Best Puppy Food: Simple, Smart Strategies You Can Trust

The best puppy food for your new born bundle of love may not surprise you because it contains all the nutrition your puppy needs for the first month of his life and you don’t need to buy it off the shelf so before you bring your puppy home from a shelter or breeder you want to ask a few questions and start your puppy’s life off in the right direction with a healthy diet which may keep your dog health costs under control for the life of your dog.

This news brief gives you simple, smart strategies you can trust to give your puppy the best food to help prevent your puppy from unnecessary health problems like liver disease and obesity as an adult dog.

Best Puppy Food: 6 Simple Strategies to Keep Your Puppy Healthy

Mother’s milk – The best food for your puppy from birth to 4 weeks is his mother’s milk because it provides your puppy with everything he needs for the first month of your puppy’s life. If your puppy is an orphan or his mother is ill, you should contact your vet for feeding suggestions and information on a commercial milk replacer. Your puppy should be completely weaned by the time he’s 8 weeks old.

2. Puppy food – Your puppy will start to eat a high protein diet when he’s 8 weeks old. At first, your puppy may play with his food and in a short time your puppy will figure it out and eat out of his bowl. Your vet can help you select the best puppy food that’s nutritionally balanced for your puppy.

3. Small breeds – If your puppy weighs 20 pounds or less at his maturity which is from 9-12 months, your puppy is considered a small breed. Most small breeds of dogs have healthy diets and don’t become overweight. The only danger is when there are other dogs in your household and your small breed dog wants or begs for more food. The best strategy is to use a portion control method and keep your small dog’s diet to a minimum with limited treats.

4. Medium to large breeds – Your medium to large breed dog weighs from 20 – 50 pounds and your dog is in the giant dog category if he weighs over 50 pounds at maturity. The best puppy food for your medium to large breed should be be nutritionally balanced so your adult dog won’t have health issues related to nutrition and excess calorie intake.

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5. Growth spurts – Did you know that your puppy doesn’t require extra food to grow into an adult dog? Your puppy’s growth rate is actually determined by your puppy’s genes and not by the speed of your puppy’s growth. You may cause your dog to grow too fast and develop bone growth abnormalities when you overfeed your puppy. Specific problems for your dog are bowing of his front legs which is often misdiagnosed as rickets or calcium deficiency. Make sure you ask your vet for radiographs so you can get an accurate diagnosis.

6. Treats – Your puppy may seem hungry all day, however the best strategy to keep your puppy slim and healthy is to feed your puppy the best puppy food that meets his nutritional requirements and to limit your puppy’s treats to no more than 5% of his daily nutrient diet. This means that you want to keep the size and quantity of your puppy’s treats to a minimum in order for you to prevent your puppy from becoming obese as an adult dog.

Note: Dog Health News suggests that you also learn about dog health insurance as another strategy to get the highest level of dog health care and coverage for your puppy.

This news brief gives you 6 common sense strategies to keep your puppy healthy with the best puppy food approved by your vet so you can minimize your dog health expenses for the life of your dog.

Share this article with your friends and family or people you know who may consider adopting a puppy so they will have all the information they need to take better care of their puppy and reduce the risks of dog health issues that could harm their dog and add thousands of dollars to their dog health budget.