Have you ever heard of puppy food making your dog grow weird....?

Question

as in his legs get really long and out-grow his body? I thought thats just how puppy were, but everyone else tells me to take him off puppy food because it is making his legs too long!


He is a 3 month old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.

Answer 1

Just to let everyone else who posted know....the majority of puppy foods DO force puppies to grow at an unnatural rate. This is yet another reason why it is so important to find a good quality puppy food.

Generic puppy foods like Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Purina, Pedigree, Royal Canin, Walthams, etc, all pack their puppy foods with fillers and by-products that add a lot of calories to a food but don't provide an actual nutrition. So what I have read in studies and articles is that the dogs grow at a faster rate but that their bones and muscles develop improperly so the adult dog will often experience joint problems, etc because the structures are not their to support them. As mentioned in another posting, this does tend to happen more with larger breed dogs then smaller breeds.

Low grade foods are also know for putting growth hormones in their foods. Again, this speeds up the growing process but does not give the body time to develop to support new growth.

Innova (Natura Pet Foods) is one of the few foods out there that both does not use growth hormones as well as the fact that their Puppy formula has slightly less calories then the Adult formula. This means that puppies are able to grow at an appropriate rate and because Natura uses only high qualit proteins, the dogs body can support its weight and joints better. This is yet another reason why Innova stands out as being the best pet food on the market.

This is NOT a false claim and you should certainly be cautious of ALL of the "popular" mass market brands of foods. Other foods to consider are Canidae, Wellness, Flint River, Fromm, Evolve, Solid Gold, etc. These companies use only whole fresh, human grade ingredients.

Your puppy is still young so if you can switch to a better food, I'm sure he'll be fine.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Get a grip! At 3 months that dog will go through another 6 months of growing spurts that may take him in 3 different directions, before it settles down. Keep it on a quality brand of puppy food until he's at least 9 months, and then most breeders suggest, until they're a full year old. Their body needs the extra nutrients that puppy food provides.

Answer 3

I know that if you dog grows too quickly it can cause problems with their joints. The was a young dog at my dog park that grew too quickly and had to be hospitalized and then kept from moving too much to try to repair the damage caused by the rapid growth. This is usually a problem with large breed dogs. Puppy food has growth hormones in it. First I recommend that you take you dog to the vet to see if he/she is growing at a good rate or if he/she is indeed growing disproportionately. If that is the case, then likely the vet will recommend that you change the food you are giving the puppy, probably a mix of puppy and adult food and other regiments that will help the puppy grow up healthy.

Answer 4

Puppy's go through a stage where they look out of proportion and that sounds like your problem.
You do not have a large breed dog.
They can have problems with puppy food as it has to much protein and the leg bones grow to fast and are not dense enough to support their large weight.
But you have a small breed dog and they do not have that problem.
But the do go thought a stage where they are all legs or body to large for legs. They are just awkward at times until the get full growth.

Answer 5

All dogs grow at a different rates. Both of my dog's legs seemed to outgrow their bodies quickly; it's just part of being a growing puppy. I wouldn't take him off puppy food until he's at least a year old. Puppy food has more of the vitamins that puppies need to supplement their fast growth. As long as he's healthy, happy, and eating ok, he's just fine! :)

Answer 6

Never heard of it and it is not true. Puppy food is for dogs who are puppies. THey should eat puppy food for a year to 18 months.

Answer 7

I have heard of this. However, I wouldn't say that the way you are feeding your dog is wrong or that any of the giant breed dogs "need" to have their food moistened. In fact, many people would argue that feeding moistened kibble will increase her chances of developing dental disease more than it would reduce her chance of bloat. The bottom line with bloat is that we really DON'T understand what causes it or how to prevent it. There is clearly a genetic component involved in most cases since dogs with a relative who has bloated are statistically more likely to bloat than dogs with no "family history" of bloat. But there is no evidence that any of the things dog owners do to reduce the chances of bloat are actually any more effective than doing nothing at all.

Answer 8

Bone growth is determined by genetics, not by food (except in the case of starvation, where growth is stunted). He'll grow into them.

Answer 9

its not the dog food. dog food cant do that to dogs. i have two dogs and both of them eat the same dog food. one of them has very short legs and the other has long legs. so trust me when i say its not the dog food.

Answer 10

I believe you............there's human food that makes US grow weird :)