Mastiff Forum:
mastiff puppy food

Am getting an 8 wk old English Mastiff pup and need advice on puppy food vs adult food. Have been told puppy food will cause fast growth leading to bone and muscle problems. Any GOOD diets out there??

There definitely is!!!!

Regular puppy food will cause enormous problems with the large breed dogs b/c their muscles and tendons grow faster than their bones, therefore causeing lots of musculoskeletal probs.

All of the better dogfood brands (Science Diet, Iams, Eukanuba, and even Purina) have large breed puppy formulas. Any of these will be fine, but the best person to talk to will be your vet who should only be a phone call away.

These foods may seem expensive initially, but int he long run, they are not.

Christy

You should look for a food that is full of things that you would like to eat. Corn should not be anywhere near the top of the list. No more than 23percent protein. I feed Eagle Natural pack and supplement with raw. My pups to adults get raw bones, meat, vegies, fruits, vitamins... Dr. Pitcairns book is very interesting. It talks about vaccines and many other things. Well worth the time to read.

Remember slow growth is good.

Enjoy your puppy and remember positive training starting now will take you far. After all you wont be able to push that puppy around in, OH about 6 months. :)

Sookie

Feeding bones to your dog would not be beneficial and very possibly dangerous. Talk to your vet about what to feed him, and corn is not harmful.

I would suggest Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy food. It is especially formulated for the needs of a large breed puppy. Call our Customer Service line at 1-800-525-4267 and ask them about getting a sample of the food to try out. IAMS Large Breed Puppy is also very good (and less expensive). However, Eukanuba is our premium line and that is what I reccomend feeding any dog or cat, especially since there are specific formulas for the different life/activity stages of these animals.

Please do not feed your Mastiff, puppy food, that is a "NO" "NO." I am an English Mastiff breeder. If you do a search for Mastiff breeders and email them most of them they would say do not feed puppy foods. They are way to high in protein for a Mastiff. Mastiffs can take up to 3 or more years to finish growing and when you feed high in protein it makes them grow faster which is bad on there hips and elbows. Even when breeders are switching the lil babies to solid food they use Adult dog food. My dogs eat Innova. It is a very healthy diet. Including, Apples, Chicken, Turkey, Brown Rice, Potatoes, Carrots, Cottage Cheese, eggs and Garlic, plus plenty more. It really is a great dog food. I would also suggest joining a Mastiff lovers Group on Yahoo. They will be able to help you learn a lot. Here is a very informative web site: http://devinefarm.net/home/ Hope I helped. 80) ~*Nicole*~