How much adult food do you feed a puppy?

We are in the process of switching our 5 month old puppy to adult lg breed food (Blue Buffalo). How much adult food do we feed him once the switch is complete? If we follow the guidelines of how much he weighs he would only be getting about 3 to 3 and 3/4 cups. I just don't think that is enough for a growing puppy. On his puppy food he is currently eating 5 1/2 cups a day (also blue buffalo lg breed).

Any suggestions would be great!

Thanks
Jacquie

Blue Buffalo is good food. I would suggest starting out with the recommended feeding amount and modify it up or down depending on how his/her weight is being maintained. None of my dogs gets the recommended amounts... they'd all be like 1000 pounds if they did.

I may be way off base, I have very limited experience with puppies and zero experience with Saint Puppies. My experience is limited to fostering a 4 mo for about 2 months and the entire time she had puppy food.

Im sure someone more knowledgeable than I will chime in soon.

I'd suggest the same that Dog's Life did. Why are you switching the puppy to adult food? I've heard of that, but I've never heard the reasoning.

It's because puppy food promotes growth and with the giant breed puppies we want them to grow slowly. Large breed puppy food is formulated for large breeds like golden retriever, labs, and german shepherd not a saint bernard, mastiff, or great dane.

personally i would stick with puppy food for a while longer , however its very hard to discuss as ive not heard of the food you are using .
it will be intresting to see what others say
cheri

We switch from puppy to adult food between 6-8 months depending on the puppy & how it's growing.
Puppies actually eat more than grown dogs..
Its a misconception that the 'right' amount MUST be huge because the dog is.. it all depends on whats in the food. We fed Hills for a bit & I ignored what was on the bag & fed the same amount as I had the previous food - managed to give them all upset stomachs!! The Hills is more concentrated & therefore they need less. This is harder for the owners who peer into the bowl thinking "OMG, that CAN'T be enough"
Stick to the manufacturers recommendation or not far off it.. these big food companies spend lots of money paying nutritionists to work out how much etc.. also the best sign of enough or too much etc is the condition of the dog..
And dog poo can tell you too.. but that's for another time since I have a sandwich here ready to eat lol

Mawreddog wrote:

the best sign of enough or too much etc is the condition of the dog..

I agree. I base the amount I feed my dogs on how their ribs look. I adjust my feeding amount about every two weeks as needed, as I feed raw rather ad lib.

Thanks for all your input. It looks like it will be by trial and error and by his looks. We defintely can't go by apetite since he LOVES his food. Which might be a new topic. How to slow him down when it comes to eating!

jacquieblue wrote:

It's because puppy food promotes growth and with the giant breed puppies we want them to grow slowly. Large breed puppy food is formulated for large breeds like golden retriever, labs, and german shepherd not a saint bernard, mastiff, or great dane.

Royal Canin have Giant puppy food, for Saints and other giant breeds, my dogs are fed on that. It is made to meet a giant puppy`s needs in every way. I have been told that adult food contains too much calcium, and so on. It can create kidney-problems and arthroses .....

I to use Royal Canin Giant puppy. I give Bud the recomended amount topped off with a little tripe or other meat to make it a little more interesting for him. It doesn't look a lot in the bowl but I can assure you he is well covered if not a little too well!!!
Tony&Bud

my dogs eat puppy food till they are around 17, 18 months old. And nobody had problems