How to choose the right food for your puppy

Welcoming a puppy into your home is not as simple as bringing a new family member home. You have to create a puppy-safe space, start crate training and potty training, and find the best puppy food to help your puppy thrive.

Feeding your puppy the right diet to promote growth and optimal health isn’t as difficult as you might think. Choosing the right food for your puppy is easy if you keep a few key points in mind when choosing your puppy’s food.

Why puppy food?

Growing puppies have different nutritional needs than adult dogs, so it’s essential to feed them a ‘puppy food’. The most important step when choosing a food for your new friend is to choose a food that is clearly labelled for puppies or ‘formulated for growth’. A high-quality puppy food will provide the following nutrients in amounts to support your puppy’s growth:

A puppy’s digestive tract is still developing so a good puppy food should be highly digestible and reduce gastrointestinal discomfort or upset.

What to look for when choosing a good puppy food

There are many puppy food brands and formulas on the market, but not all are created equal. When choosing the best puppy food, consider the following:

1. Expected adult size

For large or giant breed puppies (those expected to weigh more than 50 pounds as adults), consider using a puppy food specifically formulated for large or giant breed dogs.

The biggest concern when feeding large and giant breed puppies is that too many calories and nutrients can cause the puppy to grow too quickly. Rapid growth can lead to abnormal bone remodeling and skeletal abnormalities that affect the dog’s ability to walk and exercise normally later in life. Puppy foods specifically formulated for large breed dogs contain fewer calories and calcium than other options and help regulate the growth of your puppy’s skeleton and muscles.

2. Varieties

There are many different dog foods marketed as “breed-specific foods”. Although these diets are not necessarily necessary for a growing puppy, they can be useful by providing an appropriate kernel size for your puppy and a nutritional profile suited to your dog’s breed. For example:

• Long-haired breeds benefit from a growth formula high in fats and essential fatty acids to support healthier fur and skin.

• Large dog foods tend to contain more fiber to improve stool quality and consistency.

• Sometimes, like Eukanuba’s Boxer formula, additional ingredients are added to address concerns common to the breed, such as extra supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids, L-carnitine, and taurine, nutrients that are beneficial for heart health.

So, while not essential, breed-specific puppy foods may provide additional nutritional benefits for your dog.

3. Ingredient Profile

While there are no specific ingredients to look out for when choosing the best puppy food, pet owners should ensure that the food is produced by a reputable company and contains high-quality ingredients.

Feeding puppies a grain-free diet is not recommended as it has been linked to the development of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). The issue is not simply that there is a lack of grains, but that the ingredients added in place of grains can alter the metabolism of nutrients necessary for normal heart development and function.

It’s also possible that there are breed-specific differences related to diet that cause this condition – research on the subject is ongoing and conflicting – but for now it’s best to err on the side of caution and avoid grain-free diets, especially in growing puppies whose vital organs have not yet matured.

Best Puppy Food Brands

There are so many dog ​​food brands out there these days that the choices can be overwhelming. To narrow down your options, choose a manufacturer that is committed to scientifically studying the foods they produce through systematic feeding trials.

These companies have strict quality control guidelines to ensure that the nutritional density of their foods meets what is stated on the product label. Look for companies that employ nutritionists to formulate their meals. This information isn’t always readily available, so you may have to call the company or search their website to find the answer. Some scientifically minded companies include:

All of these companies offer a variety of branded lines that provide options to suit any budget and nutritional value. Purina’s Beyond Organic Line. Always consult your veterinarian when choosing food for your puppy.

Your new family member should be fed puppy food until he reaches about 80% of his expected adult size. For small and medium dogs, this is usually when they are 12 months of age. For large and giant breeds, this happens between 18 and 24 months of age. At this point, they should be transitioned to adult dog food. However, there’s no harm in feeding your adult dog puppy food, as long as the calories and food portions are properly adjusted for his weight and condition.