Congrats on the invite, Pete @ Blusteel!
Additionally,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lunas Mom
Yukodomari, I have attended a multitude of Breeder's Symposiums both at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Florida and HD is described as a multi-factorial issue. Yes, genetics play a big part, but environment and nutrition do, too. A pup with the best genetics can develop HD from inappropriate environment (slick kennel surface) or bad nutrition (puppy food which has an inappropriate calcium to phosphorous ratio and often too much protein as well as unbalanced raw diet). ......There is a lot of "anecdotal" stuff out there online, too - ask the Dane people about the evils of puppy food! -
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I did go to some UPenn seminars on HD since one of our dogs has pretty severe HD... it is multi faceted, of course. Just one thing about "puppy food" and giant breeds - I disagree wholeheartedly with the old practice of switching puppies to 'adult' food at 4 months... the problem is, as you say, Cals/Phos ratio, not the additional fat or protein in puppy food. In fact recent published reports confirm that high protein is not the cause for things like irregular rapid growth.
In
"Relationship of Nutrition to Developmental Skeletal Disease in Young Dogs" by Daniel C. Richardson & Phillip W. Toll
(emphasis added are mine)
Unlike other species, protein excess has not been demonstrated to negatively affect calcium metabolism or skeletal development in dogs. Protein deficiency, however, has more impact on the developing skeleton. In Great Dane puppies, a protein level of 14.6% (dry matter basis) with 13% of the dietary energy derived from protein can result in significant decreases in bodyweight and plasma albumin and urea concentrations.9,10 The minimum adequate level of dietary protein depends on digestibility, amino acids, and their availability from protein sources. A growth food should contain > 22% protein (dry matter basis) of high biologic value...
Often puppies are switched from growth to maintenance-type foods to avoid calcium excess and skeletal disease. However, because some maintenance foods have much lower energy density than growth foods, the puppy must consume more dry matter volume to meet its energy requirement. If the calcium levels are similar (dry matter basis) between the two foods, the puppy will actually consume more calcium when fed the maintenance food. This point is exemplified in the case of switching a 15-week-old, 15-kg male Rottweiler puppy from a growth food containing, on an as fed b asis, 4.0 kcal/g metabolizable energy and 1.35% calcium (1.5% on a dry matter basis) to a maintenance food containing the same amount of calcium but at a lower, 3.2 kcal/g energy density. The puppy would require approximately 1,600 kcal/day. In order to meet this energy need the puppy would consume approximately 400g of the growth food (containing 5.4g of calcium) vs. 500g of the maintenance food (containing approximately 6.7g of calcium).
Out of all grain free food I know of, the only one with appropriate Cal/Phos for puppies are Orijen and Acana.. even the ones like Taste of the Wild that claim to be "all life breeds" have calcium and phosphorus levels that exceed what I find acceptable and acceptable by published reports.
The problem is finding a correct food with correct cals/phos, not that puppy food is inherently bad for giant growing puppies. In fact many foods marketed as "puppy food" probably don't meet the appropriate levels, either. Suffice to say that adult foods generally have inappropriate C/P levels for puppies, too. A mentor/breeder with Great Danes as well as friends showing Mastiffs have similarly reflected these ideas - and for them, keeping a puppy on an
appropriate puppy food is recommended until at least the giant breed is done growing, at least around 1 year old if not more.