You want to give your dog the finest of everything, including the greatest food, as a dog lover. But, with so many brands on the market today, it's difficult to tell which ones stand out from the crowd.
When selecting puppy food for your Lab, there are several aspects to consider, the most significant of which we will highlight in this post.
We'll also include a review of five popular products to help you make your decision, including four that we recommend as the best puppy chow for labs and one that you might be surprised to learn is probably best avoided.
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Because of the vast difference in the final size and form of their adult bodies, it should be evident that a Chihuahua and your Lab have extremely distinct nutrition and health requirements. This is why 'breed specific' foods are provided. Large breeds develop more faster and have far more growth to go through than smaller breeds, with a Labrador growing from less than a pound at birth to almost 75 pounds as an adult.
This implies that their bones and joints change swiftly and significantly as they develop from puppy to adult, rising in weight by more than 75 times their starting weight. This is one reason why giant breed puppies are more susceptible to nutritional imbalances, the most essential of which is avoiding calcium excess.
Too much calcium in a Labrador puppy's diet raises the risk of musculoskeletal abnormalities, notably hip and elbow dysplasia, because their bones grow so quickly and are prone to growing wrongly when exposed to excess calcium.
However, a shortage of calcium can cause issues as well, thus Labrador puppy chow contains a safe amount for a puppy to grow properly without having dangerous excess quantities.
Not only that, but extra calories can cause a puppy to become overweight, and excess weight in a developing puppy puts unnecessary stress on its growing, forming bones. To counteract this, Labrador puppy chow has fewer calories and fats than smaller breed puppy food.
Because not every dog matures at the same rate, whether or not your dog requires puppy chow varies by breed and age.
As previously said, smaller breeds tend to peak earlier than larger dogs. Between the ages of 12 and 18 months, a lab will attain adult size. Even if your dog continues to grow until the age of two years, you should transfer from puppy food to adult food at this point.
Because puppy food contains more calories, vitamins, and minerals than you want, it can easily lead to your furry pet being overweight or even obese if fed to them until maturity. In addition, continuing to provide puppy chow to adult labs may result in musculoskeletal issues.
Aside from the various brands and the distinction between puppy and dog food, there is also the matter of whether your dog should eat wet food or dry kibble. We at LTHQ strongly believe in providing kibble rather than canned wet food.
For starters, dry food is more complete and balanced, including the proper amount of important elements. If you choose the proper brand, the ingredients will be of higher quality. Furthermore, because it is a solid food, dry food helps to keep teeth strong, and the slightly abrasive texture of the solid food provides a natural teeth cleaning effect.
Best Puppy Food For Labs And Large Breeds Recommendation
In the next part, we will show you four of the best foods on the market that are manufactured from high-quality ingredients yet are still reasonably priced.
These diets will give your puppy with all of the nutrients they require in just the proper combination and quantity, allowing them to thrive rather than merely survive.
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With the first three ingredients being deboned chicken, chicken meal, and turkey meal, this cuisine offers a high quality protein content of 38%.
Chicken and turkey meal is a concentration, but deboned chicken offers high quality chicken protein.
It contains around 300 percent more protein than ordinary chicken flesh, weight for weight, because chicken loses up to 80% of its water content when cooked, whereas the meal does not.
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I prefer to think of K9 as a "ultra premium" brand... It also has a price tag to match! It would be number one on our list if it weren't for the price, but we believe Wellness outperforms it on value. However, if money is no object, K9 is without a doubt one of the best foods available!
K9 Natural Grain-Free Puppy Freeze-Dried Dog Food provides all of the benefits of raw food for your puppy, aiming for optimal levels of growth and development — not too fast or stunted — as well as lean muscle mass and peak conditioning.
Its major component is grass-fed beef from New Zealand. This is supplemented with whole food ingredients such as flaxseed, kelp, New Zealand mussel, fruits and vegetables, and hoki oil, which contains DHA and EPA for healthy brain and eye development.
It's also grain free, which is something many owners look for when selecting a diet for their dogs.
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Taste of the Wild has a lot of protein. The first ingredient is bison, which is a high-quality meat.
The next ingredient is lamb meal, which has 300 percent more protein than fresh lamb meat because it is a meat concentrate. Sweet potatoes, which are strong in complex carbohydrates, are the third most important element. They are high in fiber and beta carotene. In fact, this dish contains approximately 40% carbs. This gives your puppy a source of energy that is excellent for his active puppy lifestyle.
This food also contains salmon oil, which is known to have a high concentration of the two omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA, and chicory root, which contains inulin, a prebiotic that encourages health bacteria in your puppy's digestive system, promoting health and good digestive health.
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Eukanuba takes food manufacturing seriously, having scientifically produced diverse diets to suit different breeds and life phases — there is no "one-size-fits-all," there are specialities. They also allow for regular independent inspections of their production process and source ingredients from the United States, the European Union, and New Zealand. As a result, quality control is effectively taken care of.
The large breed puppy formula contains a scientifically formulated balance of proteins, fats, phosphorous, and calcium in precisely the right amounts and proportions to promote a healthy rate of bone and muscle development, which is especially important for large breed puppies because excess nutrients can be just as harmful as malnutrition.
The meal also contains glucosamine and chondroitin for the health of connective soft tissues, which is reassuring for large breeds, particularly Labradors, who can suffer from a variety of joint problems throughout their lives.
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Hills Science Diet is known for having high-quality ingredients, albeit they aren't as good as our first three suggestions.
This dry food, on the other hand, is complete and balanced, supplying 100 percent of all your pup's vital nutrients in just the appropriate combination and proportions.
Because it contains the proper quantities of calcium, it will strengthen your dog's immune system and promote healthy bone formation.
It contains fiber, which aids digestion, as well as antioxidants, which are believed to help keep your dog healthy for many years to come.
Although it is not the greatest food we have recommended here, for those who are simply on a budget, you can feed your puppy this, they will thrive, and you can be confident you've provided them with all the nutrients they require.
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Royal Canin is a well-known brand with many excellent Amazon reviews from previous and current dog owners. It's not known for its high-quality ingredients, but it's one of the healthier solutions for your pet.
It has a higher protein content than the minimum suggested for your dog, with 31% protein by dry weight.
The protein it contains is primarily derived from chicken by-product meal, which is of low quality and consists of whatever is left over after hens are slaughtered. (However, contrary to popular belief, it does NOT include anything from feet to beaks.)
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First and foremost, Blue Buffalo Large Breed Puppy Dry Food provides a substantial amount of protein to pups, with the first two ingredients being deboned chicken and chicken meal.
The third to fifth elements are whole grains, which provide a lot of energy from complex carbs that are easy to digest.
These are considerably superior to corn and most other carbohydrate types found in inexpensive diets that are difficult for a puppy to obtain nourishment from.
Protein accounts for 40% of the total weight of this food, which is more than normal. Approximately 14% of it is fat, with the remaining 38% being carbs.
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