border collie feeding?

[bernicesmama]

I am going Saturday to pick up my new border collie/australian shepherd mix pup from a rescue. I was speaking with the lady at the rescue about dog food and such when she said that she never feeds border collies puppy food because they contain too much protien. I have been feeding Bernice (bc mix) nutro puppy food for months now. I have not found any information saying don't feed puppy food to bc's, and plus these are mixed dogs. So what's the deal? Should I continue with puppy food? Do y'all know? Is there some information out there that I have missed?

[Faith]

i have seen various websites that claim the puppy food vs adult food thing is just a marketing ploy. i'll try to dig one out for you to read their arguements.

[sheplovr]

Yes, puppy food is higher content of protein and fats. Adult is lower, that is why I stress to my customers if u see a rapid gain of weight, rapid growth get onto adult. If u watch and contain the amounts of puppy food u can use it up to a year. Just watch and read your ingredients and percents of.

Good Puppy food can be as high as 30% protein...20%fat, that is very rich.

[Trace]

I would recomend large breed puppy formula - as your puppy is going to be bigger than a beagle - which is who puppy formula was designed for.

Or hpow about the advise of your vet?

I would not recomend adult food - not enough in there for growing puppies - especially a BC mix - with lots of energy, and who is bound to be very busy - especially with the lovely Bernice to play with.

[bernicesmama]

thanks for the reassurances. Yes Bernice is on large breed nutro puppy food. She is so active I don't think I have to worry about her weight,(wish i could say the same) she has not been changing weight much lately. I think she might finally be done growing!

[DaneGirl2208]

ive never heard of that with border collies..huh.. i know your not suppose to feed puppy food to danes because they grow so fast...i didnt think bc did alot of rapid growing..but i dont know lol i know plenty of people who fed their dane puppy food and they turned out fine..obviously danes are diffrent from border collies so i dont know..iv asked 10 people and got 10 diffrent awnswrs about this..i dont see why not in BC though.. id go with what shep said feed puppy food but go to adult food if you see any rapid weight gain

[Trace]

Originally Posted by bernicesmama

thanks for the reassurances. Yes Bernice is on large breed nutro puppy food. She is so active I don't think I have to worry about her weight,(wish i could say the same) she has not been changing weight much lately. I think she might finally be done growing!

If Bernice is on large breed and that is working for her - then why not continue on with that with your new pup. One less different item that you ahve to pick up - right - simplify life.

[RoughCollies]

You can try a life stages food. Good for all life stages. Canidae has one, I believe.

[bernicesmama]

I thought it was kind of strange when the shelter lady told me that. I just wanted to ensure that I was doing the right thing. Bernice is not getting tubby and she is filling out in the adultish way but not in an unhealthy way. I do believe that I will continue with the Nutro. It worked well for bernice, her gas disappeared, (thank god!) her coat was shinier and she seemed to be alittle more perky. (like a bc needs that) but i do like the results i have gotten. My vet assured me it was a great food for her. thanks again

nikki