Feeding Puppy Adult Food

[NemoIsLost]

My Lab is 9 months old, he has always at 'step up to naturals' puppy food by Pets at Home. seems a good food, main ingredient is chicken.
I went to get some yesterday as he's totally run out, they had no puppy food whatsoever. The service assistant advised the adult large breed food of the same make would be fine as he's 9 months. It says on the bag not suitable for under 6 months.
So gave it to him last night and he wolfed it down, whereas the puppy food he would take ages to eat.
so I'm happy to keep buying the adult food but just wondering if it's ok for him as he's not a year yet?

I always fed food that was ok for both puppy and adult when mine was younger.

I thought the adult specific food simply doesn't have enough of the right things for all the puppies needs because they are growing. If your dog has stopped growing then personally I wouldn't worry too much.

Thanks Biteyhe weighs 40kg so I'm hoping there's not much more growing to do

Bigger breeds should generally be kept on puppy food for longer than small dogs as it's more protein and nutrient rich than adult food, and bigger breeds have more growing to do.

He may just have wolfed down the food because it's a change from the usual and he was bored of the old flavour!

I went to vist a friend in Cornwall who has two adult Cocker Spaniels. My then 6 month old mini labradoodle wouldn't touch her dry puppy food when she saw what those two were getting (adult wet food) so we tried her with that and she also wolfed it down like there was no tomorrow. Since then I've been giving her a mix of dry and wet puppy food but I was given a box of adult tinned food the other day and mixed that in. Certainly didn't seem to do her any harm.

I only fed puppy food until six months, then we switched to adult food. It doesn't seem to have done him any harm whatsoever!

Mine has been on adult food from day 1 of us having him at 8 weeks. Mixture of raw fed and decent kibble (true instinct)

One of the big differences in puppy vs adult food is the balance of calcium and phosphorous. It's balanced to ensure the pup gets the right level of calcium for good strong bone growth whilst discouraging large muscles or fat before the bone frame is ready for it.

I fed Battendog adult food from about that age (he is a large springer so a bit more lab sized than normal springers) and was just careful to ensure he remained lean so as not to over stress joints and bones.

Not allowing young dogs to get too heavy (in a young dog like that you shoul be able to locate all the ribs through the skin easily) is critical to adult bone and joint health.

thankyou all, some interesting points