[shawnmccarthy87]

Zowie is now just over a year, and only weighs 55lbs. Everyone says she is really small. Feed her 2 cups in the morning and 2 cups in the evening. We still have her on Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy Food "Chicken".

And at what age does everyone switch to adult food. Heard 1 year, but thought maybe a little longer on puppy food to see if she will grow anymore?

 

[onyx'girl]

Her structure is what it is genetically. The diet will play a small role in that(example: too much calcium for growing bones) but she won't get much bigger after a yr old, maybe add a few #'s while filling out.
I would get her on an adult food now. Did you hear about the Blue Buffalo recent recalls?
Wellness is a good brand if you are thinking of switching.

 

[Stosh]

At one year she shouldn't need puppy food. I've never fed a puppy formula myself but many people do. Recently, there was a recall on Blue Buffalo chicken formulas because of an excessive quantity of vitamin D causing health problems. You might consider switching to another brand or formula until it's sorted out. There's a recent thread on BB recall. By the way, my last gsd female, Omy, weighed 58-62 lbs at the most when she was full grown.

 

[GSD Fan]

You are supposed to switch to Adult food when the dog turns 1 year. By then, the dog will have his or her adult teeth.

Do you think she's small? Are her ribs showing?

 

[Pattycakes]

My female GSD is almost 16 mths and she weights about 58-60 lbs. I feed her about 4-4.5 cups of BB a day. I switched my dog from puppy formula to adult when she was about 8 months old. She did much better on adult food than the puppy formula.

 

[Whiteshepherds]

You are supposed to switch to Adult food when the dog turns 1 year. By then, the dog will have his or her adult teeth.

Starting at 8 weeks we give our guys one (each) 20 pound bag of puppy food, when that's gone we switch to adult. Can't remember how long the bag lasts but definitely not a year.

 

[GSD Fan]

But one reason you're supposed to feed puppy food for that long is the nutrition. Puppy food is more nutritional than Adult food, a reason why breeders feed their pregnant females puppy food.

 

[Zoeys mom]

Puppy foods can be kinda a scam depending on which puppy food you are feeding. I feed Orijen LPB because the adult food is too high in calcium. However, with a lower quality food this may not matter as much because the calcium levels may not be as high....read the label first. Before Orijen I tried BB, and fed Kirkland adult formula and my pup is just fine Especially with a large breed dog puppy, puppy food can be a bad thing encouraging too much growth too fast. I normally faze out puppy food between a 4-6 months period and actually just bought a bag of TOTW. My vet doesn't recommend puppy food after 6 months for any breeds and see's no issue with adult food being fed only.

 

[roxy84]

I feed Orijen LPB because the adult food is too high in calcium........ ... ...I normally faze out puppy food between a 4-6 months period and actually just bought a bag of TOTW. .

last i checked, Orijen adult and orijen LBP had the exact same Ca levels.

TOTW, on the other hand, is around 2% and is one, IMO, that is too high until they are done growing.

 

[shawnmccarthy87]

thanks for the info last bag of puppy food is almost gone, gonna get the adult food. I did the reading on bb, and i hope is all worked out i dont wanna switch foods -- she loves the bb.

 

[shawnmccarthy87]

would you all trust it buying a bag like in a week?

 

[roxy84]

if it makes you feel any better, many of us consider 55-60 lbs to be a good weight for a female gsd. likely she will add some muscle and end up around 60 lbs. look at this chart (they list standard weight for females from about 49 lbs to 70 lbs, with a midrange at 60 lbs):

WEIGHT AND HEIGHT CHART FOR THE GERMAN SHEPHERD DOG