Is puppy food a con?

[SinclairSpectrum]

Just that.
I am thinking specifically about decent brands of dried food who market adult, puppy and senior products.
This morning I bought Wainwrights salmon and potato for puppies only to notice the same food for adults was £10 cheaper .
Do pups need specific food or is it all a big con??

it's higher in calories and other things, because that's what puppies need compared to adult dogs.

Hmm, but some companies don't bother and just give feeding guidelines for different ages - am thinking of Millies Wolfheart for example.
They cant both be right??

They can both be right. Different foods have different nutritional compositions.

I've seen puppies with rickets due to being feed an adult food inappropriately. If the adult food isn't suitable for puppies out won't have puppy feeding guidelines on it. Millie's is a higher quality food hence being suitable for puppies.

As in OP, am talking about decent dry food, not supermarket own brand stuff.
A quick look at the ingredients for the salmon and potato adult and puppy reveals they have essentially the same stuff in the same proportions, one is just marketed to appeal to the puppy owner with an unsubstantiated price increase.
And Millies, whilst good, is too high in protein for lots of giant breeds.

Why do giant breeds have different protein needs?

Many giants, Danes in particular, get growth issues, calcium phosphorus and protein have to be careful measured in diet.

Most commercial dog food is a con tbh. Much of it contains food that dogs can't digest.

Millies at the moment is the "fashionable food" it was Orijen a few years ago. Millies has a very high filler content in potatoes that is not necessary in a good food yet people are prepared to pay silly money for it.

I don't believe there's any evidence to support the claim that giant breeds need lower protein food. There is a little evidence (albeit from a study in 1991) that protein intake makes no difference to Great Dane puppies. There is evidence that giant or fast-growing breeds are at greater risk of developing OCD lesions if feed excessively or ad lib, or if fed foods too high in some minerals or too densely calorific.

Mostly if you feed your puppy sensibly and avoid feeding to excess or allowing it to become overweight during puppyhood, you'll be fine. If you feed it a nutritionally inadequate food, it will probably get rickets. Which is easily fixed if identified quickly, but can lead to long term deformity or lameness if not.

As a complete aside, wrt kibbles, they often manufacture puppy food in smaller bite versions. I have no idea of this influences cost!

And loads of dogs get dysplasias due to genetic factors - the roles of exercise and nutrition are not yet fully understood so advice may change as more information comes to light.