Feeding Your New Dog

Our puppies are currently being fed Nutrisource brand puppy food. Sometimes, transitioning to a new home can be stressful and make your small-breed puppy not want to eat well. Make sure your puppy does not lose weight after they go home. Loosing weight can make them susceptible to hypoglycemia and coccidia, which can be life-threatening in some cases. It is best to encourage them to eat with canned food. To transition them from our brand of food to the brand that you use, it is best to mix the brands together and/or with canned food so that the puppy gets both brands for the first few days. This will make the transition between brands not as difficult on their stomach. I also recommend using pro-biotic supplements on their food occasionally. Purina Pro Plan's FortiFlora is an excellent one to buy. 

You will want to choose a brand of food that is specific for small breed puppies. The brand of food you choose should have a list of ingredients as well as instructions on when to switch your puppy to adult food. High-protein diets with vegetables are best for your puppy. Some ingredients, such as peas and corn, are not great for them. Carrots, rice, and Chicken or Beef are about the best ingredients for your puppy. It is best to choose a dry food for your puppy, as only eating wet foods may rot out their teeth. It is however okay to feed them wet foods in addition to a dry food based diet. Whenever you first bring your puppy home, they may be hesitant to eat. While they are a puppy, it is okay to keep them on only wet food until they start being more receptive to eating dry food. However, do not leave them on wet food their entire life- and if their primary diet is wet food, it may be a good idea to consider giving them hard toys or chewies to chew on to keep their teeth clean and strong. Things such as occasional greenies, hard toys, bones, or rawhides (under supervision) to chew on will help keep your puppy’s teeth healthy. 

We like to avoid generic or extremely cheap food brands for our dogs. Name brand foods with good reviews will always be safer, as just a label of ingredients is not always enough to tell you about the quality or consistency of the food. Do not give your puppy an excessive amount of treats or human food as well. This may upset their stomach. It is best to avoid most treats and human foods for the first few weeks they are home. The stress of travelling to a new home may cause your puppy to have loose stools, and a balanced, healthy diet to start them off with will help to settle their stomach a lot. If your puppy is a younger puppy, (8-9 weeks) we recommend that food be available at all times for the first few days until your puppy has adjusted to their new home and family. Then, you may offer food to young puppies three times a day. After ten or twelve weeks of age, feed twice a day.

Even adult dogs should at least be fed twice a day. When fed once a day dogs become overly hungry and are more likely to overeat at mealtime. Let your puppy eat as much as they want in fifteen minutes and then pick up the food dish. Having food continually available for older puppies or adults can encourage overeating, and chubby puppies are more likely to have hip dysplasia and weight problems later in life. Every dog is different, however. If you notice your dog gaining too much weight, then it might be best to split their food up into mealtimes.