When should my 4-month-old puppy transition to adult dog food?

Hello and congratulations on your puppy! There are many great puppy food brands out there. I recommend that you go with a well-known brand that has a good track record of high-quality food that is well-tested. The brand you choose will depend on how you'd prefer to acquire it and how much money you'd like to spend. You can find quality food at all price points. On the lower price side, you've got brands that you can find at the grocery store, like Purina One. Middle-of-the-road brands can be found at big-box pet stores (e.g. Petco), and include Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Wellness and Royal Canin. Higher end foods can also be found at the big-box stores, but smaller company brands may be easier to find at small, private pet stores, like Innova and Merrick. Whichever you choose, be sure to change Joey's diet slowly over a week's time to prevent stomach upset. Start by mixing 1 part of the old food with 3 parts of the new food, and increase the amount of the new food over the course of about 5-7 days. Good luck, and I hope Joey grows and thrives!

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Any of the following brands can be fed so long as it is puppy food for small dogs. The food needs to be slowly transition over 7-10 days introducing the new food in about 20% increment every other day. For detail, contact your veterinarian on how to transition the food. Recommended brands are Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina Pro Plan, and Iams. Choose one, and stick with it until about one year of age. After that, transition to an adult formula for small breeds from the same brand. Void feeding anything other than the dogs food and a few treats made specifically for dogs. Hopes this helps!

Congrats on the new puppy! I would definitely start slowly transitioning him to a commercial dog food. I am not sure which brands you have in your area but I love royal canin, science diet, iams, and purina. If you don't have these brands, the main thing is that you want to try to find a large breed puppy formula for him to be on until he is about 1 year old. I would start by stopping the milk as this can cause him to have an upset tummy. I would also start to slowly mix in the new puppy food and over about 10 days, increase the amount of puppy food and decrease the amount of chicken and rice. I hope this helps!

Buddy is so cute! I'm not sure if the Pro Pac kibbles is a puppy formulated food, and if it's not, he needs to be on one. Puppies need higher amounts of protein, calcium, and calories than an adult dog and a puppy formulated food will provide one. Brands of puppy food I personally recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. It's fine to add in canned dog food, just make sure it's puppy formulated. The brands I mentioned above have puppy canned food as well as the dry kibble. I hope this helps :-)

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question, which is a great one. You should switch Ranger from his puppy food to an adult food when he is 12 months of age. Given that he is a large breed dog, I recommend that when he is 12 months old, you feed him a large breed dog food. Brands I recommend include Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, and Iams. When you do make the switch, you will need to transition him slowly to prevent stomach upset. You do this by mixing together the puppy food and adult food, slowly increasing the amount of adult food and decreasing the amount of puppy food until he is eating the adult food only. I hope this helps!

Good question! I recommend either Royal Canin Puppy food or Hill's Science Diet puppy food. Both of these companies do a lot of research and quality control and they utilize the expertise of veterinary nutritionists in formulating their diets. If you do transition Jax from one diet to another please make sure to do it gradually (over 4-5 days) to ensure he doesn't get an upset stomach. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and best regards to you and Jax!

You can monitor his growth and weight and when he has reached maturity then you can switch him to an adult dog food. Probably between 12 and 16 months of age. Gradually switch him to the new food as diet change can cause gastric upset. Too much protein should not make him hyperactive.