HI MIke,

On Sun 2038-Apr-25 09:03, Mike Roberts (1:261/1381) wrote to Richard Webb:

 > Otoh we started schotze our current ROtt puppy chow for the
 > first six months of her life, in the understanding that at
> least for the first year we should.  The vet told us to take her off the
> puppy chow and put her on adult dog food because she was "growing
too fast"

MR> Hi Richard... Years ago I would have scoffed at that. But I believe
MR> it must be 
MR> true for the most part. I had a newf Puppy. Was told I should feed
MR> him Iams 
MR> Giant Breed puppy food. I did, this pup grew like a monster. Granted
MR> a lot is 
MR> genetics, but this dog, when full grown was 185 pounds and as the
MR> vet would say 
MR> when he shook his head in amazement, He is not fat! However this
MR> growth was to 
MR> such an extent and so fast. Vader had hip problems early on. At that
MR> time it 
MR> was the thing to do, to feed him that food with all that protein. I
MR> dunno, He 
MR> just was so big and I tend to think if I had done as You said, and
MR> fed him 
MR> normal food, maybe the growth would not be so extensive and so
MR> quick. When we 

Vet told us that we'd have bone problems later, so we
switched her to regular PUrina dog chow.  SHe's still good
sized, around 130 pounds.

MR> finally had to put him down, he was 9 years old and could not move
MR> well. 9 
MR> years is pretty good for a newf, Moreso then, as Life expectency was
MR> about 5-6 
MR> years in the 80's for newfs. My last newf I did not feed the giant
MR> breed food 
MR> at all. He was a bit small weighed in at about 115-120. Never had
MR> the growth or 
MR> the problems vader had. We had him 12 years. Was it the food? I
MR> dunno, but I 
MR> have my suspicions. The body could not cope with that quick and huge
MR> amount of 
MR> growth.


MIght've been.  OUr previous rott was about 13 when the
strokes got her, and she even had heartworms.  This one will be three years
old in the next couple of weeks, and is still doing well.

Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+