dog food for my pitbull

Question
I have a 4 month old,blue -brendle pitbull that I love and I want the best
food for her. I feed her Eukeneuba 30/20 and I wanted to know is there
a better food for her because right now I'm spending 60 dollars on a bag
of food and the saleman at petsmart saided there no better dog food
then the I get for the price. And also which vitamin do you think is best
for her she is around 35-40 pounds now. I'm training in mma and she is
my running partner. THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP  

Answer

Hi Christopher,

Eukeneuba 30/20 is a diet for sporting dogs over the age of one year, that are involved in hunting, field trials and other more strenuous athletic activities.  Your puppy needs to receive a puppy food diet her first full year.  

As far as it there being no better dog food for adult dogs that do strenuous athletic activities, that's doubtful, but I won't get into that.  That diet really wouldn't help a dog who's not burning mega calories on  strenuous activities (such as what a sled dog uses), as all that extra protein would be converted to, and stored as fat. It's important to match up your particular dog's activity levels to a correct diet.  

Just so you know, the Eukeneuba 30/20 diet is 30.00 % protein and 20% fat. That's an awful lot of both! It is recommended that a puppy receive 28% protein and 17% fat, an adult dog receive 18-24% protein and 9-15% fat.

Adding vitamin supplements is not necessary, as most dog and puppy foods are complete. Adding supplements can actually be dangerous, for example, giving extra calicum can damage her bone growth!  It's best to talk to your vet to see if any supplements are needed, and which to give if they are called for. Sticking to a quality puppy food will give your puppy all the nutrition she needs.

You can read about what to look for in a quality dog food here:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=betterproducts

At four months old, your puppy is much too young yet to be jogging.  When exercising puppies equate their age to the age of a child,  this will help you understand how much exercise is enough. A four-month-old puppy should exercise like a four year old child.  Would you take a four year old child for two mile walk around the park?  Probably not.  Your puppy might seem like she can do it, but when she grows into her adult body she will begin to show the stress you put on her as puppy. Hip-dysplasia and arthritis can be environmental as well as genetic. You can create problems by over exercising a young body. At 10 months of age you can start with light jogs on a soft surface (like grass or dirt) not on a road or sidewalk.  At the moment, your puppy needs to grow up and develop properly before you take her out for your jogging workout.

Feel free to write back if I can be of further help.
Best of luck,

Patti