Puppy Nutrition
When deciding on which food to start feeding your dog, there are a lot of things you need to look at before you make a final decision. As you start shopping for puppy food, start by reviewing the ingredients. The first ingredient listed should be a protein such as chicken, beef, lamb, pork, duck, salmon, etc. You also don’t want the protein ingredient to say anything like ‘chicken-by-products’, ‘beef-by-products’, etc. By-products are basically just the heads/feet/intestines of the animal and don’t contain a lot of actual meat. You want the protein ingredient to either read ‘Chicken’ or ‘Chicken meal’, etc. When listed as ‘Chicken’ or ‘Chicken meal’, that means only the actual meat has been used, no by-products.
Foods that we like and have fed our dogs:
- Nature’s domain
- Core Wellness
- Instinct by Natures Variety
- Loyall
- Holistic Select
- Nutrisource
- Honest Kitchen (dehydrated raw – really great!)
- Orijen
- ACANA
We like to use 4 and 5-star foods located on https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/
Dog Foods Should Not Contain:
- Corn: Corn is junk food filler for dogs (you will have more poop to clean up).
- Meat by-products: Definition includes but not limited to: lungs, spleen, blood, fatty tissue, heads, feet, etc.
- Generic Fats or Proteins: Such as “Animal Fat or protein” as opposed to “Beef Fat” or “Chicken Fat”.
- Artificial Preservatives/Colors: Including BHA, BHT, Ethoxyquin or any food coloring
- Sweeteners: Such as corn syrup, sucrose, ammoniated glycyrrhizin
Nutritional Feeding Tips:
Choose three or four of your favorite foods based on quality ingredients and switch them every few months or so.
- Dogs that eat the same food all their life can develop nutritional deficiencies and become picky eaters.
- Switching foods can also help prevent food allergies or intolerances.
When switching foods, spend a few days gradually increasing the amount of the new food to help your dog’s digestive system adjust to the new food.
Avoid mixing different foods (except when switching foods) since it will be more difficult to determine the problem ingredient if your dog does develop an allergic reaction to his food.
Probiotics for Dogs
We recommend adding probiotics to benefit your dog’s health. Probiotics are beneficial as they help to aid in digestion, and improves the immune system. Puppies adjusting to new homes may feel stressed initially, which leads to gas, bloating, and diarrhea. Probiotics will help to balance the healthy microbes to help you dog feel better and aids in helping with behavior.