Puppy Nutrition - Starting Out Right

Congratulations on owning a new puppy! There is nothing quite like having a puppy in your life. There are so many things to think about potty training, vaccinations, obedience training it can be incredibly overwhelming. However, there is one aspect of puppy ownership that is very easy, and that is providing the new love of your life proper nutrition.

Proper nutrition is the cornerstone of a healthy animal. If you start feeding dogs the appropriate diet as puppies, it has been clinically proven to extend their lifespan. When asked what the most common health problem seen in adult dogs by veterinarians, most people are surprised when the answer is obesity. Just like with overweight people, obese dogs are at a much higher risk for a number of diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease, and arthritis of the joints. None of the obesity-related diseases are inexpensive to treat, and they decrease the lifespan of your animal. Therefore, now more than ever our profession is trying to educate clients about feeding their pets correctly from the beginning.

We recommend that you feed your puppy a dry, premium or super premium brand dog food. These are dog foods that consistently use high quality ingredients and therefore have a higher digestibility and bioavailability than the cheaper or price brand products. Dont get me wrong, any commercial pet food on the market has to meet a defined set of AAFCO (American Association of Feed Control Officials) standards. This means that the diet is complete and balanced, and in feeding it to your dog you should not have to worry about nutritional deficiencies. However, if you pick the cheapest dog food on the shelf, be aware that their ingredients may not be of the highest quality. I compare eating the least expensive diet to eating fast food for every meal. Sure, your dog will eat it, can live on it, and it probably tastes good. But is it really something you would want your pet to eat for every meal? You can consult your veterinarian for what brands of puppy food that they recommend.

Now that you know WHAT to feed your new puppy, let? talk about HOW to feed him or her. Since obesity is the #1 health problem of adult American pets, how you feed your pet is very important. If you look on the back of the puppy food bag, you will notice that there are recommendations for the volume of food he or she should receive, measured out in cups. This does not mean a 32 oz. cup from the gas station or a coffee mug, but an actual measuring cup. Your veterinarian should provide you with a measuring cup free of charge. The recommendation you see on the back of the bag is an estimate only. We suggest that you start with feeding the recommended amount, and your veterinarian can help determine if your puppy needs more or less. Everyone has heard the saying, the average healthy adult human should consume approximately 2000 calories every day. Well, every persons metabolism is a little different, and dogs are the same way. How a Labrador retriever metabolizes one cup of dry food is probably different than how a Greyhound would metabolize that same amount of food. We encourage pet owners to feed their pets in a controlled fashion. Never feed your pet free choice, or just filling up the bowl whenever it is empty. Growing puppies should consume 2 meals every day, and 3 meals a day would be even better if your lifestyle permits it. These meals should also be timed and observed by you. Give your puppy 10-15 minutes to eat each meal. If your puppy does not clean his bowl at the end of the allotted time, remove it and do NOT add the leftover food to his or her next meal. Your puppy will quickly learn that meal times are a set time. In other words, it? now or never! Not only will controlled feeding help prevent your puppy from eating too much, it also provides you the owner with the ability to monitor your pets eating habits. It could help you identify if your pet is feeling unwell much earlier than you would otherwise.

Feeding treats is another important aspect of your puppy? nutritional status. Let me emphasize, there is nothing wrong with giving your dog treats, especially to reward them for good behavior. However, there is a difference between good treats and bad treats. First and foremost, DO NOT feed your pets table scraps. Not only are they high in calories, but they can also seriously upset your dogs stomach and lead to undesirable behaviors such as begging, getting in the trash can, and counter jumping. We encourage people to feed no more than 2-3 low calorie treats per day such as baby carrots, frozen green beans, ice cubes, or apple slices. Another good idea is to set aside a couple of tablespoons of their daily allowance of dry food and give those as treats. Try not to feed the jerky style, dense store bought treats, especially the ones that look like they are made out of play dough. They are extremely high in calories, and a handful of those treats can easily become an extra meal worth of calories. There a number of human food items that are toxic to dogs and should be avoided all together, and these include chocolate, grapes, and raisins.

Finally, it should be noted that all puppies are the same. Large breed puppies (those that will weigh over 60 pounds as adult animals) need to be fed slightly differently than small or medium breed puppies. First of all, these dogs are predisposed to something called gastric dilation and volvulus, more commonly known as bloat. This is where the stomach fills with air and can twist on itself, which is a life threatening condition. One way to help prevent this is by elevated feeding, or raising the food and water dishes up several inches off the ground. Most pet stores carry pedestals that serve this purpose. This will help keep them from swallowing as much air while eating. Large breed puppies have a very rapid growth rate and are predisposed to two different skeletal diseases canine hip dysplasia and osteochondrosis (OCD). It is a common mistake for owners to think that they should supplement their large breed puppies diet with calcium. In actuality, adding supplemental calcium to your puppies diet will make them more likely to develop hip dysplasia and/or OCD. Never add supplements to your pets diet without first consulting your veterinarian. Nutrition has come a long way in recent decades, and we are very lucky that most premium and super premium brands have specially formulated, large breed puppy and adult dog foods on the market that provide puppies with the appropriate levels of vitamins and minerals. Large breed puppies should be fed a large breed diet until they reach one year of age, at which time they should be transitioned over a weeks time to an adult large breed diet.

We have talked about a lot of aspects of puppy nutrition today, and I hope I have answered some of your questions. If you begin implementing these feeding principals early on in your dog? life, you will have a happier, healthier puppy. Again, the #1 health problem in adult animals is obesity. If you learn how and what to feed them from the beginning, you can prevent obesity (and all the associated health problems) from ever becoming an issue. Go talk to your veterinarian today!

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