what age to change food

I feed our dog jesse pedigree puppy food but the shop only had adult..shes 5 months all most 6..i bought the adult and two tins..ill get the puppy one tomrrow..but i was thinking the adult pedigree chum might to much for her
What age do pups change their food...also when pups change to adult food will they take to it straight away..thanks guys

Personally, I wouldn't go with Pedigree, as it isn't a very good food, but I can't tell you which food to feed her.

There isn't really a set age for the transition between puppy and adult food. However, at her age, I'd say she's fine to be moved up to the adult. It's actually better to get it done at roughly this age, rather than waiting until they're a year old, as the nutritional needs for an adult dog are vastly different from those of a puppy; puppy food is packed full of loads of nutrients and calories, which won't all be spent in an adult dog. This means that a lot of these nutrients and calories can be stored in the dog's energy and fat reserves, causing hyperactivity, frustration from pent up energy, and sometimes even obesity.

Sometimes, your dog will actually let you know when they are ready to change foods. A decreased interest in the food or appetite reduction can be signals that the dog doesn't need the large amount of nutrients currently being fed, so at that point it's best to change to adult food. If your dog is still doing well on puppy food, by all means continue it for a while longer. If she's excessively hyperactive or seems to gain weight very easily, they're quite possibly signs that it's best to make that transition now.

No matter what you decide to do, it's important to change over the food gradually, replacing a small amount of the puppy food with a small amount of the new food and increasing the amounts gradually over a week or so. A sudden switch between foods can result in diarrhoea, vomiting and appetite loss, as the digestive system isn't used to it. It also prevents the likelihood that the dog will turn its nose up at the new food.

Hope this helped!

Thanks ..wow i tought pedigree was the best on the market..what would be a better choice...cheers

Great advise from El, this link may help you with some suggestions....

http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/dry_food

Great advice from Eleanor, I cant add anything else. Good luck  

This is a great website for researching and comparing foods  

http://www.whichdogfood.co.uk/

General rules regarding dog food:

If it's brightly- or multi-coloured, it most likely has a lot of additives, colourings and artificial preservatives, and so it's best to avoid it.

The first ingredients in an ingredients list are the ingredients which take up the most of the bulk in the product. The first ingredient preferably should be meat. If the first ingredient is a filler, such as corn, wheat, rice, etc., the food most likely isn't any good, as these fillers don't have any real benefit for your dog and are just used to take up space. They're also often the source of allergic reactions in dogs.

Don't be fooled by the ingredient 'meat/bone meal'. This can include pretty much any part of the animal - genitals, hooves, gristle, etc.. Basically the stuff that isn't suitable for human consumption, so it's ground down into meal for dog foods and rarely has any real nutritional benefit. A lot of dog foods do contain meat meal, but good foods should contain actual meat as well, preferably as the main ingredient. Meat should at least be in the first two or three ingredients on the list.

Pedigree Puppy, for instance, has its ingredients listed as:

Ground whole corn
Poultry by-product meal
Brewers rice
Corn gluten meal
Animal fat
Ground whole wheat
Natural flavour
Brewers dried yeast
Salt
Vegetable oil
Fish oil

Followed by a whole load of flavourings, artificial preservatives, bulking agents, etc..

This food has only one meat product and that's meat meal, rather than proper meat. A corn filler is used as the first and primary ingredient. Not good, I'm afraid!

The adult version of Pedigree is pretty much the same in its primary ingredients, except for the second ingredient being meat and bone meal instead.

I hope this has helped! The link given by Janey earlier is very useful for finding good foods!