I must have it backwards or read it wrong somewhere. I thought the purpose for designing
LBP food was to slow down the growth because adult dog food was 'too much' for them and
would give them too high a percentage of certain minerals. Also that they should stay on
LBP food until one year for that reason. I will have to go back and check.
I wonder how many dog owners scrutinize the contents of twinkies and ice cream and
hot dogs just to make sure they are getting the proper amounts of vitamins and minerals.
If we can thrive on beer and potato chips, I don't see why dogs' foods have to be so
minutely analyzed. The dog food industry has us wrapped and rapt.

No, they develped the LBPF because the regular puppy food was too much, not the adult, but that may depend on whose interpretation you believe, but regular puppy food was causing problems in the larger breeds. However, there are still some issues with using the adult food, according to ome, mostly the calcium phosphorous ration *i think*.

The issue with dog food, as compared to people food, is that, for most dog, they ear the same thing every day, at every meal, so nutrient deficiencies or excesses can more readily develop, as oppoed to us - many people eat crap, but they also eat meals that vary. Whether it's us or them, the right, well-balanced, healthy diet will make us feel a lot better. I am in the camp that believes that most kibble is neither well-balanced, nor complete, and doesn't allow much for individual variation.

When LBPF first came out, at least at training, we didn't see an improvement in hips and such, they boosted protein by boosting crappy ingredients. But that was a long time ago, and I do think the better companies are doing a better job, and it' great that there are even better companies - back then you had Innova and Canidae and that was about it.

So, at the risk of making this longer, I will... I think LBPF is better than PF. Is LBPF better than adult food? I think I would have to look at percentages, ingredients, and it may be more an individual brand thing about which are really appropriate, and which aren't. I'm sure there are people on this forum that know more of the current details than I do.

More on the puppy vs adult food issue...

http://germanshepherdhome.net/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/156477/Re_Orijen_and_other_foods_for_.html

http://germanshepherdhome.net/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/3146/Puppy_Food_or_Adult_Food?#Post3146

anyone use acana dog food?

I have been using it for Abby for 6 years. love it

I think they developed puppy food, because human babies eat differently than adults, so puppies should be fed for growth. They boosted calories, protein, and calcium, and called it Puppy Food.

Very good, but they found that large breed puppies started having issues. I believe mostly because the calcium/phosphorus ratio was out of balance. So they reduced the protein, calcium and calories and boosted the price and told you to feed massive amounts of it, and called it LBPF.

Many breeders chose to forgo puppy food to the chagrin of the pet food industry and veterinarians. Other pet food companies went full circle and added "All Life Stages" onto their bags of dog food and charged extra accordingly.

Dog food is a racket.

I think some puppy foods, like Diamond Naturals, have less calories so you feed more of it, but the puppies tend to overeat and instead of slowing growth like the commercials suggest, or increasing growth like people think, the puppies just become overweight which taxes the joints, and the out of balance calcium for some breeds do a double-whammy on the growing puppy.

My vet says it isn't about slowing the puppy's growth. The puppy will grow however fast or slow it is going to grow. You want to keep up with the natural growth -- provide the proper balance in the food to provide the puppy what it needs while it is growing, without over-taxing its joints.

I feed Diamond Naturals Adult Chicken and Rice to all my dogs and wean puppies on it. I do not feed large breed food. It seems to work good for them. They tend to be thin as youngsters. Around 4 or 5, they will become porky if you let them, so you have to feed extra for growth, extra for energy, and then if you don't back down as they start slowing down, they will become overweight. But it doesn't mean that the formula needs to be changed. I think you just have to be conscious of their well-being and ideal weight, and adjust the dog food as they adjust.

On the pups I've fed adult food, there's been no panno. Ones that I've fed puppy food (Large breed) -- still panno. So, the lesson I've taken away is "do not feed puppy food."

I have been feeding mine Fromm's Gold Large Breed Puppy. So far, no Panno. She grows well and maintains a great body shape. Still pretty lean. I also switched my older dogs, 1 year & 1.5 years, to Fromm's as well. Except that I put them on the regular Large Breed Adult food. They love the taste and their stool is great. One of them is putting on a bit of weight but that is because I need to modify the quantity of his food since he is a tad bit smaller (55 lbs vs the 65+ lbs of my other dogs).

I used to be an advocate of Blue Buffalo. But once I found Fromm's I will never look back. I can get a food with significantly higher quality ingredients from Fromm's and it is actually a few dollars cheaper than the Blue Buffalo. Seems like a win/win to me.

I have Flame on Blue Wilderness Puppy. It was the only quality grain-free I could find with the absolute correct calcium/phosphorous ratio.