Puppy switched to adult food at 5mo

[Bronsonharper1]

Hey everyone! I recently got a husky and had him on puppy food. I realized it wasn’t the healthiest puppy foods, so I switched him to All Life Stages for about a month. I had to go to specialty military training for a month, so a friend of mine took care of him.  When I came home, he told me he had switched my dog’s food to Purina One Chicken & Rice flavor (the adult one). He was about 5 months at the time. Now he is around 8 months and still on it.  
— My question is this:  Is it too late to switch him back to puppy food or should I go back to All Life Stages?  He’s growing, but it seems like he isn’t as big as he should be at 8mo.  
add. He’s the runt if that has anything to do with it. 

[wolfpup]

Adult dog food does not contain the amount of calcium that a puppy needs  - nor does 'all life stage' food.   Kibble is also NOT the way to feed a growing puppy  - but I have posted enough on this in previous posts to spend an hour retyping things again, only to never hear gain from the poster.  Please spend the time here to search out feeding dogs.

Learn how to raw feed your puppy  -  the food his ancestors have eaten for the last 40 million years  - the food his body is designed, has evolved, to eat.    Dogs can digest around 4% carbohydrate/starch  - kibble is around 30-50% carbohydrate/starch.

If you are serious about wanting to know what to feed your carnivore  - reply to my post.

[Bronsonharper1]

Thank you so much! I saw one of your replies on the ratio of raw meat, vegetables and such.  Is there any specific meat to lean towards as well as stay away from? This also goes for vegetables. 

[wolfpup]

8 hours ago, Bronsonharper1 said:

Thank you so much! I saw one of your replies on the ratio of raw meat, vegetables and such.  Is there any specific meat to lean towards as well as stay away from? This also goes for vegetables. 

Low starch veggies  -  broccoli, spinach, asparagus, kale, brussel sprouts  are all excellent.    These must be pureed  - dogs do not chew their food as you know  -  so you must do it for them.    Limit veg to around 5% of the meal in total.   Same goes for fruit,  raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, cranberries  all excellent  -  avoid strawberries as they can contain an aflatoxin mould that is invisible to the naked eye and can go right into the strawberry.   Berries are the best form of fruit.

All meat is fair game  - if you can eat it so can your pup  (i.e. don't feed vermin, or seagull and be wary of the common pigeon).   Wild animals contain around 5%-7% fat - domestically raised animals can contain up to 30% fat (evidently we like them like that)  -  aim for your dog to get between 10% (ideal) and 20% (absolute max) amount of fat in his meals.   Whilst dogs NEED fat in their diet  (they only need protein and fat in order to survive ........  the extras enable them to thrive). Fat contains far more calories than protein as you know, so if thefat content is too high - then the dog cannot possibly eat enough in order to get the full nutrition he needs.  i.e.  Fat cannibalizes protein.  (Lamb can be around 20% fat in the leanest looking meat you can find).

Having said that all meat is far game  - you must learn how to balance the fats in different meats.  Chicken (poultry in general - totally because of the way we feed them grains  - is very unbalanced  - they are omnivors naturally and love worms, mealworms,  flies, - insects in general) - and really the only thing that will balance a meal mainly consisting of chicken is spirulina or chlorella  -  or fresh (frozen) 'fatty' fish  i.e.  mackerel, sardines or herrings. (see end of post)

Beef, Lamb, Goat  (ruminants) -  

The foods most suitable to balance the fats in beef, lamb and goat etc. are fresh whole fish (4oz of fish for every pound of meat), green-lipped mussel oil (1/4 tsp per 25lbs of dog weight), hempseed oil (2-3 tsp per 1lb of food) and organic chlorella (phytoplankton) about 1/8th  tsp to start with. Nearly everyone will think of fish oil, - and its true it will help balance the omegas - but fish oil is unsustainable, quickly oxidizes and goes rancid – and its doing our oceans no favours. I heartily recommend chlorella – no matter how you feed your dogs – it goes with everything!  Always go for ORGANIC.

Green lipped mussel oil is rich in important EPA and DHA, (brain food and protector) like fish oil, but it’s better for your dog than fish oil. It contains 30 fatty acids, while fish and other marine oils only contain two. hellishly expensive, and not easy to get – as is ahiflower oil (Amazon is one place they are available) – but you can get green lipped mussel powder (but not quite as good in this particular case) - I recommend you go to Riaflex - they sell the pure powder – no fillers of any kind – its by far the cheapest way of buying it – and it lasts forever! It is also one of the best things on the planet for your dog’s joints, - along with the inner membrane from an eggshell. No matter how you feed - whenever you crack an egg – peel the membrane off the inside of the shell and give it to your dog.

If you feed poultry then the options are limited – by the way never give your dog poultry skin - waaaayyyy to high in fat! Poultry is very high in omega 6 fats and low in omega 3 fats. There aren’t as many foods or oils you can add to poultry because the PUFAs in poultry are already too high. But you can add whole fish (NOT fish oil) - fish oil is not a good choice in this case because it’s also high in PUFAs but fresh whole fish will do a good job helping to balance the omega-3&6 fats. The only other thing I would add to poultry (if I fed poultry) would be chlorella - it goes with everything and can be added daily no matter what is fed.

Remember if you are going to feed raw from scatch then you must either add around 15% bone or good quality bone meal supplement to the diet.

Your pup will also require offal  - as many organs as you can get  (they are limited in the UK because of CJD)  if feeding a variety of organ meats this can make   up to 25% of the meal - providing liver does not go over 10% of the meal in total.   If only feeding liver - again limit it to a maximum of 10% of the meal.  Remember heart is a muscle meat - not offal  - and lung is not regarded as offal either.  You need the organs  -  liver, pancreas, kidneys, spleen, testes,  - brain and eyes if you can get them.   Mince the organs all together  freeze in portions and feed.    One way to ensure your pup is getting at least some of all organs is to feed  day old chicks (i.e. the whole animal)  and whole fish  (but do cut off the tail and fins  -  these are too stiff and could cause damage).   £  (or $) per pound of weight  in fresh (frozen) fish  -  Mackerel contains more nutrition than either  sardines or herring  -  but all are excellent - and contain almost all the nutrition your pup needs.   If you catch your own fish  you MUST freeze the fish for at least one week to kill any parasites the fish may have in its gills etc.  (Please do not gut the fish).   The idea is to feed the organs along with the fish.

If you have any other queries - just shout.  BTW  I have 2 huskies - one is  around 3" taller, longer and around 4 kilos heavier than the other (both male)  - the smaller one was unable to get the nutrition he needed early on (due to food allergies) - and therefore is smaller in size  -  but he makes up for it in personality.

 

[wolfpup]

As with us  - variety is key.   The more different meats and fish your give your pup the more nutrients he will get.     I give my dogs the same meal 2 days running, then change to a different meat.    They get bored with eating the same thing day in day out as we would.    Give your pup a  whisked raw egg at least 2 times a week  either on its own or poured over the meal.

 

Just to give you an idea  this is a menu I designed for a client who wanted to feed chicken  (I don't as one of my dogs is highly allergic to what chickens are fed).   It is a complete and balanced meal plan  - requiring no supplementation whatsoever for her dog  - you would need to add a calcium supplement  - or feed the bone in with the thigh (as she did).  In this case I used sardine specifically because it is the best one  out of the fish for countering chicken.   I would normally recommend mackerel.  Please note the weights are for her dog specifically  - you would have to adapt to your dog's weight.   It does however give you an idea.   Whilst heart and lungs are not organs - they do contain beneficial nutrients for this particular meal.   All 42 nutrients I have to calculate for when providing a meal meet or exceed the minimum amounts with nothing missing.

Food Item	Weight (g)
Fish_SARDINE	150.00
Chicken_broilers_or_fryers_dark_meat_thigh_meat_only_raw	750.00
Lamb_variety_meats_and_by-products_heart_raw	10.00
Lamb_variety_meats_and_by-products_liver_raw	70.00
Lamb_variety_meats_and_by-products_lungs_raw	20.00
Spinach_raw	110.00
Blueberries_raw	15.00
Dandelion_greens_raw	5.00