We had 3 cases of HOD in over the past 2 weeks, a jack russell, a border collie and a great dane. All were eating Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy. I found that really interesting. Coincidence, but really bizarre!
Chicken Soup for the puppy lovers’ soul
I fed this to my puppy of unknown breeding for the first 8 months or so. I knew he was going to be big, so we wanted to be careful of his joints/bones.
When I was researching foods to feed him I knew I wanted; grain-free, proteins from meat sources, low calcium levels, and a good protein %.
I would have continued to feed Chicken Soup, but pup developed a chicken allergy so I switched him to ToTW either the purple bag (lamb) or yellow bag (buffalo and venison)
Another that does not list their calcium levels on their website 
Nutro, Sorry if you got that one already! I didnt see it but that doesnt mean anything 
Nutro only lists calcium levels for their Ultra line on their website.
Merrick had AWESOME customer service–emailed most of the companies on the “cannot evaluate” list last night requesting calcium levels, and Merrick responded first thing this AM.
I will update the lists in the original post.
That’s wild! I have heard some not so good things about the Blue Buffalo stuff and have stayed away from it…
I didn’t really follow what your lists on your OP were lists of? the first one was “suitable” by Ca and protein, but what were the other ones?
Another thing to think about re: puppies: exposure to a wide variety of potential allergens very early in life is thought to be protective against developing food allergies. Sticking with one food for your pup may not be the best way to go.
Wendy, there are headers at the top of each list. They are, in order: foods that meet your requirements re: calcium levels and protein; brands evaluated; brands not evaluated because the information is not available.
Interesting about the allergens. I’ve not had any issues with allergies since I’ve been purchasing from responsible, highly respected breeders. We did have issues with the dog purchased from the pet store (we didn’t know any better then!)
oh, well, I can’t see the headers, maybe just my interface is yucky. Well, I know it is.
re: allergies. Like hip dysplasia, there is thought to be a complex interaction between inheritance and environment.
You have to inherit the susceptibility, and then whether it manifests depends on the environment. Some breeds/ lines within breeds clearly carry a higher susceptibility to allergies. But the hope is that if you expose the pup to enough allergens early enough in life the pup will develop tolerances to them and you won’t see the trait manifest symptomatically.
It’s another thing to ask your potential breeder about- hey, do your dogs tend to have allergies?
Wendy (or anyone else), if you would like to see the spreadsheet, I’d be happy to email it. Just shoot me a PT with your email address. It’s still a work in progress, but I really like to be able to view and compare multiple brands all in one place. I like data
Updated the original post with a few more kibbles that meet the calcium and protein requirements.
Still haven’t heard back from several companies…Fromm and Chicken Soup are the notable ones.
Here’s also a list of kibbles that are below 1.7% calcium, over 28% protein with only meat ingredients in the top three spots.
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Small Breed Chicken
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Large Breed Chicken
Innova Puppy
Acana Puppy Large Breed
Castor & Pollux Ultramix Grain Free Adult
Castor & Pollux Ultramix Grain Free & Poultry Free Adult
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Puppy
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Salmon
Blue Buffalo Wilderness Healthy Weight Chicken
Wellness CORE Reduced Fat
Timberwolf Wild & Natural
Annamaet Grain Free Manitok
Innova Prime Salmon & Herring
Annamaet Grain Free Salcha
Back to Basics Duck
Back to Basics Pork
Back to Basics Turkey
EVO Weight Management
Orijen 6 Fish
Orijen Adult
Orijen Senior
Orijen Puppy
Orijen Puppy Large
Still trying to decide what to feed our upcoming puppy, but at least there are a lot of options!
I would avoid the “reduced fat” and “weight management” foods for puppies- Wellness core reduced fat and EVO weight management. Pups need fat.
Are you only interested in kibbles? Natures’ variety raw (the chicken formula- some of their raws the calcium is a bit up there) is a nice puppy food.
I’d love to do raw, but the cost of prepared raw is crazy for large dogs–$10/day per dog last I looked–and that’s simply not possible for me.
Ideally, I’d like to use the same food for my adult dog as for the puppy, and it certainly looks like there are several that would work for that, although it does shorten my list–I really need high kcal/cup for Koa. I also won’t feed Natura Pet products, so that takes the list to these options:
Nature’s Variety Instinct Rabbit Meal
Horizon Amicus Puppy
Earthborn Holistics Puppy Vantage
Timberwolf Wild & Natural
Orijen 6 Fish
Orijen Adult
Orijen Puppy
The Amicus only comes in little bags, so that’s out.
The Timberwolf is a special order at my feed store–doesn’t take it out of the running, but the pain in the ass factor of getting it ordered does need to be considered.
Koa’s currently on a trial of Orijen 6 Fish to see if it fixes her snot issue–if it works, we’ll probably just feed the puppy 6 Fish as well.
Updated the lists at the top and also the shorter one a couple posts up listing kibbles with only meat in the top three.
Had to call Chicken Soup and Taste of the Wild (for the puppy formulas) for calcium values. Also called Fromm, and they are looking for them for me. For the most part, those that don’t list their values on the web have been very prompt about getting back to me.
The spreadsheet sits at 304 kibbles currently!
@Simkie I know this is an old thread - just wondering (hoping) if this information is still up to date? We got a new puppy this past weekend and bought some Orijen Large Breed Puppy food It looks like the calcium is listed as 1.2% min, but I don’t see a max value. Our puppy is right between 5 and 6 months, so perhaps the calcium is a moot point?
While I’m asking things, Orijen has a Large Breed Puppy and an Amazing Grains (grain-inclusive) Large Breed Puppy. Is there a benefit to one vs the other (grains vs no)?
Congrats on your puppy!!
I honestly don’t know if anything has changed, but I’ve rolled with this through, wow, two more dogs. I feed Orijen 6 Fish from puppyhood on.
The grain thing depends on where you stand on the grain free/DCM thing. My opinion is that it’s a complex, multi factorial issue, and that a grain free diet plays little to zero role in DCM. There are a few links in this post if you’d like some info:
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Thanks for the link! You feed the adult formula to puppies as well? I always thought there was some difference, enough difference to make it worthwhile to buy and feed puppy food, but now that I think of it, I couldn’t tell you what the difference is. Our puppy likes the Large Breed Puppy well enough, but is vacuum like so not all that picky.
I do. There are quite a few adult kibbles that meet puppy requirements, and 6 Fish is one of them.
I had a male lab. The breeder fed Orijen He had lots of diarrhea from it. I switched him. However that was 15 years ago (roughly) and it was grain free.
Warning - more info than you probably ever wanted to know! 
In the US the nutrient profile for dog food is established by the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). These are the main differences between a “puppy” food and an “adult” food on a dry matter basis per AAFCO based on the most recent report I could find online for free:
Puppy (Growth & Reproduction)
-Crude protein: 22.5% minimum
-Crude fat: 8.5% minimum
-Calcium: 1.2% min, 1.8% max (for large breed dogs)
Adult Maintenance
Crude protein: 18.0% minimum
Crude fat: 5.5% minimum
Calcium: 0.5% min, 2.5% max
Essentially “puppy” food has higher minimums for protein/fat and a different calcium range than an adult food.
However, if a dog food meets both the puppy/growth and the adult maintenance profiles, it can be labeled as an “all life stages.” There should be a statement on the bag somewhere noting it’s AAFCO status. There is one additional caveat related to large breed puppies - their calcium maximum is lower. The statement should note this with something along these lines:
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for growth/all life stages including growth of large-size dogs (70 lbs or more as an adult).
[Pet Food Name] is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for growth/all life stages except for growth of large-size dogs (70 lbs or more as an adult).
So even if the labeled name doesn’t say “puppy” if it’s an AAFCO all life stages it’s just fine (depending on the calcium needs of your puppy).
A food that’s just an AAFCO “adult maintenance” isn’t appropriate for a puppy though.
IMO use of a puppy-specific dog food was a lot more important in the past. Given the prevalence these days of the “premium” high protein/fat formulas you have a lot more options if you go for an all life stages vs. puppy. Use of puppy in the name is really now more of a marketing/perception thing.
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It looks like the Six Fish (this is from the Amazing Grains version, but the regular Six Fish says the same thing) doesn’t meet the AAFCO standards for large puppies. Our pup is a golden but is 38lbs at 5 months (and is trim - ribs are easily felt, personally I’d like a few lbs on him). I think we are going to put our older dog on the Six Fish Amazing Grains (or maybe the regular 6 fish? The grain vs grain-free thing makes my head spin) and pup will transition on to it once he is older. He is a bit itchy with darker, redder fur on his paws (no excessive paw chewing just general scratching) but it’s been less than 2 weeks on the Orijen so maybe it will improve. I do have fish oil I can start him on too.
ETA:
