Adult Dogs and puppy food

[Yolanda]

My 7 yr. old Chihuahua/Pomeranian mix LOVES Beneful Dog Food.
We just got a puppy a couple weeks ago and she is on Beneful for puppies. Well, my chihuahua will now only eat the puppy food. I think it's because it is the smaller bite. Well, we already have a hard enough time trying to get her to eat something other than Beneful.

So, my question is, is Puppy food okay for an Adult dog??

Thanks!!

[jesvet]

The biggest concern would be that she could put on weight, so if you keep an eye on her it shouldn't be too big of a deal.

[maxandmolly]

I had the same problem with kitten food when I got Max- Molly ate it like there was no tomorrow and gained a bunch of weight (of course, she was skinny, so it was ok at first)....after a while I had to switch to adult food for both, or she would have been as big as a house!

[Cricket4]

Yeah, like other posters said, it really isn't about the smaller kibble size, its about the higher fatty content in the puppy food. Makes it MUUUUUCH yummier.

If your adult dog does start to gain too much weight, you may need to separate them with a closed door during feeding and keep the adult dog out of the puppies food. Since meal time should only take 20 minutes anyway (hopefully!), you may endure some whining for awhile, but it will get better as they get used to it.

[mkvh]

To take this a bit further, how long should a puppy eat puppy food?

[Yolanda]

Thanks for all the replies!

My puppy even prefers to eat the adult food.
Actually, I may try to start feeding them separately, at the same time, in different rooms. I have a feeling that my older dog is stealing most of the food:( :rolleyes:

how long should a puppy eat puppy food?
Thank you! This was going to be my next question!

[gayle]

I usually keep my puppies on puppy food until they are year old, then I switch them over.

[mkvh]

That's what I've heard, too, gayle. But one of our neighbors (who also is a lab owner) said that their vet recommended taking their lab off puppy food at 5 months!!! I know large breed puppy food is newer and has a different caloric makeup than regular...wonder if that's the difference? 'Cause I know some very large breeds are recommended to stay on puppy food till they're 2?

[gayle]

Wow, that must be new info mkvh.

Puppies have different nutritional needs than adult dogs, so I am surprised to hear that.

Maybe it's because larger breeds are more prone to joint problems? I'd love to hear jesvet's take on this one.

[suiej]

We have to avoid puppy food with our dog. Up until we switched her over to adult, she got too many nutrients through the puppy food, and would, um, clean up after herself for what passed through.

Our vet said that she could probably smell the nutrients in it and think it was food. Ick.

[kemorr]

I generally recommend that puppies eat puppy food for a year, although the toy breeds (yorkies, maltese, chihuahuas etc) are basically fully grown at 6-8 months, so I wouldn't see a problem in switching them to adult at 8 months old.

Before large breed puppy food was available, it was recommended to switch large breed dogs to adult food early as the large breed dogs were growing too quickly on puppy foods, resulting in joint problems. This may be why that 5 month old lab's owner was told to switch to adult food. However, the new large breed puppy foods are designed to give the large breed puppies all the nutrients they need while growing without causing excessive growth and joint problems. Thus, most large breed dogs should be on an appropriate puppy food for 1 year. However, if there was evidence of too rapid growth and joint problems in an individual large breed dog eating large breed puppy food (a rare liklihood), then switching to adult early may be a good recommendation.

[mkvh]

THANK YOU KEMORR!!!

That's waht I thought, and that's what I told my neighbor.

[Yolanda]

Thanks everyone!

I will just go ahead and keep my puppy on the puppy food until she is 1.

Sheesh, it's been so long since I've had a puppy! (7 years to be exact)