How to Feed Puppies a Balanced Diet
Feed your puppies carefully to ensure proper development and growth. The following guidelines will show you the way.
Things You'll Need
- Dog Bones
- Dog Dishes
- Dog Food
- Dog Treats
- Formula For Puppies
- High-quality Puppy Food
Instructions
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Begin offering food to pups at 3 weeks of age. Over the weeks, change their diet slowly.
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Choose high-quality puppy food that has 25 to 30 percent protein content.
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Purchase dog food that mentions both AAFCO (Association of American Feeding Control Officials) and Animal Feeding Trials (or Animal Feeding Tests) on its label.
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Make it into gruel with warm water or commercially prepared milk replacer.
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Feed puppies three to four times a day until they're 5 to 6 months of age.
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Check with your veterinarian to find out the correct amount of food to give your puppy at each feeding. Or check the package of puppy food, which may provide guidelines based on size. Avoid overfeeding.
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Use puppy food specifically made for large breeds to encourage slow growth for large-breed puppies. Feed them puppy food for up to 12 to 18 months, depending on the breed.
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Observe puppies weekly for appearance of weight gain. Puppies should gain 2 to 4 g per day per kg of anticipated adult weight for the first 5 months of life.
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Feed the dogs twice daily for the rest of their lives after 6 months of age.
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Tips & Warnings
Most high-quality commercial dog foods provide the recommended amounts of nutrients.
Avoid feeding puppies cottage cheese, yogurt, commercial vitamins and minerals as they will not balance well with a commercial dog food diet.
Excess dietary supplements cause nutritional imbalance and medical disorders, and some vitamins and minerals are toxic in high dosages. Feeding puppies too much calcium can cause skeletal diseases.
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Comments
View all 33 Comments-
I love my dog.
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zoedog
Oct 21, 2009
I had a dog that would not eatthe vet said to feed it rice and hamberger -
zoedog
Oct 21, 2009
I had a dog that would not eat the vet told me to feed rice and hamberger
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homebodyjm
Feb 25, 2008
Dogs eat what you put in front of them, and if you really love your pet, and you take the time to read or write comments then take the time to literally investigate what your loved one is eating. Dry, wet and "treats" are killing our dogs and cats, and the scum bags that put information on the labels are liars out for a buck and capitalizing on feelings that you have for your pet! If you love your pet, then love him or her enough to find out what your feeding them and then when you know the facts about what is really in the food you think is good, then recommend it to everyone you know. I love my puppy, in fact, I love my puppy so much that I decided to find out what exactly it is that he is eating in kibble, and now that I know, my puppy will never eat any commercial dog food again. My puppy ate "dog food" for a total of 6 weeks of his entire little life and that was the end of that gig
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homebodyjm
Feb 25, 2008
Dogs eat what you put in front of them, and if you really love your pet, and you take the time to read or write comments then take the time to literally investigate what your loved one is eating. Dry, wet and "treats" are killing our dogs and cats, and the scum bags that put information on the labels are liars out for a buck and capitalizing on feelings that you have for your pet! If you love your pet, then love him or her enough to find out what your feeding them and then when you know the facts about what is really in the food you think is good, then recommend it to everyone you know. I love my puppy, in fact, I love my puppy so much that I decided to find out what exactly it is that he is eating in kibble, and now that I know, my puppy will never eat any commercial dog food again. My puppy ate "dog food" for a total of 6 weeks of his entire little life and that was the end of that gig
