I am contemplating putting a young male (less than 1 year) on a performance food with more protein to see if I can tone him up a bit. The food he's on currently has 22% protein, and I am concerned that it's not enough because he's not really developing any tone, even though he's exercised daily. Calcium amount in the proposed food is .9% (ProPlan).

Or, alternatively, would you try for a food simply with more protein that isn't a true performance food? Suggestions?

Try Nature's Variety Raw Instinct. It is grain-free and has 42% protein. Worked like a charm here. Good luck with your boy!

Buy ground beef. It is cheaper than dog food, better than dog food and works great.

We feed it raw, but you can cook it. Ground Chicken, turkey are also good for added protein.

Let your dog swim too. Great for toning.

Looks like a good food, but the calcium % is 2.49, a little high for a boy under a year.

I feed ProPlan Selects Puppy to my puppy, which is 28% protein and 18% fat (not sure on this one). Also Evo which is 40% protein and has no grain.
Works great...my young male is one macho looking dude.

I have a bitch puppy, 9 months old, who must have a very fast metabolism as she is eating 6 cups a day of Proplan regular adult plus other goodies added in just to maintain her regular weight. In fact, I think she could stand to even gain a pound or two more, but she is not the best eater, so 6 cups is all I can get her to eat in one day and even that takes coaxing. But if she does not eat this much she gets skinny very quickly. I was thinking of putting her on performance food as well since she seems to need it, but I am leery of putting a puppy under 1 year on higher protein. But she is eating so much now, it seems like it would add up to the same anyway. Has anyone ever given a puppy performance food and have you had any problems down the road? She is past the fast growing stage, so not sure if it would be ok now.

Just my opinion, but as a ProPLan fan for as long as it has been out, I would not put a one year old on a performance food. I did recommend it to someone on here a couple of weeks ago for a twenty month old.
A one year old is an adolescent, comparable to say a 13 year old child. They are not supposed to look like an adult. They are still maturing. Patience is
a hard thing to have. You don't want to do something now that could end up causing you problems in the future.(i.e. extra protein, extra fat).
You say the food is 22% protein? Which food is that?
ProPlan adult is 26%/16%. How much fat is in the food? That is an important part as well. Has this dog had prelims yet? Any pano? Putting him on higher fat could cause that.
I would change to the ProPlan Adult that I mnetioned above. That is a subtle, not drastic change and see if you have any improvement over a period of time.
You don't mention how much exercise this dog gets?
If you're trying to put weight on him you might have to control his exercise so that he's not burning it off.

Most of all, give him some time. "Patience is a virtue, acquired by practice!" That's the hardest part.

I agree with you Diane. I would not put a dog on it until they have gotten all of their clearances and finished growing. I have used it on stud dogs that were being used frequently and that is all. If I was field training a dog I would probably use it then too. Just increase the amount of adult food you are feeding now. They will fill out. They do need enough calories to develope properly.
Traci

I meant that I would also change to Pro Plan Adult and just increase the amount. Could be the food you are on now does not have enough fat in it. We have used Pro Plan for 28 years and had nothing but good results.
Traci

The current food has 12% fat. No, he has not had prelims yet. His exercise is daily, but not anything strenuous, just walks and a game or two of fetch per day, just enough for a youngster IMO. It's not that I'm trying to put weight on him, just that I'm trying to tone him a little. Sounds like the PP adult might be a good choice, a little more protein but not too much.

The food he is on does not have enough fat-12%. I think you'll see improvement given some time with the ProPlan adult. How much do you feed daily?

From what I'm reading in current studies, 22% is way too low a protein level for any otherwise healthy dog of any age. I'm feeding ProPlan puppy (28%) to my pups, and I really like the Raw Instinct (but it is expensive) and I also use ProPlan performance (30%). All of my dogs are on one of these three foods, including my veterans and my Havanese. The less active dogs just get less food. Every so often I buy a bag of regular Proplan beef, lamb or salmon to vary the protein source. Coats are terrific on higher protein, and it's actually rather hard to get a dog fat on high protein. You do feed less of it, and the dogs seem to have better energy between meals, probably because blood sugar is more level? Muscle tone is fantastic. Haven't had pano in over 7 years. All of my OFAs have passed good or excellent. Take it for what it's worth!

For 40 yrs have always fed a high protein & fat dog meal. (30/20) Stools are better. Dogs dont consume the volume of less protein /fat diets and pups do well.

Thanks Nancy and Diane for the info on this one. I am not the original poster but nice to know I am doing it right. BreederQ-what food do you feed?
Thanks again,
A

Eagle Performance for everyone.

puppies on performance or are they on the puppy food? What age do you start performance?

If pro plan has a puppy food maybe for med breed or sm. breed. buy this kind of food.Start with this step.They usually have more protein if you dont want to change brands at this point,which can back fire on what your trying to do for the pup.
Try to stay on the food and find more with more protein, If proplan has a puppy food he should be on it still, might solve the weight problem.