With certain breeds, you need to be aware of special dietary requirements. Some Dalmatians have “uric acid syndrome.” These dogs do best on a diet that is low in meat proteins to help prevent the formation of bladder and urethral stones. Always check with your dog breeder or the rescue group you obtained your puppy from (any breed) for any special dietary considerations.
One of the best ways for you to stay on top of your pup’s diet and growth is to do weekly body condition score evaluations. The cute, butterball puppies you may see are either overweight or may have a heavy parasite load. Neither condition is ideal for good health! You should be able to feel your puppy’s ribs, but they should not stick out dramatically. When looking down from above, your puppy should have a “waist.” From the side view, you should see a “tuck up” right in front of the hind legs.
Most puppies join their new families at 8 to 10 weeks of age. By then they should be well-established on a regular diet. Even if you plan to change your puppy’s diet, you should stick to what the breeder, shelter or rescue group sent home with you at first. Your puppy is facing enough changes already with adapting to his new environment. Any diet changes should be done gradually, starting with 25 percent new puppy food and 75 percent current diet. After a few days, go to 50/50 and then 75/25 percent new food to old.
Many factors will influence how much food your individual puppy may need for optimum puppy growth and health. Be sure your puppy has been checked for internal parasites, such as roundworms and coccidia. These parasites drain nutrients that your puppy needs. External parasites like fleas and ticks can also be energy drains, especially on small puppies.
Puppies are one of the great joys of life. They make almost everyone smile and laugh. When you add a puppy to your family, you are looking at lifetime love from a creature who depends on you to provide him with the best care.
Because the amount of calories in different puppy foods vary, its best to follow the manufacturers recommendations for daily servings. Generally, the average cup of dry puppy kibble contains around 400 calories, according to Petfinder. The average 13.2-ounce can of wet puppy food also contains around this same amount. Based on the calorie recommendations for a 10-pound pup, youll need to feed little Fido around 1 3/4 cans of food or cups of kibble to your pup daily. If you feed your pup a combination of the foods, incorporate both of them into the calorie count. For example, if Fido eats 1 can of wet food each day, feed him 3/4 cup of dry food daily in addition, or vice versa.
In addition to being rich in calories, your pups food itself needs to contain the right balance of nutrients for a puppy to encourage proper growth. These nutrients, including protein, fats and carbohydrates, provide the food with healthy, rather than empty calories for your pooch. Proteins encourage muscle and tissue growth, while fats and carbohydrates provide your pup with energy and help with the absorption of vitamins. Puppy food should contain 22 percent protein and 8 percent fat at minimum, recommend the feeding profiles developed by the Association of American Feed Control Officials, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Puppies need more calories than adult dogs to provide them with the energy they require to support healthy growth. In general, the calories in a pups diet come from the protein, fats and carbohydrates in his food. By feeding your pooch a diet designed for puppies, which contains more of these ingredients than one formulated for adults, little Fido will be sure to get the proper amount of calories he needs.
Until your pup reaches his first birthday or so, hell need around twice the amount of calories per pound of weight each day than an adult dog, recommends the National Research Council. The average adult pooch needs approximately 35 calories per pound of weight each day, according to Dogster. So, if your young pooch is 10 pounds, hell need around 70 calories of food per pound daily, or 700 calories. As your puppy grows, increase his portions to account for his higher caloric needs. As a general rule, the amount of food your pooch can eat in 10 minutes, three times a day, provides him with the calories he needs, recommends Jennifer Larsen, DVM of the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
While your puppy needs calorie-rich foods to encourage proper growth, feeding your pooch too many calories can actually cause obesity or even skeletal issues in larger breeds. Keep an eye on your pups body and, if you cant feel his ribs anymore, he may be getting too many calories daily. Speak to your vet about your pups weight and ask for her recommendations regarding his necessary calorie intake if your pup appears overweight or underweight. Avoid free-feeding your pooch, instead providing him with two to three meals throughout the day. To determine his portion sizes, divide his daily amount of food by the amount of feedings you provide.
Kibble vs. Fresh vs. Raw Puppy Food
Not everyone realizes it at first, but Fresh puppy food like Nom Nom is different from traditional wet food, and very, very different from kibble.
Not all calories are created equal. And when you take kibble calories compared to fresh food calories, that’s never more evident. Fresh dog food is often much more digestible than processed kibble, or even processed wet food, so your dog can get more energy and nutrients per bite.