whats the difference between puppy, adult, and senior dog food?

Question

what is really different about it that helps dogs in each stage of their life?

okay - so I just bought senior food for my cat. that has less calories? my cat is losing his teeth and is losing weight so i bought him senior cat food. should i buy him soft kitten food?

Answer 1

Puppy food tends to have a higher percentage of protein and fat content when compared to adult and senior blends. Puppies usually need more calories because they are growing. Adult dog food is usually lower in protein and fat content since most adult dogs aren't burning as many calories as they were when younger. Although there are "performance" blends for adult dogs that are very active, and these have high protein and fat levels, which allows these dogs to maintain their weight while getting enough calories to be active. Senior dog foods tend to have a lot of fillers and not nearly the number of calories as adult or puppy food. The protein and fat content is much lower as well, since many people perceive senior dogs as being much less active and usually have problems with their dogs gaining weight. The metabolism of many senior dogs slows as they age and they end up gaining weight easily on normal adult food and instead need something with reduced calories.

You don't need to get your cat senior food unless it is quite old, inactive, and overweight. If your cat is doing fine other than missing some teeth, I would continue to feed it regular adult cat food, you can add water to it and heat it in the microwave or just let it soak for a while and this will moisten the food so it's easier to eat.

Answer 2

Just as with humans, dogs' nutritional needs change.
Puppies are (obviously) growing and need more fat, calcium & protein. (the exception would be large breeds; if they grow too fast their musculature cannot keep up with the bone structure)
Adult dogs should be fed a quality food for maintenance; amounts can be deduced from the info on the bag and how active your dog is.
Seniors generally are less active and therefore need less fat and protein, many senior foods have glucosamine and chondroitin added to their formula which MAY help older joints.
Some premium brands like Canidae are actually for all life stages; the difference is in the amounts you feed.
Another plus for the premium brands is that most are not afected by the recent recalls. Exception here would be Nutro.
Also if you feed a premium brand your dog gets the necessary nutrients in a smaller amount of food and that = less poop to scoop.

Answer 3

Puppy food has certain things that will make the puppy grow faster and build up its strengths. I don't see any harm to your dog. We have a 1 year old and 13 year old (dogs) Gretchen, the oldest, wouldn't eat her food because Wally, the pup, had "better" food. The only thing that we didn't like about it was that it made Gretchen poop more often and really gassy. Because your dog eats puppy food regularly, keep at it, it's perfectly fine. Just cut down on the serving sizes.

Answer 4

Puppy food has more protein, its supposed to help puppies grow. However I don't recommend puppy food for puppies. Puppy food promotes fast growth which can lead to bone and joint problems later in life. In my opinion puppy food should only be fed to pregnant and lactating dogs who can actually use all the extra.

Adult food has less protein, they aren't growing so pet food companies cut out the extra protein.

Senior food has even less protein since these dogs tend to be less active.

I'd skip them all and go with a high quality all stages food such as Natural Balance or Innova Evo to name a couple.

A high qualilty all stages food can be fed from puppy hood through the senior years. These foods when fed to puppies promote a more desired slow growth. Puppies should grow up slow, not spring up like weeds.

Answer 5

Go to any of the major brands of dog food: Pedigree, Pro Plan, etc. They list the ingredients for each of their "stage" foods and what they contain and why. Another excellent site is www.pminutrition.com. Click on Exclusive. There's a great description with each one of the ingredients and why. Typically a puppy food gives the puppy enough protein and fat for growth and energy levels. The adult food maintains the desired weight and activity levels of an adult dog. The senior has less fat and protein and perhaps more fiber for a dog that is getting older. It may contain additives for dogs who are having increasing problems with mobility. There is even "lite" dog foods for overweight dogs with substantially less fat. Here at our kennel where we have 19 American Eskimos of all ages we feed puppy formula to dogs under two years old, adult to dogs between two years and under eight years old, senior to those eight and older and we have a couple who are on lite food who are just porkers. We try to group the dogs together who can have the same foods because feeding four different types of food in a multidog setting can be difficult at best. We do not supplement with vitamins or additives although we do provide anti-inflammatory meds to a couple of our very elderly dogs who are having mobility problems. We feed PMI's Exclusive and are SO thankful that we are not in any of the recalls! I have great empathy for people with kennels who have had to change foods recently because of the recalls. Changing food for dogs is not easy and can cause major intestinal upsets.

Answer 6

Senior food is a gimmick, it replaced meat protein with more grain and then charge more for,
New research shows senior dogs need twice the protein of an adult not less and the protein should be in the form of meat not grains.

A list of better foods here
I feed the ones that are 42% protein with my seniors Innova EVO

I hope I am not misunderstand your post but if you are asking about a cat food they are true carnivores so meat is very important to them , so reducing meat in a senior food is even worse for them

but the companies listed in the link above also make cat food with high meat protein

Answer 7

Well, the puppy food is especially made for puppies and their early puppyhood needs, like calcium for their bones to make them grow strong and healthy, and iron for their blood. The adult food is made for adults- which has the vitamins they need. And, the same with senior dog food- it gives them the vitamins they need to stay healthy, energetic, and strong.

Answer 8

Puppy is higher in nutrients (specially calcium) and calories, to support the growing puppy and developing skeletal structure. Puppy food is also used in pregnant and nursing dogs for this reason too.

Adult is simply maintenance. Nutrients enough to support a dog that is not growing and is otherwise healthy. Less calories to prevent him from gaining too much weight, but to support a dog that is probably athletic and running around.

Senior foods are lower in carbohydrates bc they are easier to digest by the liver, may contain glucosamine to help jts, more processed to help digestion, and low in fat to prevent excessive weight gain.

Answer 9

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Answer 10

as dogs grow older, thier nutritional needs are going to change. as puppies they wiill need certain nutients to help them grow and develop bone structure etc. ( i don`t kno specifics im afraid!)