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Puppy Basics: Selecting the Right Food
Puppy Basics: Selecting the Right Food

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Tips on Choosing a Puppy Food

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Dogs need a well-balanced meal for their adequate growth and development. Different breeds and sizes of dogs require a different amount of nutrients. Puppies are at their growing stage, and hence they require more energy for overall development. Nutrients like fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water help the puppy nourish into a healthy dog. Choosing a puppy food is a crucial decision to make as the type of puppy food you choose directly affects your fur baby’s development in the initial years. 

IAMS™ is one of the leading puppy food brands that is known for offering food packed with energy and nutrients to support a puppy’s growing age.

 

How to choose puppy food?

Pet parents often face the dilemma of how to choose puppy food for their fur baby. Puppies often need twice the amount of nutrients compared to an adult dog. While choosing a puppy food, you must look for meal options that are highly digestive and nutrient dense. The food should be packed with vitamins, proteins, fat, and carbohydrates for your puppy’s healthy growth. Some benefits of selecting the right puppy food are:

  • Shiny fur
  • Exceptional muscle tone
  • Improved vision
  • Better digestion
  • Improved bowel movement
  • Pleasant and playful mood
  • Healthy, happy attitude

 

How to choose the right puppy food brand?

While home food can be nutritious, it can sometimes not be sufficient for a puppy’s growing body. Hence, pet parents need to depend on formulated puppy food that is packed with the goodness of protein and other essential nutrients to support their fur baby’s growth and development stage. However, how to choose the right puppy food brand amongst so many available options? Read the following to know more.

  • Recognised brand: When you buy formulated food for a puppy, always pick well-known brands that do not compromise on quality and quantity. Choosing a well-recognised and established brand that adheres to the law ensures your canine friend gets all the necessary nutrients for its constant and consistent growth.
  • Check the label: Read the product’s name and label to get all the necessary information about its nutritional values. The net product weight and nutrient chart are mentioned on every recognised puppy food brand’s product. Along with checking the nutritional values, you must also look for the manufacturer’s address and contact details. This helps in sending suggestions and grievances directly to the brand. The list of ingredients should be read thoroughly to ensure you do not pick a product with ingredients that do not suit your pooch. The product’s manufacturing and expiry date are also mentioned on the label. Lastly, the label also contains information and directions for feeding your puppy.
  • Ingredients: Puppies need a good source of protein, fiber, and carbohydrates. Puppies need 22 amino acids to produce the right protein needed for their survival. Hence, pet parents have to be very careful and selective when choosing puppy food for their fur babies. Thoroughly going through the list of ingredients allows caregivers to analyze the ingredients and choose the best for their canine buddy. Glancing at the list of ingredients also allows you to avoid products that contain ingredients your puppy is allergic to. 

Moreover, you must also consider your puppy’s breed, size, and weight when confused about how to choose food for the puppy. Smaller breeds of dogs mature faster than larger breeds, this means your puppy’s breed decides how much nutrients it will need for how long. While most puppies can start consuming solid food once they turn 4-weeks old, their transition from puppy food to adult dog food varies depending on their breed, size, and weight. Please consult a vegetarian doctor if you are unsure about your pet’s breed and the amount of nutrients required for its adequate growth.

 

Nutrients required by different breed sizes

Different breeds of dogs require a different amount of nutrition for their proper growth and development. Feeding the puppy as per its breed’s requirement ensures that it gets the right amount of nutrients for its physical and psychological growth. Hence, to help you choose the best for your fur baby, we have curated some insights on how much nutrition is required for which breed size.

  • Small breed: This type of breed is smaller in size, which means their anatomy and organs are compact compared to other breeds. However, as these breeds do not grow larger, they mature faster, and hence need more nutrients in their primitive age. Small and toy breed puppies are recommended to feed at least 3 to 4 meals a day to provide all the essential nutrients required for their growth. However, because they have smaller organs, it becomes essential to choose food that can offer more nutrition in a limited quantity.
  • Medium breed: Dogs that are bigger than the toy breed but smaller than giant and large breeds are considered medium-size breeds. You can accomplish a medium size breed’s nutritional quota by offering an adequate animal-based diet. Two meals a day is ideally sufficient for medium-size breeds, provided the food is packed with healthy nutrients required for its growth.
  • Large breed: Contradicting the common belief, this breed does not require more calcium even though it has larger bones. A moderate amount of calcium, phosphorus, and calories are sufficient for a large-breed puppy’s skeleton development. Overfeeding can cause developmental and bone issues in such breeds. Hence, ensuring large breed puppies’ consumption limits while providing them with the right nutrients is essential. You should choose formulas with lesser fat and calories to promote growth in such breeds. Besides, feeding should be limited to 2 to 3 meals per day.

The physical growth and development of a puppy are at stake during its initial years. Therefore, choosing a diet that meets all its nutritional requirements and provides appropriate nourishment is essential. Caregivers should be mindful of their puppy’s allergies, breed size, and age before selecting a puppy food brand. IAMS offers a wide range of puppy food varieties for different breed sizes based on their nutritional requirements. However, you should consult a vet if you are unsure about your puppy’s nutritional needs and breed.

 

Why choose IAMS™ for your puppy?

At IAMS™, we focus on preparing highest-quality food for dogs of all ages and breeds. Our puppy food – IAMS™ Proactive Health™ Starter Mother and Baby Dog – is the ideal pick for your little pooch’s optimal growth and development. Along with being loaded with proteins, vitamins, and minerals, it also contains DHA and colostrum. While DHA ensures healthy cognition for better trainability, colostrum provides essential nutrients that’s only found in the mother dog’s milk.  Enriched with best-quality proteins, fiber, and FOS natural prebiotics, IAMS™ Proactive Health™ Starter Mother and Baby Dog ensures healthy muscles as well as digestive system.

Frequently asked questions

  1. How do I know what food is best for my puppy?
  2. Puppies ideally prefer animal-based meals. You can select the best food formula by choosing a puppy food brand that caters to your puppy’s breed size as different breed sizes require a different amount of nutrients for overall development and healthy growth.

  3. Do puppies need special puppy food?
  4. Yes, puppies need more energy compared to adult dogs. Hence, they do require special food that can offer twice the amount of nutrients in smaller quantities. Besides, puppies also need to be fed more frequently to support the nutritional requirements for growth and development.

  5. What is the healthiest food to feed a puppy?
  6. This is subjective to the puppy’s nutritional requirements and allergies. Most puppies rely on animal-based food for their nutritional needs. Nutrient-packed formulas offered by puppy food brands like IAMS are also suggested for providing a well-balanced and nourishing food to your puppy.

  • How to Transition Your Puppy to Adult Food
    How to Transition Your Puppy to Adult Food
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    How to Transition Your Puppy to Adult Food

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    Your puppy’s nutritional needs will change as he grows into adulthood, but how do you know when your puppy is ready for adult food?
     

    Depending on his breed size, at some point between 12 and 24 months of age, you should reexamine your puppy's nutritional needs and choose the right adult formula. His adult food could depend upon his metabolism (Does he gain weight easily?) and his activity level (Is it low, normal, or high?) These factors can help you find the ideal food for your dog.
     

    The transition to a premium adult formula should begin when your dog approaches adult height and weight. The kind of dog you have will determine the right time to switch. When you do switch to adult formula, follow the same four-day process as you did when introducing your puppy to premium puppy food.
     

    Small-breed dogs tend to mature physically much sooner than large-breed dogs. Follow these guidelines to help you decide when to switch formulas:
     

    • Small-breed dogs (20 pounds or less when fully grown) are usually ready to transition to an adult formula when they are 9 to 12 months of age.
    • Medium-breed dogs (between 20 and 50 pounds when fully grown) normally mature at around 12 to 14 months of age.
    • Large-breed dogs (more than 50 pounds when fully grown) might not be ready to switch to an adult food until they are between 12 and 24 months old.

     

     

    Why Switch to an Adult Formula?

    As your new puppy quickly matures into adulthood, he needs nutrition appropriate for his 'new' body. That means a high-quality, premium adult formula. Most veterinarians agree that feeding a complete and balanced premium food, such as IAMS™ ProActive Health™ Adult MiniChunks, throughout your dog's adulthood can promote a long and healthy life.

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