Puppy Feeding Techniques

 Every puppy’s diet should be formulated in a way that ensures for the pet a sufficient supply of the minerals and nutrients that will boost its growth and give it the energy to sustain an active and playful life. Puppy diets should have the right amounts of protein, fat, carbohydrate, vitamins and minerals.

 What do these components do to the puppy and how do they help it to grow? Protein should come in abundant amounts in puppy diets as they promote growth and repair damaged muscles and tissues. If your pet is especially active, you will need to feed it with foods that have higher concentrations of protein.

Carbohydrates, on the other hand, are pooches’ main source of energy, along with fats. Carbohydrates and fats produce calories that puppies burn as they go about their active lifestyles. Aside from being energy builders, fats also help dogs to grow with glowing skin and a healthy coat.

 Puppy diets should also have small amounts of vitamins and minerals. Also recommended for nursing dogs, vitamins and minerals keep puppies strong and healthy, and strengthens their immune system to protect them from diseases. Make sure though that you check your vet for advice on how much of vitamins or minerals like calcium or phosphorus is enough for your puppy because too much of these can also be harmful.

 As puppies grow older, puppy diets should also be changed to keep up with their changing requirements. Small pups naturally become full with a small-sized meal, but they will need to be fed more frequently than adult dogs because they use up the energy from the food quickly. For the first three to four months, daily puppy diets typically consist of four small meals.

 When do you know that it’s time to lessen the number of meals and give the puppies bigger but less frequent meal portions instead? An indication is when your puppy stops asking for its usual meal, or does not appear to be excited with a particular meal. If you see this happening, it is best to remove the mid-day meal. Don’t remove the last meal as this might contribute to your dog developing the habit of chewing on furniture to get past a long night on an empty stomach.

 Puppies that are at least six months old, you can begin to cut the meal frequency down to two. Keep the meals at this frequency until the dog is one year old.

 One important tip when feeding your puppy: don’t even think about leaving it to eat alone. Keep watch over your little pooch while it is eating, occasionally talking and bending over to pat it on the back. This will make the puppy feel comfortable and used to having you around while eating. In addition, this will also establish your control and authority over the dog. This arrangement will come in handy and useful at times when your dog is bigger and you need to wrest from its mouth something it picked up and should not be eating.