Getting a new puppy is both exciting and overwhelming! With so many dog foods to choose from, you may be wondering how to pick one and when to choose an adult recipe.
Puppy Nutrition vs. Adult Dog Nutrition
Puppies have slightly different nutritional requirements than adults, which is why it is important to feed a puppy specific recipe until your pup has finished growing. Both puppies and adults thrive on diets which contain high protein and a high percentage of quality animal ingredients. Good quality protein is especially important for puppies, as amino acids are the building blocks for their muscles and tissues. Puppy diets also contain higher calories and fat content – this supports a pup’s high energy needs during their growth phase. Adult dogs only require energy for maintenance, so adult diets are lower in fat and calories.
When Can a Puppy Eat Adult Food?
Different breeds of dogs will mature at different rates and therefore will need to be on a puppy diet for differing lengths of time. This is usually somewhere between 10 months to 2 years. Generally, puppies can be transitioned to an adult food at the following ages:
• Toy or small breed dogs (under 10kg): 10 – 12 months
• Medium breed dogs (10 – 30kg): 12 – 14 months
• Large breed dogs (30kg and over) 16 months or longer for some giant breeds
If you aren’t sure how big your dog is going to get, contact your trusted vet for advice.
Signs Your Puppy Is Ready for Adult Food
As your puppy grows up and reaches maturity, you may notice that it is not quite as ravenous at mealtimes. Their weight will start to level out as the growth slows down, and their temperament will also start to calm down a bit. Once your dog’s weight has stopped increasing, you can prepare to transition to an adult food.
The Right Way to Transition to Adult Dog Food
To avoid digestive upset and to allow your dog to adjust to their new adult food, a gradual transition over around 10-14 days is important. Start with 75% of their puppy diet mixed with 25% of the new adult food. Over the course of 10 days, slowly increase the new food and decrease the old food. By the end of the week, as long as you are not observing anything abnormal (loose stool, vomiting, excessive itching, etc.), you should be feeding full portions of the adult recipe.
Risks of Switching Too Early or Too Late
Transitioning to adult food too early, before your dog has reached maturity, can be detrimental to your dog’s growth. As adult foods are lower in calories and fat, your pup will not be receiving all the energy they need to finish growing. Even towards the end of your dog’s growth stage, the organs, bones, and body systems are not yet fully developed.
On the other hand, continuing to feed a puppy recipe into adulthood can put your dog at risk of obesity. The excess calories that are no longer being used for development will be stored instead as fat. It is very important for dogs to have a healthy body condition, especially so early in their life. Obesity in dogs is unfortunately common and can lead to health concerns such as heart disease and diabetes.
Choosing the Best Adult Dog Food
Choose an adult food that contains a high percentage of meat, including fresh and raw meats. ORIJEN recipes feature 85% quality animal ingredients, the first five being fresh or raw.
For the smoothest transition, it is usually best to choose an adult food that most closely resembles the puppy recipe you were feeding. The following adult recipes would be the smoothest transition from the ORIJEN puppy formulas:
ORIJEN Small Breed Puppy > ORIJEN Small Breed Original
ORIJEN Puppy > ORIJEN Original
ORIJEN Puppy Large > ORIJEN Large Breed Adult
Throughout your dog’s life, you may want to try what we call Rotational Feeding. This allows you to try out different recipes such as Six Fish, Regional Red, and Tundra – providing your dog with some variety to keep mealtimes exciting. Check out our FAQ’s page for more information on how to rotate between our recipes.