So confused about Large Breed Puppy Food?

There are many no grain foods , you need the large breed because the regular puppy food makes the larger pups grow too fast. This causes joint problems and should be avoided with a good large breed puppy food. Look on the internet and compare the brands and prices. you might save money by buying it online.

You will probably not be able to find a grain free food for less than $50. I have also never seen a 40lb bag of grain free. Most bags of grain free food are going to be 24 or 26 lbs tops. Does your dog have severe allergies? I generally only recommend giving grain free foods for dog that have severe allergies because most of the time, you are going to be paying more for less food. The grain free foods are great, however they are more expensive.

Personally, I fed my lab Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Puppy in the Chicken, Whole Brown Rice formula. It is all natural with no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives, no corn, wheat or by-products. The Natural Choice line is actually the only brand that has a guarantee to improve your dogs skin and coat on the bag. The Large Breed Puppy is designed specifically for dogs that will be over 50lbs at a year old and will help them to grow properly and to not have "growing pains" as large breed dogs tend to grow faster than their bodies want them to. My lab did amazing on that food and never had any issues whatsoever.

I hope that helps!

Geoffrey

Pet Nutrition Specialist for The Nutro Company

Nutra Max Large Breed Puppy Food

I feed Taste of the Wild.

It's around $45-50 for a 30 pound bag but it's worth it. All of their lines are grain free and its some of the highest quality food you can buy.

Canidae also has a good line of grain free food, the bag are probably around 30 pounds, but I can't tell you the price. I believe it's over $50 though.

Honestly you're going to be hard pressed to find a bag larger than 30-35 pounds. Most of these companies, especially in the high quality foods, just don't make larger bags. Also, $50 isn't that much for a high quality food. Taste of the Wild is the "cheapest" you're going to find most likely for such high quality AND grain free.

I'd wait until 8-12 months before switching to an adult food. Rule of thumb for dogs is a puppy becomes a dog at 1 year old, but larger breeds age faster. Oh and looks for something other than Pedigree its like feeding your dog roadkill.

Feed only Taste of the Wild, it is so good for them.

It is the best food for large, giant or any size breed.

I now have a Min Schnauzer, 18 pounds, and my Newfoundland, 243 pounds at 1 year old, just changed him over to the adult formula, as he just turned 1 year old October 1st.

His black coat just shines. He has been on the puppy formula since he was 10 months old, I rescued him, and immediately changed him to Taste of the Wild, it has made all the difference in his appearance and size for that matter.

Feed the puppy formulas of it, until the dog is one year old, then change over to the adult Taste of the Wild.

This is the only dog food I recommend to everyone, I have fed my dogs this now over 13 years, they love it.

Makes for a healthy shiny coat, keeps their skin moist, does not get dry and flaky at all. Makes for less sools as well.

I feed my dogs the Roasted Bison and Venison.

You can buy online, but you have to pay shipping, you can only buy it at Feed Stores, I buy mine at Marshall Grain and Feed, if you have one in your town, they are the best, they keep the food checked, will not sell outdated dog food.

They have so many formulas to choose for puppies and adults.

Everyone in my large dog club, this is all they will feed.

Good luck.

You can go online and read all about it, you will like it. Grain free, sugar frees, any formula you want.

Wellness Super 5 Mix is an excellent one. My Lab/Newf I used to have and now my full Newfoundland eat it and their coats look awesome. http://www.wag.com/dog/p/wellness-complete-health-...

You are just NOT going to find 40lbs of grain free dog food for under $50. Blue Buffalo Wilderness is an excellent one and runs about $55 for only 24lbs! Wellness Core is another and is about $66 bucks for about the same amount.

Why on earth would you buy such a big bag? Grain free foods tend to be more moist than cheap foods with lots of fillers so even if you store it in an airtight container you run the risk of it going moldy.

Also note that grain free foods are VERY nutrient dense so your dog will eat a lot less of it than it will the cheap foods. So though you pay a lot more for it, you'll buy it a lot less often. So the cost per day to feed your dog doesn't end up that much more expensive. You also won't end up with an obese dog so a healthier dog = less vet bills later on.

You want to avoid the big brand labels such as; pedigree, science diet, royal canin, kibbles and bits, gravy train, etc. these foods are all TERRIBLE.

Some high quality grain free brands:

Orijen

Acana regionals

Taste of the wild

Wellness core

Taste of the wild is a reasonably priced grain free brand. There's a lot of other good brands but they are not as well priced. Orijen is wonderful but is quite expensive.

(Go to dogfoodadviser.com for more dog food reviews)

Here is Article that explains what Ingredients to avoid when buying pet food and why:

http://www.bestcatanddognutrition.com/?cat=13

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2010/07/21/13-pet-foods-ranked-from-great-to-disastrous.aspx

Taste of the Wild,(Natural Choices).