i am in the process of trying to make some sense of all this from a nutritionist's point of view. i am looking at documents from cornell etc. when i learn something i will pass it on. i believe my human nutrition background will permit me to understand some of the ratios etc that were developed. since i do not feed kibble i did not delve into the data when my dogs were pups. from a professional standpoint know i am curious enough to try and get to the bottom of this. andrea, woofit and chi shavertown, pa http://www.brin.org/Woofit_and_Chi/
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Mark Mohapp Sent: Sunday, March 09, 2003 12:17 PM To: Bernese Mountain Dog Mailing List Subject: Re: puppy feeding Rose: I do have to be careful about my comments on Large Breed puppy Formulas for dogs.I am not a Nutritionist and I do NOT want to mislead any new puppy owners. However, one of my concerns however lies in the fact that the pet food industry wants to accommodate the consumer and some times it gets rather trendy. In reviewing research about large breed formulas I have found that most of the research was conducted by the manufacturers of dog food and pet food industry. As we all know with large breed dogs there is inherited risk, environmental stress, and nutrition affecting the well being and development of the dog. I have seen some Berner pups that were kept so lean that they looked emaciated. ( I am not talking about the typical lanky and awkward stage in pups that are not mature dogs) So - I am continuing to research this but I believe that excess weight on a dog may be more of a culprit than what the exact ratio of protein in foods. Owners still have to control portions and if Berner pups are not supposed to have heavy exercise than it makes sense that the amount they are fed needs to be considered. I can share some of my resources with you and possibly you can share some of yours with me. I may not have looked at some of the independent research that you may be aware of. I am still learning and do read a lot from a variety of sources. I do not believe that many vets are well versed in nutrition - maybe vet schools are changing this. I think medical doctors were accused of the same thing at one point? But thank you! I always appreciate your information and it often helps me switch gears in my thinking. Mark Mohapp [EMAIL PROTECTED]
