I am looking into EVO (grain free}. Everyone told me not to feed this to pupiies because of the high protein. Not good for growing pups. I breed labs and am concerned about hips. I want to go grain free (not ready for raw yet) but they are all very high in protein. Help

I know that Leerburg and many others have raised lots of puppies on raw with no issues. I'm not sure why they say that about kibble. Maybe it has to do with the protein being proccessed? I'm sure someone with more knowledge will chime in.

I found this info for raw chicken which shows that 100gm. of breast meat with no skin or bones is 23% protein. If you figure in the bones and skin, the actual percent of protein goes done, I'm sure:

http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts-C00001-01c20BJ.html

Read these articles about protien in dogs:

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/puppy-protein/

Food for thought.

 Quote:

Everyone told me not to feed this to puppies because of the high protein.

I am always a little confused by this statement and I have heard it many a time referring to kibble and raw. Is the idea that you are supposed to feed some kind of filler instead of an animal protein?

I feed raw(no grains or vegetables) and have weaned puppies to raw. They are a giant breed we have never had hip problems on this supposedly high protein diet we feed.

Edited to add:

 Quote:

http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/puppy-protein/

Well I think this article answered my question. It is about the quality not quantity of protein.

Like I said in a different thread, I always did well with regular Innova which does have grains (I think I just typed brown rice before, got sidetracked and did not realize my typo.... :blush
but the main two ingredients are turkey and chicken. And it is an all-natural kibble.

I guess this was my preference to feed and I did not want to go with as much protein as EVO has.

I have learned much since my kibble days, but I never had issues with Innova.

I do believe a while ago when I was calculating things out I did some searching on the protein content of various raw meats and came up with some basic numbers. Most common protein sources like chicken, turkey, beef etc the protein content was usually right around 30-35%, with some meats like venison being around 25% I think rabbit is pretty up there maybe close to 40% but I can't remember probably around 35% I would say. I just cannot remember blah.

Duck is like 23-27% or something like that and Veal is around 35%, lamb is around 30-35% pork is between 25-30%

I can't remember most of it but I will look it up again now I am curious. I think I had found the info on the USDA website or something. Hmm. Anyhow. Basically most raw meats run in the 30% range with some being higher but I have never seen a raw meat with over 40% protein. Some grain free foods have a LOT of protein, I would probably tend to stay away from 50% protein for a puppy and for anything but a supplement to a natural lower protein grain free, but protein around 40% wouldn't be too terribly bad, but still high compared to most raw meat diets.

I think Evo red meat is 42%
Evo regular is 43%
The EVO reduce fat is even higher at 52%
I feed my cat Evo which is 50.5% he does extremely well on it and my ferrets get Evo as well which is the same as the feline variety.

I may not remember correctly so bear with me, but the numbers sound correct. I will look into it more tomorrow

I have been useing evo for about two months now and it is incredible.