Hey everyone, I have a 4 month old husky who I am currently feeding Natural Balance Limited Ingredient - which is an "all life stages" food. His stool has been solid, he gobbles it up, and I haven't had problems with this brand, however, my vet highly encouraged me to get him on a large breed puppy food for calcium ratio purposes.

I picked up Solid Gold Wolf Cub Large Breed Puppy today. Before I start transitioning, has anyone had experience with this brand of food? Good, bad, ugly reviews?

Thanks!

I don't have any experience with that food, but siberians are not a large breed dog! Unless your pups parents were super big, I wouldn't worry about switching to a large breed formula. They are not Great Danes. Lol!

Sara, was wondering, when Miya was a young pup, and back when I wasn't that smart with kibble, I gave Miya normal puppy kibble and she wouldn't chew her food, when I switched her to a large breed puppy kibble, the kibble was 3 times the size and she would actually chew it. Was wondering if that maybe a good reason to try it? Does swallowing vs chewing make a difference on food absorption? Btw, my vet told me Miya would top out at 100 pounds, lol, goes to show what some vets know about huskies.
Renee

Athenalove, I'm sorry never answered your question. I never heard of it until Miya was older, never used it. I have known a few gsd owners who did and liked it. Not sure how I'm supposed to mention, but a few others have mentioned this site, I've gone there too, called dogfood advisor, I think. It lists info and rates dog food, example taste of the wild rates 4 and 5 stars out of 5. I think people review there as well. If the food is not too new you should be able to get info there.

Thanks MiyasMomma! I will check those out!

If your dog is growing well, healthy, good poops, why change? But yes, the calcium:phosphorus ratio is important for growing pups (actually, it's excessive calcium you need to watch for). Look at your current bag. If the calcium:phosphorus ratio is close to 1, then it's fine. I'm not familiar with your brand, but most all life stages food has the proper ratio. [EDIT] I looked up your current brand, and the calcium level is fine at 1% with .8% phosphorus.
Also, the large breed kibble is unnecessary for a husky, which is a medium size breed. If you're worried about your pup eating too fast, try one of those dog bowls designed to slow them down.
Finally, and this differs from how most people here feel so feel free to disregard.... do more research beyond dogfoodadvisor, who is a human dentist, and the internet. Ask around some people with expertise (by training) in canine nutrition. That won't be most vets either. Try the universities that do veterinary research.

Samantha, great info. Have you heard of the other place called dogfood analysis? Similar to advisor, didn't know he was a dentist, ugg, I read advisor mainly for the reviews from people just to get an idea on the particular kibble. It also lists recalls. But in the end I do take the info with a grain of salt. With my girl it wasn't the speed she ate, I think she didn't know what to do with it, I introduced her to RMB's at about the same time, and it took her so long to eat. With the kibble she would pick up 10-20 pieces at a time and it was a mess, swallow instead of chew, spit out all over the place, throw up because of not chewing. It terrified me that if she ate while I was gone she would choke, switched to larger kibble and no more problems. She has outgrown this, I was worried when I switched her to totw, small kibble and she still picks up a ton but she now chews.
Renee

Renee, I feel that dogfood analysis is a bit sketchy because 1. there's an advertisement for one particular brand on every page, 2. there are no sources cited for their information, and 3. there's no information about the qualifications of the people rating the foods.

Samantha, Good to know, I prefer the forum to get info from real people anyway. Thank you for sharing.
Renee

Eresh,

Thanks so much for this info.  I haven't started the transition yet, as I've been doing research, just as you mentioned, on other credible sites about this food.  My boy's mom has some Canadian Eskimo in her, so he may be a big boy - he is currenlty growing about 2 lbs per week!

I also recently found this from peteducation.com:

Calcium and phosphorous requirements of dogs in their peak growth stage is 1.0-1.8% Calcium and 0.8-1.6% for Phosphorous. Solid Gold meets that requirement, but it does sound high.