Wellness Just for Puppy dog food vs Wellness Core

Wellness Just for Puppy dog food OR Wellness Core?

I want to feed our new pup Wellness Core, but it says on their website (here) "A grain-free choice for dogs over 1 year who need to maintain optimal daily health" and Vixen is only 10 months. So I bought a bag of Wellness puppy, but now I'm not sure about the ingredients. My questions are: Would it be a big deal to feed her Wellness Core even though she's not quite a year old? Does anything look bad about the puppy food ingredients?

Here are the ingredients in Wellness Just for Puppy: Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal, Oatmeal, Ground Barley, Salmon Meal (natural source of DHA-Docosahexaneoic acid), Canola Oil (preserved with mixed tocopherols, a natural source of vitamin E), Ground Brown Rice, Tomato Pomace, Rice Bran (from brown rice), Tomatoes (natural source of Lycopene), Natural Chicken Flavor, Rye Flour, Carrots, Spinach, Sweet Potatoes, Apples, Blueberries, Ground Millet, Flaxseed, Potassium Chloride Minerals [Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate (a chelated source of zinc), Iron Proteinate (a chelated source of iron), Ferrous Sulfate, Copper Proteinate (a chelated source of copper), Copper Sulfate, Manganese Proteinate (a chelated source of manganese), Manganese Sulfate, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite], Vitamins [Beta Carotene, Vitamin E Supplement, Vitamin C, Vitamin A Supplement, Niacin, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin, Vitamin D-3 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Folic Acid, Biotin, Vitamin B-12 Supplement, Choline Chloride] Calcium Carbonate, Dicalcium Phosphate, Taurine, Mixed Tocopherols (a natural preservative), Chicory Root Extract, Garlic, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Green Tea Extract, Lactobacillus Plantarum, Enterococcus Faecium, Lactobacillus Casei, Lactobacillus acidophilus.

Since she's a small breed it should be fine.

Fine to feed her Wellness Core? I'm talking about feeding it to the Corgi I'm getting (in case you were thinking Carlie) which I guess is still a small breed, but why does it make a difference if it's a small breed?

The Wellness Puppy ingredients aren't bad, but they also aren't good. There are 6 different grains by my count (oatmeal, ground barley, ground brown rice, rice bran, rye flour, ground millet) and tomato pomace, which is used to boost fiber.

Small breeds have different growth requirements than large breeds. The 1 year recommendation for Wellness Core is probably to prevent large breed dogs from growing too fast. For small breeds, it isn't such an issue. In fact, several members here have been feeding grain-free, high protein, high fat foods to their small breed puppies.

With a Corgi, I would be a little bit concerned with her back growing properly. As a result, you should feed both of them the puppy food. I made a decent case a while ago for feeding an adult dog Wellness Puppy, but there is no way I will be able to find that post.

Summary: Go with Wellness Puppy. (Although I think you should look beyond the Old Mother Hubbard brand)

If the Wellness Puppy food's ingredients aren't good, then why should I feed both of my dogs it? Wellness Core doesn't have any grains and if that means it's better ingredients wouldn't it make more sense to feed them both Core? What foods do you recommend I look at other than Old Mother Hubbard?

You should be fine feeding Wellness CORE to a 10 month old smaller breed dog. I wouldn't sweat over 2 months...go with CORE.

I agree with Showpug

Thank you, guys.

I switched Smudge to Orijen at 7-8 months old. It's also no grains. He's doing fine on it so far.

Okay, cool. I decided on feeding her Wellness Puppy until it's gone (b/c we threw away the receipt), but then we're going to switch her to Core.

Apparently the question was whether she should also feed Core to her new Corgi puppy. What do you think?

The puppy is a 10 month old Corgi so I would go ahead and feed CORE.

Haha. Apparently I can't read. I thought Carlie was 10 months old and the puppy was going to be a baby (8 weeks).

Ok. Then I second my first post. Wellness Core should be fine.

Oh, okay. Yeah, you were confusing me there, Herschel. lol

But only after you confused me.

Riiiiight...

10 months old should be fine to feed core, especially for a smaller breed.

Typically (and this is arguable), right around the time a dog reaches sexual maturity is when their bodies start becoming capable of regulating the amount of calcium their bodies will absorb. Prior to that, a pup cannot regulate calcium absorption, thus increasing the risk of too much calcium causing bone and growth issues.

Please note that as of this date, it hasn't been 100% proven at what age a pup is able to regulate calcium absorption - studies indicate anywhere from sexual maturity (or first heat) on, so, it can and does vary. Personally, I typically wait until sexual maturity at least, and consider how much growth the pup is likely to still go through before allowing higher calcium amounts. Smaller breeds tend to hit adult size earlier than large breeds.