When Should My Puppy Eat Adult Dog Food?

As your dog grows their needs change - once they are fully grown you’ll need to start feeding them adult dog food. How long this is depends mostly on the size of your dog, but also on their breed and their individual growth and diet. Smaller dogs reach maturity faster than larger dogs.

There’s no hard and fast rule for when to make this jump, it’s really about waiting until your puppy has fully developed. 

Here’s a rough guide:
Small Breed - 12 months
Medium Breed - 15 months
Large Breed - 18 months

Keep an eye on your dogs development, and once they have stop growing after 12 months you can transition them to our adult food. There’s no wrong answer here! Just use your gut to make the decision after they are at least 12 months old. 

Transitioning to adult food

If your dog has eaten mostly Whoa Nelly then they will move very smoothly to our adult food. You can just start feeding our adult recipes, no need to transition.

If your dog has not eaten our puppy food (or has eaten a diet of mostly kibble) then it’s a good idea to transition them gently to our adult recipes. Dietary changes effect the digestive system so we want to minimise any stress while they shift to our high quality raw food. 

Treat this the same as any other change in food and take 7-10 days to make the transition. Just feed a small amount of our food for the first day, and then slowly increase it until you are feeding only Whoa Nelly. There may be loose stools during this transition but your dog will quickly adjust and feel great. It’s all part of growing up.

Lots of people feel a bit overwhelmed when making changes to their dogs diet, and we know you want to do the best for your puppy. If you aren’t sure about when to switch your puppy to adult food, or if you’d like to talk anything through we’re always happy to chat. You can contact us here or call/text Jimi on 0449 573 632.