This might be a silly question so bear with me. I have an eight week old GSD. I have been feeding her chicken soup for the large breed puppy. But I have recently found a feed and seed store selling taste of the wild at only $6 more for the 30 pounds bag, so I would like to switch. Although the store does not carry a taste of the wild for the large breed puppy. When I took her to the vet, the vet could not stress enough to put the puppy on a "for the large breed puppy" food. So, can I put my eight week old GSD on Taste of the wild even though it is not indicated to be for the large breed puppy?

 Quote: dale stoneburg

This might be a silly question so bear with me. I have an eight week old GSD. I have been feeding her chicken soup for the large breed puppy. But I have recently found a feed and seed store selling taste of the wild at only $6 more for the 30 pounds bag, so I would like to switch. Although the store does not carry a taste of the wild for the large breed puppy. When I took her to the vet, the vet could not stress enough to put the puppy on a "for the large breed puppy" food. So, can I put my eight week old GSD on Taste of the wild even though it is not indicated to be for the large breed puppy?

Isn't TOTW "for all life stages"?

That's the claim, but like many other things writing on a label doesn't quite satisfy my thirst for knowledge.

Hey Dale, did for large breed puppies on the label satisfy your quest for knowledge? Did your vet mention how much time he's spent studying nutrition? I'm not being a smart *** with those questions, but why take one company's claim and not the other?

Most Vets will admit they don't study much as far as nutrition goes and mostly rely on what the food companys tell them.
All that said, I feed Taste of the Wild to all my dogs. I rotate the three varieties. Thats two Shepherds, 1yr and 1 thats 6mos. A 6 yr old Rott, and a 10yr old English Setter. A lot of different life stages there.

I am switching the Shepherds over to raw right now though, but I have been very happy with the TOW.

I understand your point steve, while I did not solely take the vets advice on a dog food, as I read numerous reviews about chicken soup, her advice did learn me towards the chickens soup because it was for large breed puppy while TOTW did not indicate that. Given all the information I think I will be switching over to TOTW when I run out of chicken soup. Thanks guys.

I'm with Steve.

The same people that approved the Chicken Soup food for large breed puppies also approved TOTW for all life stages.

If you believe them for one, might as well for the other.

My vet recommended Science Diet because my shepherd was showing
signs of a food alergy, so he put her on Lamb and Rice. However.
she refused to eat it even if I mixed homemade chichen stock with
it. I listened to my dog. She loves TOTW (grain free) her skin
and coat look great and no alergy itching, redness. I also checked out the web site for dog food analysis. Good Luck.

I have never taken my vets advice on my dogs diet, mostly because I know that I have done my research and I know what I am talking about.

With that said, I had a woman in a dog class that had a golden/lab mix. Her dog had an awful reaction to the dog food she was on, I don't remember the brand. The dog had a rash on her stomach, scabs from scratching on her chin, and sores from licking on her paws. The vet suggested $130/30 bag of food sold at the vet clinic. Of course, the dogs symptoms actually got worse, not better.

I suggested this lady do her research on what could be causing the symptoms as well as to see if it was diet related, which I suspected it was. So after doing her research, she switched her dog to Orijen red meat, and within a week 90% of the symptoms had cleared up. It has been 2 weeks and her scabs on her chin are healing and her fur is growing back, her stomach is now rash free and her paws are healing.

So the point of this long rambling is, hear what your vet has to say about diet, but in the end do your own research and trust that you know what is best for your dog.

I will just mention that if you are going to feed a large breed puppy kibble, you should switch to a adult formula at 6 months old. The large breed pup formulas will encourage the pup to grow more quickly then an adult formula. It is better for their skelletal system to grow slowly. That and keeping them on the thin side. Less weight & slow growth allows the bones to grow with minimal stress on them. There are other factors also, like too much exercise, especially in hard surfaces etc that also contribute & genetics, of couse. The slower growth rate for pups usually creates less skelletal issues & is one of the great side effects of raw feeding :-) JMO

Great advice all around. Taste of the Wild is good stuff, but I have heard the Salmon food might have some type of chemical in it. There might be an old thread on the subject, but I know I read this information somewhere. Google.

They have two other varieties, but you also can't go wrong with Orijen.

Good luck with your pup!
Lisa