Large breed dog food, or regular?

[Kisaq]

Hi,
My boxer, Kisaq, is a larger boxer. Recently rescued, was a little underweight but not terrible. About 14-16 months old, best guess. Last weighed about a week ago at 64.7 lbs.
Stands about 27 inches at the wither.

I'm currently feeding Blue Buffalo Adult chicken and brown rice. And he seems to be doing very well on it. But we've only been feeding it a week or so.

At the rescue he was on the fish meal, grain free, Nutro. I got him a bag of that and his stool was fairly loose, and very smelly. Maybe it was just the fish, but I didn't like it. I tried the grain free Nutro buffalo and sweet potato, but he did very poorly on that for the couple of days we tried to mix it with the fish. So no buffalo for him.

BlueB has a grain free option, but I'm not too concerned about the rice. I'm just wondering if I should be feeding him the "large breed" version, rather than the regular dog version. They say "large breed" is over 60 lbs. I've never really considered a boxer a large breed dog... but maybe I should in this case?

I think the large breed ingredients (vs regular) include more protein and calcium, glucosamine & chondoritin... and L-Carnatine (I'm not sure what that is or why it's needed).

Long post for a simple question. Should I be feeding large breed choice?

For your viewing pleasure:
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc440/endlessamusement/2013/0123030852.jpg
http://i1211.photobucket.com/albums/cc440/endlessamusement/2013/Untitled.jpg

 

[Cami]

Your are right....Boxers are not a large breed they are a medium breed. For large breeds think Mastiff, Great Danes, Saint Bernard, etc...
His weight seems within normal range for a male Boxer.
L-Carnatine is an antioxidant which helps turn body fat into energy. There is at least one well known study where it was proven that a line of Boxers who were deficient in this were diagnosed with cardiomyopathy. When the supplement was introduced it was beneficial.
The amount in the food is more than likely not enough to make a difference as far as "righting a wrong" (deficiency) but it wouldn't hurt.
I wanted to supplement my girl with L-Carnatine when she was deficient in Taurine (we did supplement that) but the cardio said that in her case it wouldn't help and I would just be wasting my money (was told it was expensive)?
I'd nix the large breed option if it were me.:D

 

[whiskers]

Yeah I wouldn't bother with the large breed.

Most of the supplements they add to dog foods aren't at a high enough level to be therapeutic, so likely wouldn't make a difference. (For example they might add 300mg of glucosamine to the food. But a therapeutic dose of glucosamine is like 1500mg, so 300mg is hardly anything. Merrick actually has a therapeutic dose of that in their food though). The increased protein in the LB formula is probably just barely increased, and if you're looking at grain free options then the protein is going to be higher anyway even in the "regular" adult formulas. LB formulas also tend to be lower in fat, since with the big guys you want to make sure they're not putting any unnecessary weight on those joints.

There wouldn't be anything wrong with having him on the LB formula, but it's really just a gimmick more than anything and wouldn't be any better for him than just the regular adult

 

[SQuirrels]

After a failed experiment with Science Diet we switched Hope to Blue Buffalo's grain free chicken. We bought a small bag to see how she does and she seems to do good with it. Stools are more regular, a lil less stinky and best of all, solid and easy to pick up. We were talking to the Blue Buffalo rep in our local Petco and she suggested to switch to the large breed if we decided to stay with Blue Buffalo. (they only had 30Lb bags of the large breed). The rep said the large breed would be best for her because of the glucosamine and chondroitin for her joints.
Now Hope is a smaller boxer. Coming from the shelter underweight (darn near starved) we have her up to 54Lbs. We hope to add at least 5 more Lb's in the next month or so. I would agree that the large breed could be a gimmick to get you to buy more expensive food except that the large breed does not really coast any more for the same size bag. We are going to buy her a larger bag soon, but I don't know if we should stick with the regular adult or try the large breed.
I do like hearing about the minor heart benefits though, our girl does have a heart murmur. Oh decisions decisions

 

[Kisaq]

Squirrels:
Thanks. I was reading about your girl and the adoption. I'm soooo glad she caught your attention and you took the chance on taking her home.
I got Kisaq from BRLA - I don't know if you ever spoke with Ursula about cardio specialists in LA area. But she probably knows everyone that is anyone in the Boxer rescue help world around there, and then some.

I had to laugh when you said the LB formula isn't any more expensive. You can actually get it cheaper online than the regular (only by a couple of bucks for the 30 lb bag though).
But to be honest, you can buy human grade glucosamine and chondroitin suplement and give it to them in pill form very easily, and fairly inexpensively.

So I guess it doesn't really matter. Though I do like the sound of the L-Carnatine maintanence dose. Decisions decisions is right!! Oiy.

I'm so glad your girl is with you now.
Reminds me of my old boy (RIP Buddy) that I picked up at an AC in NY. He just refused to eat anymore because he would throw it right back up. He came to me litterally "afraid" to eat kibble. But the chicken and rice stew did just fine thankyou!!