Hi everyone,

Just a question about when to switch from puppy food to adult food.

Foxy is on Purina Pro Plan Small Breed Puppy food... she will be 5 months old in just over a weeks time.

Now, when do you think would be best to start her on adult food? Would it be 9 months old? 12 months old? or even older?

I admit I'm a bit confused, I tend not to take "too" much notice of what it says on the back of pet food bags, I find they can be a bit generous on their food amount guidlines sometimes and that they just generalise on when to stop feeding puppy food.

Does it depend on the brand of food? the breed of dog etc? and does it matter if you feed them puppy food for longer? or if you change to adult too soon?

I have been trying to get in contact with the breeder, but she must be out, busy or away as there's no answer.

Would be nice to hear a few peoples opinions on it though.

Thanks

I switched Tyler over at around 9/10 months old,but I switched Meg at 6/7 months,I was advised to switch her over because of issues we had with her behaviour.

Can't believe she's 5 months already

I usually switch to junior at about 6 months... and then adult at 14 months =]

I was thinking that too! D

Most people I know switch to adult food at around 12 months. Feeding raw I don't have this problem!

I have miine on JW and still on large breed puppy food at 14 mths thats what my vet advised , thinking of putting them on adult as have a few hyper probs and wondering if they should be off puppy food now.

Thanks for the replies people!

I know! It seems like yesterday that she was just 9 weeks old!

I think I will probably switch her over between 9 and 12 months...

As she is a toy breed I wasn't sure if you're meant to switch them over earlier... than if you had a large breed like a Rottweiler for example... I should imgagine you change them to adult food later than 12 months as larger dogs take longer to mature fully? if that makes sense... or is that just a load of old crap that people fill your head with lol.

Basically it depends on the dog not necessarily the breed. If the dog isn't experiencing any problems then its logical to keep on giving the same food, however I switched my dog to adult food at 4 months under the advice of the vet.

Sue

Ok... I am going to ask a question here that may sound so rediculous, but we all have to start somewhere lol.

When people feed their dogs normal pet food (not raw), obviously the first branded food they eat will be the puppy food and then adult... but why do they need puppy food. What's in it that they need? more protein? certain vitamins? and is there alot of difference between adult and puppy food? as in more fat, calories and protein and so on...

Basically what I am trying to get at is... would it do any harm or affect the growth of a puppy in any way if you stopped feeding puppy food and started feeding adult food earlier on? at say 6 months old instead of 12 months old for example.

Is puppy food more fattening than adult food?

Sorry for the really stupid question/s, but I honestly don't know about this! (I know I should).

Supposedly puppy food is specially formulated for growth which basically just means more fat, sometimes more protein depending on the brand. There are differenent minimum requirements (according to the AAFCO Nutrient Profiles) for each nutrient in puppy food and adult food but it usually just boils down to a difference in fat content.

If you fed a good quality adult food to a young puppy I can't really see that it would do any harm.