When to wean my puppy to adult food?

I have a 5mth old lab/rotweiler pup and have been tyhinking about when to wean onto adult food, I have looked on the web but it ranges from 6mths to 24mths so that is a huge difference. what would you suggest? thanks.

Answer #1

Hey,

I work at the Humane Society in Miami :) We feed our dogs puppy food for the first year. Then we gradually introduce adult food (from the same brand). Don’t change it all at once, put some adult food in and then more and more every day.

Answer #2

when you wean your puppy, you should gradually change it to adult food. Just act like your puppy is a test taster. let it taste the dog food like once a week, then gradually give it more every two weeks, until it gets used to it!

Answer #3

Because he’s a large breed dog…you should start doing it now…as said above, do it gradually, over a week or so, by mixing in the new in with his puppy food. Larger breed pups don’t need the high protein that’s in puppy food nor the high fat content…the protein makes them grow too fast, and the fat…makes it hard to keep them lean until their bone plates close…on a Rottie/Lab cross, I’d guess that would be 18 to 24 months before his bones/joints are “mature”… You’ll see him stop growing taller at about 12 months, and begin seriously filling out till he’s nearly 2 years old…

phrannie

Answer #4

most dogs stay on puppy food till 1 year of age. for a big dog such as a lab I would change to high proten food at 9 mounths to 1 year

Answer #5

Why dont you get the adult food and mix it in with the Puppy food…That might help

Answer #6

phrainie is wrong! The larger your dog, the longer it should stay on puppy food because it takes longer for the dog to develop. Larger dogs are also more likely to have bone problems in later life so you really want to ensure proper growth and bone development and puppy food has the appropriate nutrients. For a lab/rot you should at LEAST weight until it’s a year old but you may even want to wait to 14-18 months. It should already be eating hard puppy food though.

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