# english mastiff puppy food protein levels?



## fzrconfused (Apr 10, 2013)

i have a 62lb 19 week old english mastiff mix puppy. i have been feeding her nutro ultra large breed puppy since we got her at 5-6 weeks old (they claimed she was 8 weeks, vet said no way more than 6). well i am fine paying for the nutro ultra for now, but i just feel that when she gets big i will not be able to afford $55 for a 30lb bag, so i am looking for an alternative. i have read on other forums that the natures domain is an "decent" alternative to go with and i see on here that pretty much everyone says they would NOT recommend it. i have been reading around and i see that they recommend that english mastiffs should not have more than 22% protein and 9% fat. well both nutro is 26% protein and fat is at 13%. natures domain is closer in the protein area at 24% but the fat is 14%. 

all of my previous dogs i have always feed just puppy/dog chow, so i am trying to do better with this "little" girl


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## DDBsR4Me (Jan 23, 2012)

I have owned DDBs (French Mastiffs) for the past 10 years. What is your puppy mixed with??

Mastiff puppies do not need to be on puppy food. A good ALS is just fine. What you need to worry about is the calcium and phosphorus levels, not so much the protein. You want an ideal ratio of 1.2:1 (calcium to phosphorus), with the max amount of calcium a giant breed pup should be getting is 1.4% to 1.6% at absolute most

I'll PM you with some information since I can't remember it it's ok to link to other forums here or not.


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## fzrconfused (Apr 10, 2013)

the mom was the mastiff (very possible not a pure english), the dad was a 150lb rott. i met the dad and he was HUGE!!!! biggest rott i have ever seen. the mom was very protective of the her puppies and was kept at a good distance, so i could not see her too well. 1 of the phone calls i had with him he said neo mastiff, every other time he said english mastiff (at the time i knew very little about them, and still do not), but to be fair this guy did not speak english very well and might not know much either. my vet says he sees english in her and the mom was not nearly as wrinkly as any neo i have seen a pic of. she was 16 or 18 months old (dude claims) and she was about 160lbs.....i was looking for a rott mix, not specifically a mastiff.

thanks for the PM!


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## DDBsR4Me (Jan 23, 2012)

No problem!


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