I have been told at a year and that by that time they should just be fed once a day instead of twice a day. Puppy food has more stuff necessary for teeth and bone development, energy level, and of course size of kibble, hardness, etc.

The caloric density, the nutritional value and the compensatory measures in mineral content are different between puppy and adult food; puppies need high caloric density because they are growing and their methabolic rate is higher, need more digestable ingredients because they are growing body mass and tissues, puppies need compensatory measures in minerals because they are growing bones and teeth.

For how long the puppy should eat puppy food depends greatly on the breed and when the breed becomes a full grown ( it has nothing to do with sexual maturity ).

Toy breeds are full grown at 7-8 months of age
Small breeds are full grown at 8-10 months of age
Medium small breeds are full grown at 9-11 months
Medium breeds are full grown at 12-13 months of age
Large breeds are full grown at 13-18 months of age
Giant breeds are full grown at 18-24 months of age.

In your case, you have a Labrador and a St Bernard, labradors are a medium breed and St Bernard are a giant breed. If labradors are full grown at 12-13 months then by the 14 th month of age it should be eating adult food while the St Bernard will need to eat puppy food until it is 23-24 months of age.

I switched my lab at one year, from large breed puppy Eukanuba, to adult large breed Eukanuba. However, especially with labs, I suggest you keep at least two feedings per day for your dog's entire life. Don't feed more than you'd feed in a day, just divide it accordingly. This is much easier on your dogs digestion, and gives him something to look forward to more than once a day! I know there are different opinions about whether or not to feed once-a-day or twice, I just happen to think with greedy labs who inhale their food, there is more risk of internal problems with a big meal.

I'm getting a German Shepherd puppy in a few weeks and a Dobe puppy late this year. Being the sort of obsessive person I can be I've been asking our vets questions about feeding puppies particularly in relationship to try and decrease the occurance of orthopedic problems since these two will be compitition dogs. One of the Dr's printed me out some info she got from VIN, Veterinary Information Network, and according to that even when feeding a large breed puppy food or even an adult food you very possibly could still be feeding food that was far to high in some nutrients. The only food that I found readily available so far, and I'm not thru looking yet, that met their suggestions was Nature's Recipe large breed formula. Eagle Large breed puppy was very close. As Raul said above there are some nutrients that puppies need more of but according to the print out 22% protein was about max they reccomended. Almost all of the large breed puppy formulas I've looked at so far have been far higher than that. As long as I was in the recommended ballpark I would feed as Raul suggest.

Lisa

Giant breed dogs should NEVER be fed once daily because of the risk of bloat. 2-3 times a day is much safer.

I'd go with what Raul said on timing the switch. And keep in mind that making a puppy grow slow won't make it a smaller dog- that's all genetically controlled. It will just take longer for the dog to attain full body weight, and for giant breeds especially that's just fine!

I certainly agree with Meghane, in large and giant breeds more feedings throughout the day until you complete the ration is better than a full course once a day, and specially, never at night. If something is going to happen ( bloat and/or GDV and in the extreme case, stomach rupture ) my personal experience and Murphy´s law say it is going to happen in the middle of the night when all the vet clinics are closed and the only personel available are the death shift ( night shift ) in the best case, there you are with your dog looking like a balloon at 3 AM looking desperately for a vet to perform an emergency procedure because your dog´s life is in danger.

Giant breeds need special diet ---> Large breed formulas, when you give your giant breed "general use" puppy food you can encounter with health issues associated to growth, what happens is that general use puppy formulas are too rich in nutrients for giant breeds, since there is an abundant supply of resources ( food nutritonal content and energy density ) the dog begins to grow fast but the paradox is: the dog grows fast but his skeletal system is not ready to support the weight and then growth associated health issues like panosteitis & arthritis appear. Giant breeds need to grow slowly and Large breed formulas are designed for that. The protein content and energy density is lower in them.

Also remember, never make shifts in diet abruptly, changes in diet must be done on a period of time between 2 to 4 weeks where you slowly increase the percentage of one diet while reducing the percentage of the other until the shift is complete, otherwise you can cause a health problem that has no reason, gastroenteritis and in the worst case, hemorragic gastroenteritis can occur if you don´t shift from one formula to another slowly. The 25% a week is a good rule of thumb, personally I recommend to all my clients to do it that way.

Raul and Meghane I have a question. As I said in the post above the info I was given from VIN stated a max protein of 22%, yet almost all of the large breed puppy foods I have looked at have been 26-28 % or higher.What's up with that?

Lisa

Lisa, from my clinical nutrition class, the amount of protein has much less effect on growth than previously thought. Calories and calcium/phosphorus ratios seem to be more important. Also the protein listed on packages of dog food can include things that are not digestible, such as hair, feathers, etc in low quality diets, which artificially inflates the protein count. Not that I think you are looking at crappy dog food- I'm sure you're not considering those for your dog!

I'm not sure where VIN got that number for max protein or why 22% is the "magic" number. Can you provide the link for that? I couldn't find it when I searched. Thanks!

Ok that´s what the VIN says, but it doesn´t tell us the caloric intake recommended nor the digestible energy requirements.

It´s very easy to alter the guaranteed analysis ( the percentages you find in the label ), what the analysis does is just to measure the ammount ( % ) of nitrogen in the diet, nitrogen = protein, well, sort of and not entirely true, you can boost up the protein percentage by adding nitrogen sources like, speaking of "protein", feathers, hair, beaks, "animal digest" ( fancy name to indicate poop ) or from non proteic sources like ammonium treatment or urea. But many of these "alternative sources" of protein have little or no nutritional value because they can´t be digested or the digestion is poor.

The label in the food may say that it contains 26-28%, yes, by law it´s mandatory that the food should include the guaranteed anaylisis and the list of ingredients, but caloric density of the formula isn´t mandatory, the manufacturer may or may not include it ( I know that Eukanuba has it on the label, others don´t have it on the label but they have it in the information panfltes & leaflets ); the guaranteed analysis doesn´t guarantee the caloric density nor the digestible energy levels the formula provides.

The manufacturer has to comply with the law placing the analysis and the ingredient list, now it´s time to see the important stuff ---> WHAT´S IN THE INGREDIENT LIST, that separates friend from foe.

By law the manufacturer has to indicate in the list all the ingredients used to make the food, and it must be done in descending order ( by law ) from the most abundant ingredient to the least ingredient found in the food. All foods must have protein, carbohidrates, fat & minerals, it´s the sources ( products ) of those what gives you the caloric density & the digestability.

The nutritionist can design the formula to suit the specific nutritional, caloric and digestable energy needs of the target ( large & giant breeds ) by adding non digestable protein ( which will artificially boost the guaranteed analysis protein percentage ) but keeping the real nutritional values needed.

The heading on it is called Practical Nutritional and Dietary Recommendations: Minimizing Clinical Aspects of Orthopedic Diseases.

Lisa