Feeding 9mth Old Mastiffs

[Simply Grand]

Sorry to post in general, just after some quick help!

9 month old mastiffs, 1 male, 1 female. No access to large/giant breed puppy food at the moment, are they better off on normal puppy formula, active adult formula or normal adult?

(dry food is the only option)

Thanks for any advice :)

[Holmesy]

Hi Simply Grand,

I am not a breeder or anything but I do own a 2 year old mastiff and a 3 year old bullmastiff. I would recommend going with the normal or adult food rather than the "puppy" formula. Because of the growth rate of Mastiffs, you really don't want them to be growing too fast because their joints and bones need to be able to carry the weight, if they grow too fast, the joints will struggle. Your pup's joints will thank you later. The puppy formula dry food tends to have a much higher protein content than the adult version.. from all of the research that I did before I got a Mastiff, you want to have them grow as slowly as possible! (Although they still grow really quick anyway lol)

Hope this helps.

[sas]

Hi!

I'm not a mastiff person but a Dane person so I can give you a diet pack that has a wide range of kibbles from budget through to premium you can look at: http://www.greatdane...iet_section.pdf

However, your first stop should be to your Breeder and if that's not possible your Breed community, if you select Breed Sub Forums from the General Forum you should find the Mastiff thread :)

I'm presuming not any old food is ok like Danes i.e. pups need a specific phos:calc ratio.

Edited June 4, 2014 by sas

[Simply Grand]

Thanks guys, they are not my pups, just pups I know of and there are limited feeding options.

Sas, would you recommend adult over normal puppy formula for Danes?

[espinay2]

What is available? Not all foods are 'alike' even within those categories, so it may help to know what type of things they can get if that is limited.

[Simply Grand]

They are getting a super premium food which has been donated, which is why the choices are limited to only normal puppy, active formula or normal adult. The plan was to give them normal puppy in the absence of large breed but I was concerned about what it would do to their growth.

Unfortunately I don't know what they were being fed previously either so they may or may not be suddenly getting better nutrition with a higher quality food.

[Guest Ams]

I'd go normal adult food if the choices are super premium and just add/remove portions depending on how they fill out.

[VizslaMomma]

Thanks guys, they are not my pups, just pups I know of and there are limited feeding options.

Sas, would you recommend adult over normal puppy formula for Danes?

Get the adult version of the breed.

And hope no damage is happening because of dietary shortcomings.

[Simply Grand]

Thank you so much for the advice, I will pass on that adult is probably the best of the 3 options to prevent them growing too fast. They are structurally sound after a preliminary vet check so hopefully they'll continue to grow soundly :)

[sas]

Thanks guys, they are not my pups, just pups I know of and there are limited feeding options.

Sas, would you recommend adult over normal puppy formula for Danes?

Depends what kibble. If it's Giant breed kibble for puppies then yes I would feed it to a giant breed puppy.

It's all about phos:calc ratios, so if an all breeds puppy kibble had suitable ratios yes I'd feed that > I don't think you'll find an all breeds puppy ones though that does.