There are three categories for pet food that is recognized by the American Association of Feed Control Officials (AAFCO): adult maintenance, growth/reproduction, and all life stages. Adult maintenance means that pet food is formulated to meet the nutritional needs of adult dogs. Adult dogs are dogs that are generally one year or older. A pet food that is formulated for Growth and Reproduction is made for growing young dogs generally less than a year old and also for pregnant and nursing dogs. A pet food that is labeled for all life stages means that it meets the nutritional requirements for adult, young and pregnant/nursing dogs.
One of the things to look for while looking at the pet food label is the three different categories a pet food can be under. These are: adult maintenance, growth/reproduction, and all life stages. But what exactly does all this mean?
All pet foods have a feeding guide on the package or label. They are typically expressed as a kcal or kilocalorie. For simplistic sake, we generally refer to a kcal as a calorie when speaking about how many calories a pet should eat. It is required to have the calories per cup or some unit of measure as well as kcal/kg on the label too. Most feeding guides will tell you how many cups to feed according to your dog’s weight. Growth diets for puppies will also have this information. Generally, puppies will consume more calories for their weight than adult dogs because they are still growing and need extra nutrition to grow and develop into healthy adult dogs. Active dogs may also require more calories to maintain their ideal body weight. If you are not sure how much to feed your dog, then we recommend you call the company who makes your pet food, and you can also ask your veterinarian for help.
All life stage food typically contains higher levels of protein, fat, and some minerals than a diet labeled for senior dogs. Senior diets are not a regulatory definition but are marketed to older dogs and generally have lower levels of fat, are lower in calories, and may contain other micronutrients that can help with problems such as joint health, skin, and coat, and immune benefits depending on the specific diet.
We understand that picking the best diet for your pooch can be an overwhelming and difficult task. We want the best for our dogs, but pet food labels can be so challenging to understand sometimes. Is there a pet food that is both complete and balanced for your lovable fur babies?
With that being said, is life-stage nutrition really required? Or is an all life stages dog food the better choice? Which type of diet will provide your pup with the most balanced, nutrient-dense food? Below we cover the answer to these questions (and also go over some details about optimal nutritional profiles).
That part is obvious. The part that isn’t so obvious, though, is that AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) doesn’t just develop guidelines for specific ages, but they also work on nutritional profiles for “all life stages.” Dog food that’s rated as “all life stages” by AAFCO can be fed to any type of dog, no matter what age they are.
However, any decent all life stages dog food (e.g. Canidae All Stages dog food formula) will contain not only the bare minimums as set forth by AAFCO, but it will contain an optimal level of nutrition for dogs of all ages.
Because all life stages dog foods aren’t age-specific, you need to be careful about how much you feed to younger dogs. These types of dog foods are usually packed with calories, which means that unless you properly portion them you could potentially overfeed younger dogs (or smaller breeds). Most brands will include specific instructions on how to size out portions, timing, scheduling, etc.
Dogs go through different life stages, this much is obvious, but do they require different nutritional profiles during each of these stages? The answer to this question isn’t as easy as it might appear at first glance, but ultimately that answer is yes.
Fair question. First, consider that there are two ways a dog food can be shown to meet nutrient needs, according to AAFCO standards. One is to make sure the recipe is “formulated to meet” the levels of nutrients that AAFCO publishes. These nutrient levels, or profiles, list minimums and, in some cases, maximums, for essential nutrients that should be in the food depending on the dog’s life stage. The minimums for puppies and pregnant or nursing dogs are often higher than the minimums for non-reproducing adult dogs. Thus, as long as the food contains the minimums for pups and breeding females, it can be said to be “for all life stages.” The nutrient levels “may be overkill” for the average adult dog, says board-certified veterinary nutritionist Cailin Heinze, VMD, but a healthy grown dog will not be hurt by the higher amounts.
The second way a recipe can be validated is for the food to actually go through feeding trials with dogs in the life stage group for which the food is intended. For instance, if a company wants to say “gestation/lactation” on the label’s AAFCO statement — not by making the recipe according to a list of nutrient minimums but by seeing what happens when dogs actually eat the food — it needs to test the food on pregnant/lactating dogs and see if the results stand up to AAFCO guidelines. These guidelines are not about specific levels of nutrients, as they are for foods “formulated to meet” AAFCO standards, but for actual health outcomes. For instance, the bitch and pups must have similar weight gain to the average for dogs in the colony, show no signs of deficiencies, and have normal red blood cell and blood protein values. If the standards are met, the AAFCO statement on the label can say “feeding trials” to show that the food is right for reproduction.
For dogs who are reproducing and also for puppies, “I would certainly rather have feeding trials” than a food simply formulated to meet AAFCO nutrient minimums, Dr. Heinze says. “A lot more can go wrong during those stages of life than during adult maintenance. Problems happen much more quickly than they would over the course of an adult dog’s life.” In other words, there’s only a small window for getting it right, and a food that has gone through feeding trials for gestation/lactation and/or growth provides more assurance that things will turn out the way they’re supposed to.
When you look at a bag or can of dog food, there’s always a statement from the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) that says the food is appropriate for any one of a number of phases of a pet’s life. These include “growth” (puppies), “reproduction” (pregnant or nursing bitches), “maintenance” (adult dogs), or “all life stages.” But how could a food be for every stage of life if there are all those categories?
One caveat: food for puppies and pregnant/lactating bitches is often, but not always, higher in calories than food formulated for “maintenance.” If calories are an issue for your adult dog, check package labels to compare calorie levels from one food to another. That way, if your dog needs fewer calories to maintain or lose weight, you can choose a lower-calorie food.
Dog Years: The 7 Stages of Puppy Growth and Development – Dogs 101
One of the features on a pet food label is the designation for “life stage.” You may have never noticed this detail, because its often in very small print (especially on cans), and it may be buried at the end of the ingredient list. But its crucial to understand this concept.
Pet foods are commonly labeled for puppies, kittens, adults, and even mature and senior pets. Many pet food manufacturers push the “niche marketing” concept even further, combining age with specific breeds, health issues, and lifestyles, such as “Brand Q adult indoor overweight Persian cat food” or “Brand Z active senior brindle Boxer dog food.” (Okay, those are exaggerated… but not by much!)
Of course, puppies and kittens do have different nutritional needs than adults. For example, their rapid growth requires a lot of energy (calories), and they get lactose and other carbohydrates in their mothers milk to provide energy in an instantly absorbable form.
The basic life stages recognized by AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials), the organization that sets the standards used by US pet food manufacturers, are Adult Maintenance, and Growth/Reproduction. The latter includes everything that isnt simple adult maintenance: gestation (pregnancy), lactation (nursing) and growth (puppies and kittens). Foods can be labeled for one or more of these stages. A food labeled for “all life stages” must meet the more stringent nutritional requirements for growth and reproduction.
On the label, youre looking for the “AAFCO Statement.” The language is required and specific, and no variations are allowed. Any claim that a pet food provides complete and balanced nutrition must state one of the following:
“(Name of product) is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO dog (or Cat) Food Nutrient Profiles for (life stage or stages)” (gestation/lactation, growth, maintenance, or the words “All Life Stages”).
“Animal feeding tests using AAFCO procedures substantiate that (Name of Product) provides complete and balanced nutrition for (life stage).”
“(Name of Product) provides complete and balanced nutrition for (life stage) and is comparable in nutritional adequacy to a product which has been substantiated using AAFCO feeding tests.”
Additionally, if a claim is made for “growth” or “all life stages” on a dog food, one of the following phrases must also be added verbatim to the end of the claim: “including growth of large size dogs (70 lbs. or more as an adult),” or “except for growth of large size dogs (70 lbs. or more as an adult).”
If a food does not meet the requirements for a complete and balanced food, then the label must state: “This product is intended for intermittent and supplemental feeding only.”
To meet the standards for “complete and balanced” at any life stage, a pet food must do one of two things:
Now, you may have noticed that there is no dietary life stage called baby, middle age, mature, senior, spayed, neutered, or anything else. In fact, these made-up distinctions are mostly just marketing. In nature, once theyre weaned, canines and felines all eat the exact same diet at every stage of their lives. Youll never see an old lioness say, “Zebra? No thanks, thats too much protein for me.”
And if all those other so-called “life stages” are made up, then you can probably figure out that other claims, like indoor, specific breed, and lifestyle designations are also pure marketing. The kibble size may change; and the percentages of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, and moisture in the Guaranteed Analysis will differ. But these variations are designed mainly to get your attention and play to your concern for your individual pet. An active dog needs more food, not any particular food; and a sedentary dog needs less.
For example, “mature” and “senior” foods often contain less protein, supposedly to protect the kidneys. But this may actually be harmful to older pets, whose ability to digest and absorb protein and other nutrients declines with age.
High protein diets do not cause kidney disease; in fact, a higher level of good quality protein in the diet can be beneficial for older pets, especially cats, because it helps them maintain healthy muscle mass. Older cats actually tend to lose weight, which is detrimental to their well-being. For dogs, excess calories (which, in most dog foods, come from carbohydrates) can cause weight gain as they age, because their metabolism and activity levels decrease. Too much weight exacerbates age-related problems like arthritis and heart disease; its much better for dogs to stay lean throughout their lives.
There are a handful of categories that are regulated and therefore must be accurate – more or less. Weight loss and light foods, and hairball and urinary diets for cats, have to prove those claims. However, the extent of proof may merely be the presence of an ingredient, such as fiber, that is known to reduce hairballs.
While pet food makers commonly recommend puppy and kitten foods for the first year of life, that generalization is too broad, and contributes to the obesity epidemic facing our pets today. Cats and smaller dogs mature faster than large and giant breeds. Spaying and neutering is also an important milestone. A better rule of thumb is to transition for cats and small-to-medium sized dogs at the time of spaying or neutering (usually 4-6 months of age), or around 6-8 months if they were sterilized earlier, which is common if they come from a shelter or rescue. There is increasing scientific evidence that its better to wait to sterilize larger dogs until they have attained their adult height – as late as 12-15 months for giant breeds. Its appropriate to feed puppy food until then, but make sure they arent gaining too much weight. Both dogs and cats feel better and live longer if they are kept on the lean side.
For most pets, “all life stages” foods are the best choice, regardless of age. You can vary the amount fed to manage your pets changing needs. Dont feel tied down by feeding directions on the label; theyre just guidelines. Youre the best judge of what your pet needs because you know the factors in play.
For instance, if your dog spends most days snoozing on the couch, feed less on those days; but if you take her on a 5-mile hike in the mountains on Saturday, then youll want to feed extra Saturday evening and maybe even Sunday morning to help her muscles recover. If the weather is very hot or cold, your pet may need a little more food because of metabolic changes associated those changes. Illness or injury will also alter nutrient requirements.
Knowing what life stages mean, and combining that with your own good common sense, are the keys to keeping your pets healthy and happy throughout their lives.
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