I will be purchasing a Labrador Retreiver later in the summer/early
fall. I have spent countless hours on the net researching
as much as I possibly can about this particular breed of
dog. One of the sites that I visited stated that it is not
recommended to feed Lab puppies puppy food because its rapid
growth, combined with the high protein content, would increase
the chance of it developing hip dysplasia. No where in your
article, Feeding Your New Puppy, did I find any mention of
that. I was wondering if you could varify any truth to this
allegation. Thank you for your time and I am looking forward
to hearing from you.
Dr. DeMichael: For someone to make such a blanket
statement as you referred to regarding puppy food for Labrador
pups, they would likely fall into one of two categories:
i) they either mis-spoke or were misinterpreted, or ii)
they are not completely up to date with respect to canine
nutrition and genetics I'll assume neither and tell you
that I am very emphatic about what our pups eat. We feed
them ONLY Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy Formula. because experience
has shown us that this diet is best for our pups and we
are pleased with the results.
However, for me to tell you that there haven't been many
a Labrador pup raised on such feeds as Purina Puppy Chow,
etc would be a bit ridiculous.
Your source's reference to hip dysplasia being caused
by puppy food is, again, another blind statement. Perhaps
what they meant to say was: Hip dysplasia is a genetically
transmitted condition which affects the medium and large
breed dogs more so than other breeds. The best possible
protection from having a dysplastic pup is to have the
parents hips screened prior to any breedings. If their
hips are not acceptable to the general standards set by
OFA or others, they should be neutered and removed from
breeding considerations. So genetic factors are the primary
forces controlling hip dysplasia.
Without getting into a lot of excess detail, suffice it
to say that the term hip dysplasia simply refers to arthritic
changes in the hip joint. For example, lets say you had
a year old Lab and he happened to fall off of your porch
and injure his hind end and associated structures. You
decide to observe him instead of bring him in to your veterinarian
for radiographs. He's stiff for a week or so but improves
and after a while seems to be getting back to his old self.
A year passes and you decide to breed the dog to a friend's
female. Trying to be conscientious and ethical, you schedule
some hip radiographs with your vet to be sure your dog's
hips are free of any signs of " hip dysplasia". After the
films are taken your vet calls you and tells you that there
are some arthritic changes in one of the pelvic sockets
and the associated femur. He then uses the term hip dysplasia
in the next sentence.
The first thing you think of is that you got a "bad dog".
And what if, unbeknownst to you at the time, you had fed
him Purina Puppy Chow as a pup?
The questions would then be: Does this animal have a genetic
problem? Would you feel terrible because you fed him Puppy
Chow as a young growing dog? Or maybe, could he have suffered
a hairline fracture of the pelvis when he fell off the
porch last year, leading to the bony changes seen on your
dog's hip radiographs?
Perhaps the source you referred to in your initial question
would tell you its that darn puppy food you fed him and
it's your fault for not heeding their advice. So you see,
this issue is not so clear cut at a given point in time.
I will emphatically agree that an improper balance of
protein and fat is not good for a growing animal. But perhaps
equally as important is the calcium and phosporous ratios
and the micro- mineral content. There are many metabolic
bone diseases caused by improper nutrition.
So my suggestion is that the important labelling is not
found associated with the term "puppy food" but rather
is on the label where the listing of ingredients and contents
can be found.
