Best puppy foods for large breeds

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Published In Buying Guides
Doberman Pinscher puppies eating food
Two five-week-old Doberman Pinscher puppies enjoy their food – they won’t stay tiny for long
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

Puppies have different nutritional requirements to adult dogs, and so need specific puppy food with appropriate levels of protein, amino acids, fat, certain fatty acids, electrolytes, and minerals. They are growing and developing rapidly, and especially large-breed puppies. While the larger dog breeds do mature later than the smaller breeds, their growth is particularly dramatic. All puppies of any breed start out tiny, but while, for instance, a Chihuahua never grows taller than about 23cm (and weighs under 3kg), a Great Dane can be over 80cm tall (and up to 80kg). That entails a rocketing growth spurt through their first year or so of life. This means it’s best to find specific large breed puppy foods to help them to develop well physically and mentally, with slight adjustments to the recipe from regular puppy food or the best puppy foods for small breeds.

The particularly rapid growth that a large breed puppy goes through to reach its full stature increases their risk of having developmental orthopaedic diseases (DOD) such as hip or elbow dysplasia or joint disorders. Although this is partly influenced by genetics – breeders have selectively bred certain lines specifically for large size – by feeding them correctly, it is possible to slow down their growth so they take longer to reach their full height, with less risk of developmental disorders.

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Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.