. he also grew almost 3 inches in 3weeks, needed a new collar, and his face has filled out to a healthy shape and he no longer snores. My friend wants to know if it is really necessary to keep him on puppy food, or of 8 months is old enough to make the switch to the adult formula. 

Given his size he should be on puppy food still. For smaller breeds you can switch earlier because they mature physically sooner.

You could switch to an all life stages food, there are some really good ones out there now. Go, Now, Nature's Variety, Orijen and Taste of the Wild all make them. I'm sure there are others but those are the ones that I can remember right now, lol

ordinarily I would have told her the same thing, but she's already tried the higher quality brands and he got the runs. he settled in on Purina's Beniful after a visit to family's for a weekend when he ate their food instead of his own and for the first time didn't have digestive issues. He gets into any food he can(including the garbage when she feeds him the puppy food) because he won't eat the puppy food but when he was given the adult food(because the pet store ran out of puppy) he ate everything and stopped scavenging. She got him his puppy food again when the bag ran out, and he stopped eating kibble  again. 

What about mixing adult and puppy food together? 

That's strange... how did she transition to the other foods? DVP Natural Balance also make a ton of all life stages LID foods. 

You could mix the two together, you feed adult and supplement for a growing puppy.  

Beneful is chock full of sugar (read the ingredient list!). Maybe he's on a sugar high.

Originally Posted by nerdrock  /img/forum/go_quote.gif


That's strange... how did she transition to the other foods? DVP Natural Balance also make a ton of all life stages LID foods. 

You could mix the two together, you feed adult and supplement for a growing puppy.  

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I have suggested mixing the puppy food with wet, or adding a dog gravy/sauce to get him to eat it....if that doesn't work she'll likely mix the two. I think we all agree that the puppy is not old enough to move off the puppy food, but eating less than half of his reccomended intake is no good for him either. He needs the calcium to grow his bones, and won't get it if he's not eating enough. . Thanks everyone

Willowy said:

Beneful is chock full of sugar (read the ingredient list!). Maybe he's on a sugar high.

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I'm not sure how you come to that conclusion, when I described a dog who is practically lethargic when fed the puppy food and only behaves normally if fed adult formula. If he were hyper, my friend would not be wondering about switching him to adult food, or mixing the adult and puppy in order to get him to eat enough to stay active and healthy. 

A sugar high leads to a sugar crash. I'd still recommend using caution with Beneful. It's about the worst dog food available, all bagged up in shiny packaging so you think it's healthy. That much artificial coloring and sugar on a daily basis can cause some serious problems in some dogs. If she's stuck with grocery-store food, has she tried Purina ONE? It's nothing special but at least it doesn't have artificial colors or added sugar.

It's possible the pup is self-regulating. Puppy food is higher in calories, so maybe he's eating the same number of calories in half the amount? How's his body condition? That's the most important thing--if he's not dangerously skinny it's probably nothing to worry about. I know we tend to think that growing puppies need more calcium and vitamins, but in reality, slow growth is best to avoid joint and bone deformities. Many large/giant breed owners never feed puppy food because it's TOO high in calcium and makes them grow too fast. So if she wants to switch to adult food now, it shouldn't hurt him. But she should still look into something better than Beneful . Ugh, I hate that brand .

If she starts adding stuff to his food to make him eat, it'll be hard to wean him off that habit. So she should only start if she's willing to do it forever.

I'll suggest the purina one to her, it's not a high quality food, so maybe Bruno won't have the trouble he had with the quality foods.(he gets the runs) She is willing to change foods, as long as he can handle them....she actually started out better and ended up settling on this stuff, so I'm sure she wouldn't mind a step up again

I would find an adult food that suits him and maybe put some puppy supplements  in, sorry I dont know what brands you have over there so cant recommend one in particular