Protein Levels?

Following on from the working dog food thread (as I didn't want to hijack it); what is an "acceptable" level of protein in a dry complete mix for an adult dog?

Also, what sort of protein levels should a working dog be consuming?

(I realise that not all adult dogs are the same, but for the purposes of this, a little generalisation is necessary)

I always thought it depended on the meat content in the food as raw fed dogs eat a high protein diet I think. Need a raw feeder to confirm it.

When I fed Timberwolf the meat content was high and so was the protein at 28%, Burns on the other hand has a low meat content and low protein at 18.5%

Also grain free kibbles have a high protein level.

Not sure if this helps but I was told on another forum not to feed puppy food due to the high protein as this would cause rapid growth which could cause problems with this and also hyperactivity. I was told not to feed a proten content higher than 20%.
Della our last boxer was fed Eukanuba which has a much higher protein and she never had any problems with her joints or hyperactivity or anything and she was a big girl.
Freddie is small height wise for a boxer and I wonder if this is down to me feeding a lower protein to him. Although saying that Mya's been fed lower protein and is just slightly taller than Freddie now.
I must admit all this protein malarky confuses me.
The Wafcol is 24% protein and Mya is bulking out nicely now as is Freddie.
I will be watching this with interest.

Just checked my two's food. Star is on Wafcol Salmon and Potato - 24% protein and Finn is on Arden Grange Fish and Potato - 25% protein. Not much difference and no hyper dogs here

Interesting! Thanks guys!

The protein in the CSJ "That'll Do!" that I feed my 2 is (only?) 21% - it's a chicken and rice based food.

Funny - I've just been looking into the protein content of lots of foods trying to find something better for Hoki's diet (trying to lose weight).

Lowest seems to be around 18% - highest I've seen readily available in UK is 25% (working dog food), but I saw a website the other day where they were recommending food with 40% protein (believe it was an American site).

Not that I'm an expert, but from what I've seen, around the 20% mark seems to be about average for an adult dog wishing to maintain the same weight.

I think anything around 20 to 25 % is an average level for most adult dogs.

Obviously it will all depend on the individual dog.

for a normal dog anything between 20 - 23% is ok (in my opinion), a working dog needs a food with a higher protein level where as senior dog or a dog that is on restricted exercise, less active etc I would give a food with a lower protein level (ie 18 - 20%).

Murphy (rottie) is on CSJ - Comand Performance (CP18 - specific for less active dogs) as he is on limited exercise due to his dodgy legs and tbh if I give him a food with higher protein levels (lets say 20% and I have tested this theory) he gets a tad cocky and illusions of grandure the food suits him well and he gets a dodgy tum instantly if I put him on anything else.

They do say that for big breed/giant breed dogs that it's a good idea take them off puppy food at about 8 months as the food contains too much protein and makes their bones grow too quickly cause joint problems etc but I'm not sure if that is 100% accurate.

As a value, the % is not necessarily that critical. You need to work out how much you actually feed them in grams.

eg if you feed 200g of a food that contains 20% protein, the dog would get 40g of protein.

This would be the same as feeding 400g of another food containing 10% protein.

The overall balance of carbohydrate, protein and other components are important.

Also too much protein in the diet can cause kidney problems.

Raw meat has a protien content between about 20 and 22% from what I rem
Dried food can have higher protien content cos it has less water in it

and yup puppy food tends to be too high causing them to grow to quick, from what I have seen raw fed pups grow slower
Dry food does not have a balance of carbs for nutrition it has so many carbs cos that is what lets it stick together as a kibble