How Long Should You Keep Your Dog On Puppy Food

How To Disinfect Food And Water Bowls

Bowls should be washed similarly to human dishes. If washing the bowl by hand, use hot, soapy water and a soft rag or sponge. Avoid anything abrasive, such as a wire cloth, in order to decrease the risk of scratching the bowls surface. Always use soap, as simply rinsing the bowl in hot water has been proven ineffective. Another option is to place the bowl in the dishwasher, which will ensure complete sanitization. The NSF also recommends placing bowls in a 1:50 water/bleach dilution once per week for 10 minutes to fully disinfect bowls if a dishwasher is unavailable.

The Best Puppy Diet For A Healthy Start

Give your puppy a strong start in life with NutriSource puppy diets, formulated for small- and medium-breed puppies as well as large-breed puppies. Healthy foods are the foundation for strong healthy teeth, proper nutrient absorption and solid stools . After all, no one wants a puppy with diarrhea!

Not only does NutriSource offer optimal nutrition in the right-sized bites, NutriSource formulates all foods with its innovative Good 4 Life® system. Good 4 Life has the probiotics and prebiotics that optimize your pups development because they help pups body absorb minerals and other nutrients. With less going to waste, youll have fewer messes to pick up in the backyard.

Ready to pick up a bag of NutriSource? Shop local!

When Should You Switch From Puppy Food

There are a number of rules out there regarding when to make the switch from puppy food to adult dog food, and recommendations vary depending on your dogs breed size. Some say that you should switch your puppy to an adult recipe when his growth in height starts to slow down.

Even once your puppy reaches his adult height, he may continue to fill out a little in terms of muscle mass but he wont need quite so much energy. For small-breed puppies, this usually happens between 8 and 10 months of age and, for large-breed puppies, somewhere between 12 and 24 months.

Another rule you may have heard is the 80% rule that you should switch your puppy to an adult recipe when he reaches about 80% of his expected adult weight. Again, this will come sooner for small-breed puppies than for large- and giant-breed puppies. Your veterinarian can help you guess at your dogs expected adult weight.

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Watch Their Eating Habits

As puppies enter new growth stages, their calorie needs will automatically adjust and you should see this showing up in their appetite levels.

If your once-ravenous four-bowl-a-day pupper is almost three months old but has lost momentum in the clean bowl club, their body may be ready to transition to three meals a day.

Now Lets Break Down The Recipe For My Easy Homemade Dog Food Shall We

The recipe box below contains a printable version of my go-to recipe for homemade dog food, which consist of lean ground sirloin, brown rice, carrots, hard boiled eggs, parsley, and a few tablespoons of oil that is high in Omegas. But sometimes, especially since social distancing, Ive found that it is helpful to have a list of easy substitutes for when ingredients run low. Plug in or swap out any of the items below based on what foods your pup likes/needs and what you have on hand to create your pups ideal dog food flavor profile.

Meat || Lean ground beef, ground chicken, ground white or dark meat turkey, & ground pork are all great options. Just be sure to make sure that any meat you feed your animals is free of seasonings when purchasing! Dogs living with a kidney disease diagnosis need meals that are lower in phosphorus so for us a lean ground beef like ground sirloin is best the way to go!

Eggs || Eggs are one the top 5 allergens for dogs and the yolks are very high in phosphorus -which you want to limit in dogs with kidney disease. But, eggs are also one of the highest quality forms of protein you can feed your pet! Ultimately, a hard boiled egg is Hoochs favorite thing on the planet so, with our vets approval we opted to leave them in his food.

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Pregnant Or Nursing Dogs

Pregnant and nursing dogs have different nutritional requirements than other adult dogs. These dogs should be eating food that is calorie dense and high in protein. Look for foods that are at least 22 percent protein.

It may seem unusual, but feeding puppy food, like Purina Pro Plan Focus Puppy Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Dog Food, to a pregnant or nursing dog is a good way to meet these requirements. Because puppies, like pregnant and nursing dogs, also need more calories and protein than other dogs, food made for them is suitable for dogs who are moms or moms-to-be too.

And heres the good news for your pregnant or nursing dog: Unless she is overweight, you can let her have all she wants.

Is Puppy Food Different To Adult Dog Food

While puppy food should have many of the same ingredients as adult dog food, puppy meals tend to have higher concentrations of essential nutrients. This is because puppies have different requirements to older dogs just as human babies have different diets to adult humans. Puppies have a lot of growing and developing to do and building these tissues requires lots of protein, calcium and numerous other nutrients, as well as lot of energy.

Feeding a puppy adult dog food means you will need to feed them more often to ensure they get the nutrients they need, or risk stunting their development. One interesting example to illustrate this is that smaller dogs, including puppies, have a higher surface-to-volume ratio than larger dogs, which means that, relative to the amount of body heat they can create, smaller dogs have a larger area through which to lose heat. It is for this reason that puppies dont only need to eat and exercise more to keep their body temperature at normal levels, but why many tend to love a nice heated dog bed.

Equally, feeding an adult dog puppy food can also be dangerous, as it can lead to an overload of nutrients which can lead to problems later in life. For example, large dogs are already prone to skeletal issues, which the extra calcium in puppy food can exacerbate.

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Calorie/energy Need Considerations When Feeding Your Puppy

Puppies need more energy/calories than adult dogs due to their rapid growth rate. The National Research Council of the National Academies recommends puppies receive twice as many calories per pound of body weight as adults.

A good ballpark figure for dogs is about 30 calories per pound per day for an adult dog. Small breed dog may need more than that. This means on average that small breed puppies will need about 60 calories per day. So a five pound puppy would require 300 calories a day.

That may seem like a lot, but remember you are feeding your puppy three meals a day until he reaches 6 months. The best way to determine how much to feed, again is to look at the label. Each food is different so the calories present in one cup of dog food will not be the same as in the next brand.

Counting calories is only part of the equation. To feed a puppy correctly, he needs the correct type of ingredients in the proper amounts so that his diet is balanced.

Even very poor dog food can be balanced and will sustain your puppy’s life, but your dog will not enjoy a healthy lifestyle. So the process of feeding your puppy can become rather complicated.

As a side note, it is really hard to do this if you plan to put your puppy on a homemade diet. Rather it is easier to find a food that has all the ingredients in the proper portions.

What Food Is Best For A Puppy

So long as the food is nutritious and suitable for puppies, it should be sufficient to help your puppy grow properly. There are a whole host of different types of dog food available to choose from: wet dry grain-free food with fish, rice and vegetables and food for small, medium and large breeds. James Wellbeloved offer a whole host of different puppy foods which will encourage your puppy to build a healthy appetite and to grow up fit and strong.

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Making Your Dog Comfortable Outdoors

Spending a little time outdoors is a great way for your dog to get some exercise. In your pups outdoor area, youll need to provide some fresh food, water, and appropriate shelter from the cold, heat, wind, and rain. Shady shelter is especially important for dogs with very short hair or white hair who can easily get sunburned, recommends Dr. Sara Ochoa, a veterinary consultant for DogLab.com.

Of course, when your dog is outdoors, try to spend as much time with them as possible. Too much loneliness and they may become bored which could lead to digging, destructive behavior, or escape attempts, says Mühlenberg.

Most importantly, never put your dog in outdoor conditions where the health and safety of the pup is at risk. And always monitor your pooch for signs of discomfort like panting, shivering, shaking, or extreme fatigue. Remember, your pup is part of your family and its up to you to ensure your furry friend stays safe both indoors and outdoors.

When To Stop Soaking Puppy Food

The question pertaining to when to switch from puppy food is linked to the basic question of when to stop soaking puppy food. Well, soaked food like gruel or mush is ideal to be given for only the weaning period that is the initial 2 months of your puppy. Once this period is over, you should start changing from soaked food but the change should be gradual and one step at a time.

Smaller and larger breeds of puppies will start looking fully grown at between six and eight months and around 24 months respectively. But, they are still teenage puppies inside and therefore, still, need high-protein dog food to terminate their growth.

Whether it is a change from soaked food to dry ones or from one brand of food to another, the change should be gradual and also restricted. This is because your puppys stomach is very sensitive at this stage and can be easily upset with the change.

So, give them the time to adjust. The best way to go about it is by mixing a little bit of their old food to new one and then, slowly adding more over the course of 10 days till your puppy is used to eating the new form/brand of food.

When you switch from soaked or wet food to dry food, your puppy will automatically take some time to adjust. He will require more water to chew the food actively and will also take longer to eat. The texture will seem odd to him, so make sure food is tasty enough to draw his interest.

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Feeding Your Puppy Right From The Start

Feeding YourPuppy should be a fun bonding experience for both of you. But if you are a new puppy owner or someone who has not had a puppy in a while, you might be wondering how to start off right–what to feed, how much to feed, when to feed.

These are just a few of the many questions new puppy owners have. If you are one of those, read on.

Puppy Food Has Nutrients Growing Dogs Need

Puppy food has a lot of extra nutrients and protein that adult dog food may lack.1 A growing dog thats building muscle and bone needs more nutrients and calories to maintain healthy development. Puppies, especially those of a larger breed, need the right amount of fatty acids, fiber, and protein, along with controlled amounts of calcium so bones grow at the proper rate. They also need certain omega-3 fatty acids for proper development.2 This is why puppies need food formulated for their nutritional needs, rather than adult dog food.

AvoDerm Natural dog food offers two formulas created especially for puppies. The canned Puppy Chicken & Rice Formula has chicken as the first ingredient to help any puppies with food sensitivities to other proteins. Its also made with avocado, which is rich in antioxidants that can help promote a healthy immune system.

If you prefer dry kibble, AvoDerm Natural dog food offers a Puppy Chicken Meal & Brown Rice Formula. This has just the right balance of protein, fat, and nutrients that puppies need. Its also corn- and wheat-free, which is great for puppies with more sensitive stomachs.

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How Long Do You Feed A Dog Puppy Food

As often as were asked how long do you feed a dog puppy food, its quite remarkable how many people are genuinely worried about moving their puppy to adult food either too soon or too late.

You should feed a puppy on puppy food while theyre younger than 12-months, but the transition process can start earlier.

Your dog is a puppy for as long as you want them to be. Nobody is going to tell you different. But in the interests of answering this specific question of how long do you feed a dog puppy food the appropriate time to stop feeding puppy specific food is no later than 12-months old.

Why?

Because in purely simplistic terms, at 12-months old your puppy is technically an adult.

Lets break down the puppy to adult dog process.

As you can see, puppy growth stages can seem like a flash before our eyes.

How Do I Know If My Puppy Is Eating The Right Amount

Veterinarians evaluate dogs using a body conditioning score, which ranges from one for emaciated, to five for obese. It’s normal for very young puppies to have some baby fat, but after the first 8 to 10 weeks, “puppies should be a two”, Buffington says.

You can learn to assess your dog at home. At a score of two, which is relatively thin, a puppys ribs may be visible. The tops of the back bones will generally be easily seen. You shouldnt be able to feel any fat on its ribs. You should see a waist when looking down at your puppy and an abdominal tuck when looking from the side.

Continued

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Feeding Your Puppy: A First

• 612 weeks: Growing pups should be fed puppy food, a diet specially formulated to meet the nutritional needs for normal development. Feeding adult food will rob your puppy of important nutrients. Four feedings a day are usually adequate to meet nutritional demands. Large breeds should be fed unmoistened dry food by 9 or 10 weeks small dogs by 12 or 13 weeks.
• 36 months: Sometime during this period, decrease feedings from four to three a day. A pup should be losing her potbelly and pudginess by 12 weeks. If she is still roly-poly at this age, continue to feed puppy-size portions until body type matures.
• 612 months: Begin feeding twice daily. Spaying or neutering lowers energy requirements slightly after the procedure, switch from nutrient-rich puppy food to adult maintenance food. Small breeds can make the switch at 7 to 9 months bigger breeds at 12, 13, even 14 months. Err on the side of caution: Better to be on puppy food a little too long than not long enough.
• After age 1: Most owners feed adult dogs two half-portions a day.

How Many Times Should A Puppy Be Fed

A puppy should be fed three times a day until she reaches about six months old. In many breeds, growth slows down around this age, so unless your veterinarian recommends otherwise, you should reduce her meals to twice a day only — in the morning and in the evening. Twice-a-day meals will remain the feeding guideline for the life of your dog.

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How Quickly Do Dogs Adapt To New Pet Food

Prepare for unexpected vet bills

But if youve found a better diet for your dog, youll also need to take special care to help them adjust to their new food.

But how long does it take dogs to adjust to a new food? And what can you do to make the transition easier? Keep reading to find out.

Why would you want to feed your dog a different diet? Whats the point of switching foods?

There are actually several important reasons why you may need to transition your fur-baby to a new food, such as:

• You want to feed a higher-quality food to your dog

• Your pet has a food allergy or is sensitive to a particular ingredient

• Your dog needs to lose or gain weight

• Its time for your puppy to switch to adult dog food

• Youre welcoming a new puppy or adopting a dog

• You want to switch from dry to wet food to give your pet more variety

• Your pet needs to switch to a special diet on the advice of your veterinarian

Some dogs will switch to a new food with no hassles at all. But for many dogs, introducing them to a new diet can result in an upset stomach. Were talking diarrhea, vomiting, and other digestive symptoms, all of which can be quite unpleasant for your dog and quite worrying for you.

So instead of abruptly cutting off their old diet and feeding their new one, its important to make the change gradually so your dog has a chance to adapt.

The ratios should look something like this:

• Vomiting