DuckSouth.com

I just carried my pup in for his 9 wk shots. My vet suggested that I start feeding him adult food now. He referenced a study which concluded that puppies fed adult food had a lower instance of hip problems than genetically comparable pups that were fed a quality puppy food. I have tried to stack the genetic odds in my favor. Could diet play a role as well?

no way to go wrong with Purina Puppy.

I agree with duckdawgn.

I have used purina puppy chow on all of my dogs (retrievers and cattle dogs) until they were at least one year of age.

I wouldn't switch him at 9 weeks. That seems awefull young.
I have switched both my pups to adult food at 6 months.

I'm feeding my pup Purina large breed puppy chow and he seems to really like it. He spends alot of time scratching but he doesn't have fleas. A friend and dog owner suggested a different high quality dog food to see if the skin dryness/itching may be caused by the dog food. Any comments? Thanks, the INJ

I always suggest a good/high quality food. You will see a difference. Period.

I use Science Diet but alot of people like Iams, Eukanuba, Pro Plan, ect. Most "store brands" all have the fiber, protein, carbs, ect but it is the other stuff that makes a difference. The high quality foods have more vitamins, minerals, and some (like Eukanuba) have supplements like glucosamine for joints.

Just remember if you swap foods, don't runout of one and start a new one. You have to "ween" them on to a new food. slowly mix more and more of the new food in with the old till the old is gone over about a week. Dogs have very tender stomachs. Like if all you have had for 3 months is rice and you switched to hot sauce. It is gona hurt ya.

I stay with the high quality foods as it also cuts down on waste. As Teul stated, don't just drop something new in the bucket and expect them to run over and eat it. Gradually introduce the pup. I stay with puppy food until one year of age and then over the next few weeks after that I introduce the adult food into the puppy food.

He didn't suggest that I switch him at nine wks, he suggested that everyone start their six wk old pups on adult food as soon as they were weaned. A study done by Miss State says that it is supposed to lower the risk of hip displaysia. The two groups of pups they tested were roughly the same size at one yr and the ones fed adult food had less hip problems.