When you’ve got a new puppy, it just makes sense to feed them puppy food. However, going out and purchasing puppy food is a bit more complicated. Do you buy food that says “puppy” on the bag? Do you go for a food that is appropriate for “all life stages”? It’s just confusing.
Luckily, the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) has issued some definitions for these phrases. In the case of a bag labeled “all life stages”, the food must meet clearly defined nutritional requirements for both “growth and reproduction dogs”, which includes breeding animals, pregnant or nursing females as well as puppies, in addition to “adult maintenance dogs” which is what’s required for all other dogs.
In the case of PURELUXE Pet Food, all of our dog formulas, with the exception of our Stellar Holistic Health and Healthy Activity formulas, are formulated for all life stages. That means that the vast majority of our dog formulas are appropriate for puppies all the way thru senior dogs. However, certain formulas can have specializations that aren’t covered by the AAFCO guidelines. For example, our Small Breed Dog formula has smaller kibble that is helpful for smaller breeds but could also be useful for puppies. Additionally, our Stellar Holistic Health formula has less protein to help overweight or obese dogs. However, this lower protein level isn’t appropriate for puppies and isn’t labeled for “all life stages”. Another thing to note is that if you purchase food that’s labeled for “growth and reproduction dogs” only, like our Healthy Activity formula, you’ll need to stop using that food when your dog reaches about 1 year in age (unless they meet the other definitions of “growth and reproduction” dogs).
Hopefully, this has made deciding on a puppy food that much easier. Be sure to visit pureluxepetfood.com to see all of our formulas for both dogs and cats.
Source
-https://www.whole-dog-journal.com/food/how-long-to-feed-puppy-food/
