Large Breed Puppy Food

Yes, but only while puppies. Large breed puppies have a lot of growing to do, with their natural growth hormones in overdrive.

It’s important to make sure that a large breed puppy food has a calcium:phosphorous ratio in a range suitable for large breeds.

Our Turkey, Lamb & Beef recipe is suitable for all puppies, including large breeds like German Shepherd dog food.

Sure is. All of recipes are 100% nutritionally complete for all life stages with appropriate electrolytes and DHA for puppies growth phase.

It depends on the brand. Puppies have greater nutritional needs than adult dog foods but adult dogs benefit from that same extra nutrition – they just don’t need it to sustain life.

Puppy food is generally just better adult dog food, so we make Scratch suitable from puppy through to senior dogs.

That means that your large breed puppy can stay on their food once they stop growing.

It means that the food is safe for large breed puppies to eat as their main diet without contributing to overgrown bone risk.

Here are the breeds likely to be over 30kg as adults and classes as large dog breeds:

• Afghan Hound
• Akita
• Alaskan Malamute
• American Bulldog
• Anatolian Shepherd Dog
• Appenzeller Sennenhunde
• Australian Staghound
• Bergamasco Shepherd
• Berger Picard
• Bernedoodle
• Bernese Mountain Dog
• Black and Tan Coonhound
• Black Russian Terrier
• Bloodhound
• Bluetick Coonhound
• Boerboel
• Borzoi
• Bouvier des Flandres
• Boxer
• Bracco Italiano
• Briard
• Bull Arab
• Bullmastiff
• Cane Corso
• Catahoula Leopard Dog
• Caucasian Shepherd Dog
• Central Asian Shepherd
• Chesapeake Bay Retriever
• Chinook
• Chow Chow
• Clumber Spaniel
• Curly-Coated Retriever
• Doberman Pinscher
• Dogo Argentino
• Dogue de Bordeaux
• English Foxhound
• Flat-Coated Retriever
• German Shepherd
• German Shorthaired Pointer
• German Wirehaired Pointer
• Giant Schnauzer
• Goldador
• Golden Retriever
• Great Dane
• Great Pyrenees
• Greater Swiss Mountain Dog
• Greyhound
• Huntaway
• Irish Red and White Setter
• Irish Wolfhound
• Italian Spinone
• Komondor
• Kuvasz
• Labrador Retriever
• Leonberger
• Maremma Sheepdog
• Mastiff
• MuttMutt
• Neapolitan Mastiff
• Newfoundland
• Old English Sheepdog
• Otterhound
• Pyrenean Shepherd
• Rhodesian Ridgeback
• Rottweiler
• Saint Bernard
• Scottish Deerhound
• Tibetan Mastiff
• Treeing Walker Coonhound
• Weimaraner
• White Swiss Shepherd

Puppies require at least 22.5% protein (on a dry matter basis).

A high-quality protein provides the essential building blocks for muscles and organs. But not all protein is created equal. Dogs do better with plenty of high-quality animal protein. The best puppy food should have a specific animal protein as the first ingredient – for example ‘Turkey’, not ‘poultry’ which can suggest a mix of animal leftovers.

Both Scratch recipes only use specific animal proteins and have more meat than most other foods.

A puppy is technically an adult for feeding requirements once they physically mature and stop growing in height.

Some premium dog foods such as Scratch are suitable for a puppy to stay on their whole life as adult dog food is generally just a lower standard than puppy food as adult dogs have lower nutritional standards.

Sure can. We have plenty of customers mix feeding Scratch dry dog food with raw, or even wet food in their younger years.

We’ll give you a feeding guide upon signup, and you can change how often you’d like Scratch sent to suit your mix feeding habits.

Good question. It depends on their age, breed & expected adult size. A Saint Bernard is a puppy for a lot longer than a Chihuahua for instance.

The food they’re eating also changes things as different foods produce different energy. Scratch feeding plans are tailored to the recipe that they’re eating (which you can also switch up if they’re fussy and seek variety).

When you get started with Scratch, we’ll ask some questions and calculate a feeding guide for your puppy based on this information.

As they grow, you can update their weight via your pups plan webpage for their instantly updated feeding guide. You can see our suggested feeding guide prior to signing up if you’re curious.

Large breed puppies should eat a high-protein diet, with lots of fibre to create a strong microbiome and immune system.

Most large breed puppy food is chicken-based because it has less bone than other animals, but the chicken used in dog food is typically horrible quality (more carcass and some organs) as us humans take all of the good stuff.

Less bone makes it easier to include more animal and less fillers.

So much bad chicken has contributed to growing chicken intolerances for dogs.

Scratch users higher quality Turkey instead of chicken so that we can have high meat content, but greater nutrition and lower chances of sensitivities.

Not while they’re a puppy, and hopefully not over. The best thing you can do for your large breed puppies joints is feed them a high quality grain-free dog food and be careful not to over-exercise them while their bones and joints grow.

Their feeding will change as they grow. Relative to their weight, large breed puppies are overfed in their first 4 months, less so between 4-8 months and then get closer to their adult feeding amounts from 8-12 months or until they stop growing in height.

Dog food labels will always have general feeding instructions, or for something more detailed, use Off The Leash’s puppy feeding guide. When you sign up to Scratch, your puppy will get a feeding guide that adjusts to their growth and age.

Large breed puppy food doesn’t stunt or suppress growth – it just doesn’t add to their bodies natural growth. Their bodies know best and grow bones in coordination with their joints and overall physical development.

Vets have surprisingly little nutritional training, so most puppy food knowledge is restricted to what they sell and have been told by the brands sales people.

The best way to find a food instead of what vets recommend is to research dog food reviews.

Puppies should ideally eat 4 times a day until 4 months old, and then 3 times a day until fully grown. Once fully grown, puppies can eat 2 times a day.

Feeding puppies 3 or 4 times per day makes it easier for puppies to digest and help keep energy levels consistent.

For large breeds it is very important as splitting feeding can reduce bloat and prevent the sometimes fatal Gastric Dilatation and Volvulus (stomach twisting).

Your Scratch feeding guide will adjust to how many times per day your dog should be eating, based on their age.

Definitely. While puppies need to eat a lot more than adult dogs of the same weight, overfeeding isn’t good for anyone and can lead to bloating and stomach problems.

Be sure to follow your dog food’s feeding guide. Also don’t forget to take a look at our puppy guide for novice dog owners.