8 week old puppy keeps eating adult dogs food.

[Msmaria]

I feed my older small dogs Natures Domain Salmon and potatoes. A friend recommended iams large puppy breed for Dexter 8 week old german shepherd. However the puppy refuses to eat the Iams and will only eat the Adult dogs food. What should I do? Should I let him eat it and add some stage 2 puppy milk that I have left over from the first days I brought him home?
Note: He is growing every day.

[Lucy Dog]

What's the calcium % of natures domain? The max percentage, not the min... does it say it on the bag? That's a grain free, right? There aren't many grain frees out there that i'd feed to a puppy because of the amount of calcium.

And if he currently doesn't like what he's on... find something else. Iams is not one of the better options out there. Just search around here about what to feed a puppy and you'll get plenty of good opinions.

If you don't want to feed a LBP formula, find an appropriate adult formula. I never fed a puppy food to my current dog. Probably won't with the next one either.

[AngelaA6]

When my husband and I first got Gunther we put him on the Nutro Lamb and Rice large breed puppy kibble. eventually we switched to an all stages lamb and rice from Canidae.

[jocoyn]

Does the nature's domain bag list the Calcium and the Phosphorus. If not I would call the company and ask.......even though a food may be labeled all life stages it may have more calcium than most folks want to feed a large breed puppy.

[Msmaria]

Ingredients of Kirklands Natures Domain

Salmon meal, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, ocean fish meal, potato fiber, pea protein, natural flavor, flaxseed, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, tomatoes, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried Enterococcus faecium fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus casei fermentation product, dried Lactobacillus plantarum fermentation product, dried Trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, vitamin E supplement, iron proteinate, zinc proteinate, copper proteinate, ferrous sulfate, zinc sulfate, copper sulfate, potassium iodide, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), manganese proteinate, manganous oxide, ascorbic acid, vitamin A supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium pantothenate, manganese sulfate, sodium selenite, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin B12 supplement, riboflavin (vitamin B2), vitamin D supplement, folic acid.

CALORIE CONTENT
3,590 kcals/kg (336 kcals/cup) Calculated Metabolizable Energy

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS
Crude Protein 24.0% minimum
Crude Fat 14.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 3.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Zinc 150 mg/kg
minimum
Selenium 0.4 mg/kg
minimum
Vitamin E 150 IU/kg minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids* 2.4% minimum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids* 0.3% minimum

I will have to call the company for calcium and phosphorus info and post it.

[Msmaria]

Hi everyone, I received an email response regarding calcium and phosphorous levels in Natures Domain Dog food. I will post below.

Dear Customer,
Thank You for contacting us. The levels below are based on fed basis of a typical analysis of the formula.
Salmon Meal and Sweet Potato
Calcium 1.2%
Phosphorus 0.8%

Turkey meal and Sweet Potato
Calcium 1.4%
Phosphorus 0.9%

Sincerely ,
April
Customer Service

[Ken Clean-Air System]

The levels of calcium and phosphorus are fine. Personally, I'm not terribly impressed by the food for a number of reasons though. First, there seems to be an awful lot of peas and potatoes and not much meat. There is only one named meat meal, and the only other meat is an unnamed 'ocean fish', which could be just about anything in the ocean, lol. It is also quite low in calories, which for a small dog may be fine, but for a GSD you may end up having to feed a lot of this food to meet his daily caloric needs.

In the end though, if he does well on it, then there are certainly worse choices - like Iams for example.

[jocoyn]

You make a point though - There is a point where a lot of 1.2% calcium food may have more total calcium than a little 1.7% calcium food.

Figuring food ranges from 300-500 calories a cup that is a lot of swing. {and when I did the math, it justified a more expensive high calorie food in a heartbeat}

[Msmaria]

He does get treats through out the day, which also adds calories. Therefore he eats less than the recommended dose of dog food. He seems to be growing like a weed and I was looking into reducing his calories a little further, with less treats, although we use them for training or less food.
In regards to the Natures domain food, I really do like it for my two older dogs. My oldest a 13 year shih tzu was switched to Taste of the Wild years ago because of her allergies and since using it her coat has become amazing, shiny and very smooth and so I started our poodle mix 4 years old on it a few years back. Since Costco came out with a similar formula last year I moved them over and have seen the same results. However this is my first large breed and he's growing fast. I hope it's not to fast, I need to do more research. But I will definitely stop with the Iams, I had no idea it was that bad.

[3ToesTonyismydog]

That is a very smart puppy you have. Even the puppy realizes Iams is one of the worst dog foods made today. Your friend does not know anything about dog food if they recomend anything made by Iams. Why not just feed a decent dog food or is there a budget issue?
Kirklands Natures Domain is a OK, dog food, but contains very little meat. I would be highly concerned with what the the salmon meal and the ocean fish meal is preserved with, than anything else... I would not feed this food until I got a truthful answer from them. My money would be that it is preserved with Ethoxyquin... Salmon meal and Ocean fish meal both are in this category.


Fish Meal
AAFCO: The clean, rendered, dried ground tissue of undecomposed whole fish or fish cuttings, either or both, with or without the extraction of part of the oil.
Like with all other animal sources, if a type isn't specified, you never know what type or quality of fish is used.

According to US Coast Guard regulations, all fish meal not destined for human consumption must be conserved with Ethoxyquin (unless the manufacturer has a special permit). This preservative is banned from use in foods for human consumption except for the use of very small quantities as a color preservative for spices. So unless the manufacturer either presents a permit or states "human grade" fish or fish meal is used, you can be pretty sure Ethoxyquin is present in the food even if it is not listed.

The Dog Food Project - Ingredients to avoid