Is Kinetic puppy food good for my 8-week GSD after grain-free?

Hello! I recommend feeding a diet that has been established for a long time and has undergone feeding trials and follows AAFCO nutrition standards. Purina, Royal Canin, Hill's, and Iams are all examples of good brands. I would avoid any raw, grain free, other "fad" diets as their lack of scientific evidence often leads to chronic nutritional deficiencies in senior pets that are fed these diets long term. I hope this is helpful! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Great question! I personally never recommend a grain free diet for dogs unless they have a proven (i.e. diagnosed by a vet) grain allergy. Grain allergies are actually very rare in dogs. Only about 5% of dogs with allergies have a food allergies, and of that 5%, the majority of the allergies are protein. Grains are beneficial to dogs, they provide a sustained source of energy and help them keep fuller longer. When feeding a puppy like Zeus, I recommend a puppy formulated food. Puppies need higher amounts of protein, calories, and calcium than adult dogs, and a puppy formulated food will provide that. Once he's 12 months old, he can have an adult formulated food. He needs protein, fat, and carbs as well as many vitamins and minerals to have a balanced diet, which is why feeding a dog food is easier. Brands of dog food I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. If you want to do a home cooked diet, I will put links below to two websites that provide recipes for homemade diets. Keep in mind that finding the correct balance of nutrients for a dog is hard with a homemade diet, so that's why these websites are excellent sources of information. The recipes are formulated by veterinary nutritionists. Good luck, I hope this helps! https://secure.balanceit.com https://www.petdiets.com

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Korbyn. These are all great questions! There are few dogs that are actually allergic to grains. The ones that are tend to be Irish Setters. Grain free diets have developed mainly as a marketing ploy to add a niche market in the pet food department. Now if your individual dog does better on a grain free diet that is great and fine to feed it to him. However, these diets tend to be higher in carbohydrates and will lead to weight gain. Protein source typically a personal preference of the dog. You can see what he likes and how it agrees with him. You need to determine what your goals are for the new diet. Is your puppy experiencing vomiting and diarrhea on his current food? Is he passing large frequent quantities of stool? Does he have a dry brittle hair coat? These are all signs that his diet is not right for him. When transitioning to a new diet, you want to do it gradually and then see if any of these things improve for him. As far as a brand, I recommend using one that has AAFCO certified. You can find this information on the side of the bag or on the company website. This means the diet has undergone testing and proved efficacious. I hope this information helps!

Hello. You are absolutely correct. The number of foods, & the claims they make are mind numbing. There is some truth that some breeds do seem to do better with certain diets, but in the case with GSD, the important thing is to not allow explosive growth due to their susceptibility to develop dysplasia. So, the RC food probably modifies calories, which is what is already done in any large breed puppy food. You can switch to the RC, but staying with the Hills Large Breed will do exactly the same thing. It is all, in this case, marketing & while I do love & recommend RC as well as Hills, I think RC is just pushing for more shelf space. And they do great photography with the breeds. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I agree. I do not recommend to feed pets a grain free diet unless they have a known grain allergy. There are a few brands that I recommend because I think they’re high quality and pets tend to like the taste. Royal Canin is my number one choice. It is highly digestible and low residue and this tends to result in good stool quality with low stool quantity. Another brand I like is Purina pro plan. Nutro is also a good brand. Make sure to transition any diet slowly. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I recommend a large breed puppy food for your GSD puppy, and a medium breed puppy food for the 10 month old puppy. I can understand it may be a pain to have two separate foods, but large breed puppies have different nutritional needs due to their size. Brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. I feed my own dogs Iams, and they love it. Good on you for taking them off the raw food diet! Best of luck.

Hello. This may be a pretty low quality food. And adding unnecessary supplements may do more harm than good. You are much better off feeding a good quality large breed puppy food such as the ones made by Purina, Science Diet & Royal Canin. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.