People in general have a great desire to get puppies on to adult food as soon as they can. I don't know why but they do??!!??
Puppy food is higher in protein than adult food and protein is what puppies need to feed their growing bodies. Protein is the building block for the body. Typically, puppy food is 29% protein. (Royal Canin is higher but they have their own ideas). Puppies should have puppy food until they are approximately 12 months old depending on breed. (Small dogs like Yorkies who are active can have pup food for all their active life). Then you can move on to Junior food which is typically 25% protein and fed until the age of 2 (ish). Adult food is about 22% protein and can be fed til age 7/8 ish. Senior or light food is about 18% protein and is fed to older dogs. This is the feeding pettern.
The advice to use the feeding guide on the bag as a guide only is spot on. The rib cage should
just be visible on short coated breeds and just about be felt on long coated breeds.
Most importantly......read the ingredients on the bag 'cos all of the cheaper foods and a lot of the more expensive foods use animal or vegetable derivatives (This is the stuff that no one else wants) and in my humble opinion is sub standard food. The meat source should be meat meal and preferrably gluten free to prevent the dogs developing an allergy to wheat.
Bakers food is nothing short of an abomination and the only good thing about it is that the ingredients are not put straight in to landfill - in my opinion!!! If my dogs hadn't eaten for a week, I wouldn't feed Bakers! I don't even like writing the name and from now on will not type the whole name
Excuse me, I must lie down
There is another option and that is to feed a raw diet. This is more natural and probably healthier but that is a whole other topic.
Sorry to have gone on but this is a subject that is VERY close to my heart as we spend every day trying to get this message across in our shop. Rant over.
Hope this helps,
Ian