switching blue buffalo

chris1o4 · 09-23-2011, 07:57 PM

My pup has finally reached 20 weeks. He is a male i'd say he weighs about 35-40 lbs. We feed blue buffalo puppy large breed to him 3 times a day right now. Would you recommend switching him to adult food or waiting a little more. Also want to know opinions about switching to Blue Buffalo Wilderness or Blue Buffalo Large breed if you recommend the switch. We eventually want him to be raw fed but takes time to completely balance his diet feeding raw and at this age a balanced diet is vital. Please let me know if I should switch and results people are having with the food I asked about.

ChancetheGSD · 09-23-2011, 08:14 PM

If you switch to Wilderness, wait until he's at least 12 months old because it's a little high on the calc/phos ratio for a growing large breed puppy. I do highly recommend it though.

Personally, I don't feed puppy food but that's just me. I've always started my dogs off on regular adult dog food. I don't feed "senior" foods either. The only issue is some grain free foods have high calc/phos ratios that can cause dogs to grow too fast which can turn into pano. ("growing pains" for dogs) If you want to switch him to adult food then go for it! He'll be fine on regular BB.

chris1o4 · 09-23-2011, 08:23 PM

Im not sure if now is a good time or not to switch he's almost 5 months and still pretty small so I doubt he will have growing pains. Just want to make sure his joints stay healthy. Would blue buffalo adult large breed be better or just regular blue buffalo adult?

ChancetheGSD · 09-23-2011, 08:39 PM

Why do you think he is small? Food wont determine how big he gets, that is all genetics. If a dogs parents are only 60 and 70 pound dogs then you can't expect a pup from them to top out at 90lb. Regardless of what his adult size will be, pano can happen in any dog. German Shepherds just happen to be one of the breeds most prone to it. Technically, they can get it on ANY food, it's just believed that higher calc/phos levels tend to encourage it a lot more. If it's a risk you're will to taken then go ahead and switch over to the Wilderness, it's a lot better than the regular BB lines. Otherwise just switch him to a regular adult formula.

chris1o4 · 09-24-2011, 03:13 PM

Any one else have any opinions really want to know which would be best for my pup?

Emoore · 09-24-2011, 05:46 PM

I would not switch to Wilderness on a pup that young. I *would*, however, go ahead and switch to the adult food.

idahospud49 · 09-24-2011, 05:50 PM

Glock will be 8 months old tomorrow and I still have him on Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food. He has been doing great on it, nice constant growth, no pano, healthy coat, etc. For me I figure, sure I could put him on adult food, but I still haven't decided what I will go with, and eventually would like to do RAW when I have my own place, but for now why mess with what is working?

BlackGSD · 09-24-2011, 06:56 PM

I don't feed puppy food either. ( Nor do I feed, "large breed" "senior", ect....)That said, it is really up to you. If he is doing well on the puppy food, you could just leave him on that until he is 12+ months old, them go to the grain free. Our if you would prefer, you could switch him to regular adult food now, then switch again, later.

JackB. · 09-24-2011, 07:03 PM

We fed Jack BB large breed puppy too. We waited to switch him over to adult food because we knew we wanted to feed him the BB Wilderness. We didn't want to have to switch him twice so we waited until he was 12 months. But, they have come out with a BB Wilderness Puppy food now, we didn't realize they had it until he was already almost a year old. We would have had him on that before he turned one if we had known about it.

chris1o4 · 09-25-2011, 02:10 AM

Hes doing great on it now i believe his coat is really nice. He does have hygromas but we arent sure if its also the food that does this to him cause i read on another thread they were feeding their pup the same bb large breed but then switched and it went away

09-23-2011, 07:57 PM	#1 (permalink)
chris1o4 Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: White Plains Posts: 58	switching blue buffalo My pup has finally reached 20 weeks. He is a male i'd say he weighs about 35-40 lbs. We feed blue buffalo puppy large breed to him 3 times a day right now. Would you recommend switching him to adult food or waiting a little more. Also want to know opinions about switching to Blue Buffalo Wilderness or Blue Buffalo Large breed if you recommend the switch. We eventually want him to be raw fed but takes time to completely balance his diet feeding raw and at this age a balanced diet is vital. Please let me know if I should switch and results people are having with the food I asked about.

09-23-2011, 08:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
ChancetheGSD Elite Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: North Carolina Posts: 1,918	If you switch to Wilderness, wait until he's at least 12 months old because it's a little high on the calc/phos ratio for a growing large breed puppy. I do highly recommend it though. Personally, I don't feed puppy food but that's just me. I've always started my dogs off on regular adult dog food. I don't feed "senior" foods either. The only issue is some grain free foods have high calc/phos ratios that can cause dogs to grow too fast which can turn into pano. ("growing pains" for dogs) If you want to switch him to adult food then go for it! He'll be fine on regular BB. __________________ Gretchen -7.5 week old GSD Zoey -14 year old Pekapom Chance -(GSD/Kelpie) 6/2007-6/23/2011

09-23-2011, 08:39 PM	#4 (permalink)
ChancetheGSD Elite Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: North Carolina Posts: 1,918	Why do you think he is small? Food wont determine how big he gets, that is all genetics. If a dogs parents are only 60 and 70 pound dogs then you can't expect a pup from them to top out at 90lb. Regardless of what his adult size will be, pano can happen in any dog. German Shepherds just happen to be one of the breeds most prone to it. Technically, they can get it on ANY food, it's just believed that higher calc/phos levels tend to encourage it a lot more. If it's a risk you're will to taken then go ahead and switch over to the Wilderness, it's a lot better than the regular BB lines. Otherwise just switch him to a regular adult formula. __________________ Gretchen -7.5 week old GSD Zoey -14 year old Pekapom Chance -(GSD/Kelpie) 6/2007-6/23/2011

09-24-2011, 05:46 PM	#6 (permalink)
Emoore Crowned Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: North DFW, TX Posts: 9,214	I would not switch to Wilderness on a pup that young. I would, however, go ahead and switch to the adult food. __________________ Rocky vom Backyard- 10 years young Kopper vom Felssclucht Bach - 17 months At the Bridge: Cash van der Animal Shelter 2006-2010

09-24-2011, 05:50 PM	#7 (permalink)
idahospud49 Elite Member Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Linden, Arizona Posts: 1,690	Glock will be 8 months old tomorrow and I still have him on Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy food. He has been doing great on it, nice constant growth, no pano, healthy coat, etc. For me I figure, sure I could put him on adult food, but I still haven't decided what I will go with, and eventually would like to do RAW when I have my own place, but for now why mess with what is working? __________________ Megan Amadeus 1/13/2003-10/20/2010 RIP Glock 1/25/2011

09-23-2011, 08:23 PM	#3 (permalink)
chris1o4 Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: White Plains Posts: 58	Im not sure if now is a good time or not to switch he's almost 5 months and still pretty small so I doubt he will have growing pains. Just want to make sure his joints stay healthy. Would blue buffalo adult large breed be better or just regular blue buffalo adult?

09-24-2011, 03:13 PM	#5 (permalink)
chris1o4 Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: White Plains Posts: 58	Any one else have any opinions really want to know which would be best for my pup?

09-24-2011, 06:56 PM	#8 (permalink)
BlackGSD Crowned Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Eastern Washington Posts: 7,795	I don't feed puppy food either. ( Nor do I feed, "large breed" "senior", ect....)That said, it is really up to you. If he is doing well on the puppy food, you could just leave him on that until he is 12+ months old, them go to the grain free. Our if you would prefer, you could switch him to regular adult food now, then switch again, later. __________________ Tracy Siren vom Banach { Sable female GSD 3-20-08} R.I.P. Wrangler male ACD/Aussie mix. 9-29-99 to8-29-11.

09-24-2011, 07:03 PM	#9 (permalink)
JackB. Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Murfreesboro, TN Posts: 152	We fed Jack BB large breed puppy too. We waited to switch him over to adult food because we knew we wanted to feed him the BB Wilderness. We didn't want to have to switch him twice so we waited until he was 12 months. But, they have come out with a BB Wilderness Puppy food now, we didn't realize they had it until he was already almost a year old. We would have had him on that before he turned one if we had known about it. __________________ Amanda Mom to Jack, 7-14-10

09-25-2011, 02:10 AM	#10 (permalink)
chris1o4 Member Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: White Plains Posts: 58	Hes doing great on it now i believe his coat is really nice. He does have hygromas but we arent sure if its also the food that does this to him cause i read on another thread they were feeding their pup the same bb large breed but then switched and it went away

Remove Advertisements Sponsored Links
German Shepherd Advertisement