Labrador Retriever Forum
I know this has been posted before, but I can't remember. How many use Pro Plan Large Breed Puppy food for their pups 8 weeks and older. Likes, dislikes?
I used the PP Large Breed puppy and they were too skinny so I now feed PP chicken & rice puppy.
If you must feed PP, the Perf Formula is the best in my experience, for pups and adults.
The rest I had multiple issues with.
How about the Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy food? If not, what would be some suggestions for a good puppy food for a labrador pup over 8 weeks?
I am wondering if Performance Kibble in general is better for our breed ?? Any long time users of Performance Kibble where you raise your litters with it right from the start ?
I normally always feed my litters of pups a quality adult kibble and skip the puppy kibble or LB Pupppy and Adult LB kibble. All these different breed and age manufactured kibbles all seems so gimicky and my pups have never done as well on them compared to being raised on the adult kibble. I have just not tried the Performance kibble on my pups up to 2 yrs old but would like to get more information from those of you who do raise your 8 weeks old on up on it.
I had nice results and good coats with ChickenSoup for the Dog Lovers Soul, Large breed Puppy.
I have fed Iams in the past. Found thru experimentation that my puppies do not do well on puppy large breed, but thrive on regular puppy food. Significant difference in weight and fullness. I even believe I get a better puppy overall to evaluate. I now feed Purina Pro Plan, started a litter on large breed puppy till 5 weeks. Did not like what I was seeing, switched to Purina Pro Plan puppy Chicken & rice, and saw huge difference in them after just 2 weeks.
Alot of people in my club are finding out that feeding large breed puppy food has there puppies not as robust and thriving as with PPP puppy chicken & rice.
I think that puppy food should be something labeled for all life stages, good for the nursing dam and for the pups, even adults. I have seen leg and foot abnormalities in rescued Lab pups, even those from show lines, raised on the Large Breed puppy formulas, especially Eukanuba. They seem to go down in the pasterns and splay feet more on that. I then have to add a food higher in calcium to counteract the other, or supplement with bone meal for a few weeks, to have any chance of a more normal bone structure. I also think the pups lack bone on those large breed formulas. The Adult Pro Plan, old chicken and rice formula, was better, or the Euk Sporting formula, or the Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken even though it is labeled for small to medium breed puppies.These aren't Danes and Newfs, folks! Last two litters of rescues were on Eagle Pack Holistic Chicken and developed nicely into adolescence, but did need some supplementation of higher protein and fat (canned or fresh meat, etc.) with great growth spurts. Pups grew fairly evenly on the Eagle Pack, without the topline going off so much. For large boned pups, if not overfed, the performance foods seem better in high growth phases. Some fresh cooked formulas or recipes are very good; I am impressed by a local formula developed by a top inning breeding in another breed. She and her mentor feed Performance formulas and supplement with fresh cooked or even raw meat based foods to give their dogs and pups the extra glow to win on a national level. Honestly, the best bone and feet on a teething Lab adolescent was on a pup that ate half Mighty Dog canned, half old fashioned Puppy Chow. His coat and vibrancy was amazing with all that meat and fat; I haven't fed another that diet that he had grown up on, but I am convinced that these pups need the extra meat protein and fat at certain stages. ( Do they even still make Puppy Chow without all that gimicky dyed soft stuff in it? The pups coming in on it SMELL as bad as the bag of food and don't grow as well.) Go for something labeled for all life stages. If it won't support puppies in a pregnant bitch, or puppies being nursed, or an adult food, what really makes the large breed puppy food worth it in other than Giant, truly large breeds?
I feed the regular puppy Eukanuba formula and have been very happy with it so far.
My experience has been that Lab puppies do not do good on very rich formulas. I've seen too many nutritional abnormalities on puppies feed Inova, Eukanuba, or other "top of the line" very rich foods.
PP large breed puppy food is ok. They do tend to get a little skinny, but that's the idea for the sake of their joints. It might not be the best to put weight on a show puppy, and you might want to supplement or switch to regular PP puppy food a month before you start showing.
