Commercial Puppy Food.. Need Help! - Page 3

 TOTW has 2.2% calcium and 1.8% phosphorus

 Keep up the good discussion on dog food here!  What a dilemma!  My grype is that dog food content seem to be reported in "percentages" (i.e. .9% calcium or 32 % protein).   Why is it not presented in grams of  protein per cup or pound, or mg per cup or pound so we could actually calculate how many mg of calcium, for example,  or grams of protein the dog is getting? Or is there a way to mathematically calculate this?  Thanks!

Steve,

Protien is 16%, fat is 12%. It's available frozen on the East Coast. Pups do well on it. http://www.k-9kraving.com/pages/ingredients.html

Dog1, my name is actually Eugene. I was refering to steve1 by his tag name. Thats an interesting outlook as there is a distributor for that k9kravings directly in my town. Can you tell me a bit more about that food? Do you know the calcium output and also the phosphorus output?

I personally wouldn't use TOTW then. Better to err on the side of caution with calcium/phosphate levels as they have not yet established a safe MAX level, beyond finding that over 3.3% calcium and 2.7% phosphorus leads to increased incidence of disease. Anywhere between 1.0 and 2.0% calcium and the comparable proportion of phosphorus (1.2 calcium to 1 phosphorus) should be ok. Just don't overfeed and your pup should be alright :) It's easy to obsess over it...we all want our puppies to have the best possible everything.

Molly thanks for the input, But the figures are far lower then you imagined. Max level for calcium for a puppy should be 1.25 and max level of phosphorus should be .75, studies have shown higher levels will cause painful diseases.

Hmm..interesting, thanks for the update! I'll be sure to look at the new research next time I'm in the market for a pup :) In that case, I think someone mentioned Canidae grain-free all life stages...that's as close as I can find to the correct levels.

Mockbam
I did say i think that i reared Dogs on Large breed Puppy for a time but the Calcium level is high for me1.3 not a lot more than i am feeding now but still higher than i like for a Pup
and i also fed Orijen Large breed adult to older Dogs and they were great on it to me the best food on the Market
Izzy i was looking for another kibble we have a lot of choices over here but foods with a lot of grains so i will not feed them
So i chose Acana for Izzy first the Large breed Puppy food from 8 weeks old,  then a short time ago i changed to Adult breed Acana which she is on now Protein content only 29% off the top of my head Large breed Puppy i think 36%
But the caicium level and Phos is down a little that is more important that it not be higher than 1.2 ideally thats what i think
Orijen Adult is 1.6 Calcium
Once Izzy is around 18 to 24 months old i did say i would probably feed her on Orijen or 50-50 Acana -Orijen
But still i maintain that many people get problems with rearing Pups because they have too softer hearts
and they over feed the Puppy which is not doing it any favours, that is more of a problem than what  protein content  kibble they feed there Pups, Over weight Pups do not have the Bone to carry that extra weight at that age Sorry if i confused you sometimes i confuse myself
Steve1