Puppy vs.  Adult Diets - Bony Malformation

An understanding of caloric density and mineral content of food is important.

Whether diet can be directly linked to problems such as hip dysplasia is still uncertain.  Certainly, rapidly growing heavier individuals tend to be more at risk.  However, cats develop hip dysplasia.  It makes sense that carrying excess weight on underdeveloped joints might predispose to injury and alteration in formation, especially in active individuals.

However, feeding a puppy an Adult Dog Food in an attempt to reduce caloric intake, is simply not the answer.  Puppy foods are generally of a higher caloric density than comparable adult foods.  Consequently, puppies left to their own satiation levels will eat more adult food.  Now what have we done?  Three cups of the 28% puppy food would contain 105 grams of protein.  Four cups of the 24% adult dog food would contain 120g of protein.  This is the reverse of what we wanted.  If we now feed three cups of adult food, we reduce protein intake, but also potentially affect proper vitamin and mineral intake of the growing puppy, because of the inherent alteration in balance in adult products.

The obvious answer is to feed a quality puppy food properly.  Maintain proper development and weight by appropriate volume feeding.  A puppy should always have a nice waist and not be fat.  This provides the best of both worlds providing optimum nutrition to the genetically rapidly growing individual, and guarding against abnormalities caused by excessive weight.

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