Feeding Your Puppy

by John Goeth – Utica Pet Supply LLC

Today I would like to talk to you about food for your puppy.  The ideas I share with you are based on many years of hands on care-giving experience as well as observations made daily in the store while feeding and caring for the puppies.  When customers are buying puppies they often ask us a lot of good questions that are related to feeding the puppy. What kind of food should you feed, how much should you feed, and when should you feed.  Today we will address some of these more frequently asked questions on feeding your puppy. And by the way, always ask questions when you are considering a purchase or taking delivery of a new puppy you just purchased.

When you get a new puppy the initial consideration would be that you would never abruptly change the food the puppy is eating.  For example, if you purchase a puppy and the seller shares with you that they are feeding Purina Puppy Chow, then Purina Puppy Chow is what you should be feeding your puppy when you first take it home for at least the first two to three weeks.  This will allow the puppy to settle down in its new environment.

Puppies need two to three weeks to adjust when they first go home and an abrupt change in the puppy’s food can cause moderate to severe intestinal upset.  Diarrhea and sometimes vomiting can occur.  These conditions are easily avoided by simply feeding your puppy the food it has been eating.

My wife Roxanne often shares this comment with her customer when they have just purchased a puppy, when your puppy first goes home everything for the puppy is going to change, the one thing that should not is the food.  This will help to ease the immediate change of environment that puppy is about to experience.

If you wish to change the food your puppy has been eating do so very gradually as to not promote any intestinal upset.  While opinions on gradually changes depending who you ask, a suggestion would be to slowly add a little of the new food you wish to change your puppy to in stages that will not cause your puppy any problems. I would not ever recommend starting this until the puppy has been home for two to three weeks.

For example, after having the puppy home for at least two weeks start adding say around 10% of the new food to the bowl for the first week, and then perhaps 20% the second week, 30% the third week and so on.  Then at the end of ten weeks the changing of the food to the new brand your desire is completed.  If you use this suggestion you should find it works quite well.  One very important point to mention is that if you notice after you start changing the food at any time that your puppy has diarrhea, dry heaving, or vomiting stop adding the new food and consult your veterinarian immediately.

What kind of Puppy Food?

What kind of puppy food should I feed my puppy?  At the store we use a dry food, and promote this type as the puppies do very well with it.  Commonly, dry food is referred to as kibble.  Two other types of foods are semi-moist and canned.  We prefer dry kibble because of the higher quality ingredients it has that promotes higher digestibility.  While semi-moist foods are popular, they contain a higher moister content of around 50%, and normally have preservatives that use salt or sugar.  Canned food is also popular but can have as much as 80% moisture, as compared to dry kibble at around 10% moisture content.

The quality of puppy / dog food varies greatly and you get what you pay for.  A “bargain” food often is not a value because it does not have higher quality ingredients that promote good digestion. Lower costing puppy / dog food is cheaper because it is made with cheaper ingredients and promotes lower digestibility. A lot of puppy and dog owners will see their pet poops a lot when they are using a cheaper brand of pet food.  This is normal because of the higher amount of corn, wheat, or soy that is used in the ingredients of the food.  These items have lower digestibility and thus for the most part pass right through the puppy.

Premium puppy / dog foods will cost more per pound but are the overall true value, or “bargain” if you will.  For example, a premium food has better digestibility due to the better ingredients it uses and so your puppy will eat less.  For you as the puppy owner this is great news because it will cost you less to feed your puppy while making you the best care giver by feeding your puppy a higher quality-premium food.  By eating less your puppy will poop less.  And this is much better for you and your puppy when addressing the training issue.  So as you can see, there are a lot of positive points to feeding a higher quality-premium kibble.

The puppy’s food is the only source of nutrition it has. By feeding your puppy a premium food you will help your puppy to develop properly while it is growing and to live a long and healthy life.  While these are the two most important reasons to use a premium food, you will also be saving money and find that training will be a lot easier.

How much food and how often should I feed my puppy?

In the store we always have food available for the puppies.  When the puppies are out exercising we give them food.  When the puppies are in their homes they always have food available.  Not everyone will agree with this, and that’s ok.  After watching puppies for many years we have noticed that they do not overeat and they are completely happy, playful, and healthy.  Our customers have followed our instructions on keeping the food available at all times and in many cases have come back and told us they were  initially skeptical but everything went just as we explained it would, and their puppies are doing great!

I know that on the back of the bag most if not all foods have a recommended amount to feed.

My only goal here is to have you do well and by having the food available at all times you will prevent your new puppy from having a hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) seizure that can be fatal.

Food for thought.

When you are hungry you eat, you don’t keep eating just because there is food available, and so it is with puppies.

We recommend that food and water is always available for your puppy. A premium puppy / dog food is highly recommended, and water should always be fresh and from a good source.  At the store we feed the puppies a dry kibble made by Diamond Pet Foods, Inc.  This premium dry kibble is called Professional Puppy Chicken & Barley Formula.  This food has the benefits of Professional’s Complete Health Care System.

Fun Fact: Purina Puppy Chow and Purina Dog Chow are two of the most popular and recognized brand names of pet foods today.

Fun Fact: In addition to being the smallest dog ranging from 1-6 pounds, the Chihuahua is one of the shortest ranging from 6-9”.

For more information on Designer Puppies / Pure Breed Dogs go to www.uticapet.com and click on any of the articles that are of interest to you.  If you are interested in purchasing a Designer Dog or if you are interested in purchasing a Pure Breed Dog you can check our inventory at

www.uticapetsupplyllc.com/price.php

Also, please consider Utica Pet Supply if you are considering a puppy adoption.  Our adoptions are simple, fun, and extremely cost effective.  Sometimes, you can adopt a fully vaccinated puppy between 12-16 weeks of age in some cases as low as $99.

Thank you for taking the time to read this article, we hope you enjoyed it and found it informative.

About the Authors

John and Roxanne Goeth established Utica Pet Supply LLC in 1999 and assisted in developing Reliance Animal Hospital with their Staff Veterinarian Y.D. Youanes DVM in 2002.  John Goeth also serves as Director of Reliance Animal Hospital LLC.  Both John & Roxanne publish a variety of articles related to the pet industry.  Utica Pet Supply LLC is conveniently located in Macomb County at 45460 Van Dyke Ave. Utica, Michigan 48317.