Royal Canin Giant Junior Dry Dog FoodOver 45 kg adult weight · 8 to 18–24 months

Most breeds are finished at a year. A giant breed is barely two-thirds there — she'll keep laying down bone and muscle until eighteen months and sometimes twenty-four. Feeding her adult food at twelve months, as you would any other dog, cuts the fuel halfway through the job.

This is the food almost no other brand makes. Protein at 31% and L-carnitine at 300 mg/kg push the second growth phase towards muscle rather than fat, which matters because weight gained now is weight her joints carry for a decade. Calcium at 1.26% and phosphorus at 1% keep the mineral balance right while bone is still forming, glucosamine and chondroitin continue the cartilage support, and the kibble is shaped to slow her down — a giant dog that inhales her food is a bloat risk.

• Healthy Growth
• Lean Muscle Support
• Joint Support
• Digestive Health

Ingredients

Dehydrated poultry protein, maize, maize flour, rice, vegetable protein isolate (L.I.P. — protein selected for its very high digestibility), animal fats, wheat flour, beet pulp, hydrolysed animal proteins, minerals, fish oil, soya oil, yeasts and parts thereof, fructo-oligo-saccharides, psyllium husks and seeds, hydrolysed yeast (source of manno-oligo-saccharides), yeast extracts (source of betaglucans), marigold extract (source of lutein), hydrolysed crustaceans (source of glucosamine), hydrolysed cartilage (source of chondroitin). Additives (per kg) — Nutritional additives: Vitamin A 16,500 IU · Vitamin D3 1,100 IU · Vitamin E 340 mg · E1 (Iron) 35 mg · E2 (Iodine) 3.5 mg · E4 (Copper) 11 mg · E5 (Manganese) 45 mg · E6 (Zinc) 128 mg · E8 (Selenium) 0.06 mg. Technological additives: Clinoptilolite of sedimentary origin 10 g. Sensory additives: Yucca extract 125 mg. Preservatives. Antioxidants.

Looking after it

Store in a cool, dry place, sealed. Use within six weeks. Only the 3.5 kg is stocked, which is awkward for a dog eating 600 g a day — worth asking the supplier about a 15 kg. Keep her lean through this stage above all others. Feed her from the floor unless your vet says otherwise, split every meal, and keep her quiet for an hour either side. Learn the signs of bloat now.