Nutrition for Puppies

By Teri Champigny

When you bring the new puppy home, the first thing you will want to do is feed him.  What kind of food do you use?  What are his nutritional requirements?  Will he like what you give him?  Make sure your veterinarian is involved in his diet planning.

Make sure the dog's food is healthy and tasty.  Try to find something for the stage of life he is in.  For example, if he is a puppy, buy him puppy food.  Decide on what you are going to feed him before you bring him home.  This prevents last minute decisions that might not be healthy for your pet. 

Dry food is quite popular.  It is easy to store and usually tastes great.  It is also good/for helping keep the teeth clean.

Soft and moist food are great for your dog to eat because he will eat most of the food and get the added nutrition. 

Canned food have the highest water content.  These also contain less nutrition, so you may need to feed your dog more than usual to equal out the nutrition they may need. Look at the levels of vitamins and crude materials on the label.  Is there enough fat, protein, calories and other nutrients?  Is the food tasty and is the price too expensive?  These are things to consider when buying puppy food.  

If your dog becomes finicky and will only eat certain things, this is sometimes due to change in diet.  Allow the dog time to adjust.  If he still won't eat, try a new food.  If he still doesn't cooperate, you may need to take him to the vet for a checkup to make sure nothing is wrong.

Some people feed their dogs from the table.  This is like in between meal snacking and kills the dog's appetite for when it is time for him to eat his food.  Avoid feeding the dog off the table.