Parent to a young puppy? Here is all you need to know about feeding your puppy right

Puppies grow fast, and taking care of their diet is of paramount importance in order to keep them healthy and strong. Proper nutrition is essential for building strong teeth and bones. Healthy food also helps in adding more muscles to your pooch’s body, and helps in supplying the energy required for learning and playing.

But, how to know what to feed him? There is a plethora of dry and wet puppy food in the market, and it is a difficult task for you to choose the right one for your puppy. Remember, what is good for an adult dog is not good for a puppy’s health. So, before choosing the perfect food for your newly born pet, you need to understand the difference between the food of an adult dog and a pup. Puppies grow rapidly. They need extra nutrients to fuel their growth, build muscles and bones. This also means that the food they require will change rapidly as they grow.

Here is a guide to feeding your puppy in its first-year

● 6-12 weeks - It is important to give them puppy food. It is a special diet formulated after taking care of all types of nutritional needs for the development of your puppy. When the pup is 6-12 weeks, it is recommended to feed four times a day to meet the nutritional requirements.

If you have a large breed pup, feed them unmoistened dry puppy food for 9-10 weeks. And, for a small breed, continue it for 12-13 weeks.

● 3-6 months - During 3-6 months, decrease feeding from 4 times a day to thrice a day. A puppy should be losing his or her pudginess and potbelly by 12 weeks. If he or she still looks rolly-polly at this age, keep on feeding puppy-size portions until the body type matures.

● 6-12 months - Now, it’s time to feed your pet twice a day. Neutering and spaying decrease the energy they need slightly. So after the procedure, you can go for adult food instead of nutrient-rich puppy food.

Small breeds can make a switch at the age of 7-9 months. Whereas bigger breeds can change the food at the age of 12, 13, or even 14 months.

● After 1 year - The majority of dog parents feed adult dogs two half-portions in a day after the dog turns one.

After knowing the puppy feeding timeline, let us gain some more information on feeding our cute little pup.

When to feed your pup?

Once you are aware of the daily feeding quantity, you should create a puppy feeding schedule. For this, you need to take the total amount of food your puppy needs every day and divide it into smaller feedings. Now, give those smaller quantities to them regularly.

When to stop feeding your puppy?

After a specific period of time, you need to stop feeding your pup with puppy food and switch to adult dog food. Just like puppy food, you need to decide the amount of adult food based on the breed. Remember, a larger breed can take up to two years for getting into full maturity, so you need to feed puppy food until the dog is fully matured.

How can you forget puppy treats!

We know you can’t resist giving treats to your loving puppy. In fact, treats are essential too, it acts as an effective training tool. Follow the 90/10 rule, in which 90% of the daily calories for your puppy should come from the balanced puppy food, and the rest 10% should come for treats.

Hope this guide will help you with a balanced way to feed your puppy. Following the above-mentioned guidelines will make the pup healthy, happy and allow them to live their fullest.