Feeding a Puppy: The Guide

Taking your puppy home can be a strange time for them. They will have just come away from everything they know and left their old family behind. Not having mum or their siblings around can be distressing enough but making sure they eat enough to keep their energy up for settling into their new life is paramount.

Puppies are busy little bodies, they have so much to investigate in their new home and can burn up to twice as many calories as an adult dog. Which is why they should always be fed a puppy specific diet. A normal adult diet is made for fully grown dogs so won’t support their developmental needs. When you’re looking for the perfect food for your puppy, you should be looking for ingredients that will provide those extra energy needs.

Energy comes from calories, so a good puppy food will be calorically dense. Most of the calories in dog food comes from protein, so their percentage of protein should be nice and high. The diet should also come packed with extra nutrients to support growth and should be specially made for little puppy mouths, which is often smaller and a little softer than adult diets.

The amount your feed your pup largely depends on their weight and their breed type. As each pup is unique it’s hard to gage an exact amount they should be eating. However, a general rule of thumb to follow when portioning out their food based on their weight is 20g per 1kg of their body weight per day. If you’re unsure or need a helping hand, we recommended reaching out to your vet.

The feeding amounts can always be adjusted if you notice they look a little too lean or a little too chunky. If you also notice your pup eating too quickly or if they eat so fast they make themselves ill, giving themselves gas, introduce a slow feeder such as the Scruffs Slow Feeder Dog Bowl. Helping mealtimes become more like a small puzzle as they reach between the raised crevasses to scoop out their food. Especially as puppies who eat too quickly are more likely to be sick afterwards!

Puppies will need to be fed more times a day than an adult dog. Through more frequent feeding you keep them full, but splitting their meals into several portions throughout the day makes it easier to give them the calories they need. If you were to put all of their daily intake in a bowl in the morning, they would either waste it because they get too full or eat it all in one go, have lots of energy at the start of the day and then none at the end.

Feeding in several meals allows for energy to be consistent throughout the day and it helps make sure they are getting all the food they need. From eight weeks to six months of age a puppy needs at least three meals. If they struggle to finish it or seem to be hungry throughout the day then it can be split into more. If your puppy has a medical condition that affects their digestive system then a vet may suggest more meals, so you can feed them less in one go. If they’re prone to having a sensitive stomach then feeding more meals could help avoid stomach upsets.

After six months of age, you can lower how often they’re fed to two meals a day but it all depends on what best suits you and your puppy. It’s recommended to feed an adult dog a minimum of twice per day to make sure they don’t get too hungry throughout the day.

The great thing about puppy diets is they usually contain everything your growing puppy needs.

Diets that include the Lifestage Grain Free Chicken Turkey & Salmon Puppy food are nutritionally packed to help them develop strong bones and joints. Whilst the balance of calcium and phosphorus makes sure they grow and develop to become healthy and happy adults. It also has added Omega 3 for cognitive and visual development, so there’s usually no need to provide any supplements for your growing bundle of fluff.

When you’re establishing a feeding routine with your puppy, you should start as you mean to go on. If you have a fussy eater don’t make the mistake of going out and buying fresh meat to top off their dried biscuit. Making this mistake will practically train them to forego meals until you buy something nice to put on top which can often throw off the balance of a complete diet.

If you have a particularly fussy puppy you can always buy a wet puppy food like Royal Canin Mini Puppy in Gravy to either feed to them instead of a dry diet or to act as a topper to their dry diet, you just need to make sure the two foods complement each other and you’re working out how much your puppy needs of each to keep them well fed but not overfed.

This is also the time to instil boundaries around food like not feeding them from your plate, so they don’t grow up learning to beg for food. Puppies should always be fed in a quiet corner of the house, to make sure they don’t get distracted by the hustle and bustle of whatever everyone else is doing while they should be eating their food.

To find the perfect diet for your growing puppy along with all other doggy essentials, take a look at our wide range of dog products in store and online.