Dog & Puppy Nutrition

Nutrition is very important for dogs of all ages but particularly for puppies and geriatric dogs. Dogs also greatly vary in size, so both an age-appropriate and size-appropriate diet is best. Many health conditions in dogs can also be managed with dietary changes. 

 

Puppy Nutrition 

Puppies have different nutritional requirements to dogs of other ages - they need the right combination of nutrients to allow them to grow and develop normally. Large breed puppies grow very quickly and have very rapidly growing bones, so their nutritional requirements are also different to smaller puppies. Providing puppies with quality nutrition is vital to support normal bone and joint development, to reduce health problems in future. We recommend that a premium brand puppy food is fed for the first 12-18 months of life - a complete and balanced puppy biscuit is all that your puppy needs. There are many people that recommend raw feeding or different feeding for puppies - this can be safe if balanced correctly to ensure there are no deficiencies in the diet. If you would like to feed your puppy this way it is very important to do extensive research and talk with a professional or very experienced person to ensure this is done safely, to avoid bone diseases in a growing animal.

 

Dog & Puppy Nutrition Tips

• Buy the best puppy biscuits you can afford, as puppy food is an investment in your dog's future health. A good quality brand of puppy biscuit and free access to water is all your puppy needs.
• If you have a large breed puppy (a puppy that will grow to be a large breed adult dog), then make sure you are buying a specific large breed puppy food. If a food says it is appropriate for all ages of dog or all sized breeds of puppy, then it will not have the specific nutrients your puppy requires.
• Premium dog foods contain no fillers (ingredients that bulk up the volume of the food but are not digested) so the volume of faeces your dog will produce on a premium food is significantly less - this can assist in toilet training puppies.
• Split your dog's daily food requirement over 2-3 meals per day.
• Because premium dog foods contain no fillers the total volume of food your dog will need in a day is less.
• Do not feed too many treats or supplemental foods. Well balanced foods have strictly regulated amounts and ratios of some nutrients (for example calcium and phosphorus) and adding supplemental food to the diet may unbalance your dog's diet. This is particularly important for puppies, and for dogs on prescription diets for specific health issues. 
• Never exercise your puppy or dog directly after a meal. Large breed puppies and dogs in particular, can twist their stomachs if they are too active after a large meal. Feed your dog after exercise or play, rather than beforehand.

 

There are a whole range of therapeutic diets available for dogs with specific health issues. If your cat has health problems, please talk with us about therapeutic diet options.