flyinion

Hoping someone can help with this. So, the puppy food we're feeding says that for a puppy that is 3-5 months old (Bruno's current age) who will be 50-100 pounds as an adult to feed between 3-5 cups a day. We're thinking of switching to an all life stages from a different brand, but being an all life stages there is just a general "feed by weight"guideline. At his current weight of 28lbs that would be 1 1/4 to 2 cups a day.

I know that can't be right because that's cutting his food in 1/2 and there's not that much difference between the food types. Would I be right in guessing that we should feed the all life stages based on his expected adult weight and adjust as necessary if he gets too thin or starts packing on fat? For reference we're thinking of going from Blue Freedom puppy to one of the Earthborn grain free flavors. I'd like to try Bruno on a different protein to see if his gas improves.

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2manydogs

You feed less kibble on the grain-free varieties because they dont have as much fillers as the ones that have grains. Most kibbles will having feeding guidelines on the back of the bags. Start with their recommendation and adjust according.

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Kari ~ Keeper, servant and mommy to the following crew



**Proudly Raw fed since 2010**

flyinion

The blue freedom is grain-free as well. Looking on Earthborn's site the only recommendation I see on that food for puppies is I think they're talking about during weaning though because the following sentence is right before the previous one I'm pretty sure if I put a full bowl of food out, Bruno would eat like a little piggy all day long.

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sasasola

I've been told that for all-stages food you should use the actual weight and then for puppies you should feed 2-4 times the recommended amount. So for example - we had Duke on the Fromm's four-star grain free and on the label, for dogs 30-50 lbs. (he was about 46 lbs. at the time) it says 2 1/4 to 3 cups daily. We were feeding him 5 cups daily which isn't quite double but he was gaining weight on it and his poop was good and firm. However I did notice that he still seemed to be hungry... and since he was shedding a lot we decided to switch him to BB Freedom Puppy. He's getting 4 cups of this per day and he's doing great on it and doesn't seem to be so hungry in between feedings.

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Susy
Mom to 2 beautiful daughters , Duke and Dusty

flyinion

Hmm ok that would seem about right then, going by weight and doubling it. Bruno does seem to be doing well for the most part on the BB Freedom, coat looks great etc., it's just the gas and the occasional (once every day or so) soft stool that is making me think maybe the chicken doesn't totally agree with him.

Was thinking of trying Earthborn's meadow feast which is a different protein but also a similar protein content and see how he does. That way I would know that at least any new problems that show up could be from the food and not an increased protein level. (28% vs. how most are in the mid to upper 30's like BB Wilderness) I know I've heard some can be sensitive to high protein (upset tummy) so I don't want to do new protein and a lot more protein content at the same time and not know which one might have caused a problem.

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Wyatts_Momma

If you go on dogfoodadvisor.com there's a link on the left that says calculate calories or something like that. I just put in Wyatt's current weight and the calories/cup and it says how much to feed him a day and I just split that up. He's about 55lbs and is getting like 3 lbs of BB freedom.


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flyinion

Thanks I'll check that out, never even though about it. I think we're feeding him enough but not too much of the Freedom right now (3 rounded 1 cup measures at 28lbs right now) but it was kind of a guess based on BB's feeding chart. Does that calculator take into account that the animal is a growing puppy and needs more (I assume) intake than an adult dog for the same weight?

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Wyatts_Momma

Don't think there was an age input there... But I feed him 1.5 cups twice a day and he's 8 months old which the be told me is basically an adult bc his organs are fully grown.


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flyinion

Yeah I just went and looked and it says NOT for use for puppies (i.e. still growing ) but I'll definitely hit it up when he's full grown.

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flyinion

SCORE!!! So Earthborn has some awesome customer service!! Found their facebook page last night and asked about it and they offered to send me a puppy feeding chart for their all life stages food

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