What do puppies eat?
What do puppies eat?
Has your little puppy just got home and are you worried about his diet? Of course, whenever we comply with a responsible tenure, we have to worry about being able to cover all the needs of our pet, and food is one of the most important.
A puppy needs a high concentration of nutrients so that its full development can take place without problems, but it also needs these nutrients to be contained in food that is adapted to its chewing possibilities. What do puppies eat? If you want to end your doubts, do not stop reading this Animal Expert article.
The first food of a puppy is its mother’s milk
Sometimes and due to very different problems it may be necessary to feed prematurely weaned puppies, however, when we talk about everything that concerns the welfare of a dog, the first thing is to clarify that we should never rush to take it home, a forced weaning it is a very serious mistake.
In order for the puppy to obtain all the nutrients it needs, to carry out the maturation of its immune system and also to begin to socialize properly, it is essential that it be with its mother for a minimum of 2 months.
Can you wait a little longer?
The ideal thing would be for the puppy to come to our home already 3 months old, remember that the better breastfeeding has been given, the easier it will be for you to properly care for your puppy and feed it.
During and after weaning, new textures
Once the mother begins to leave the puppies alone for a longer time, thus initiating them at weaning (between the third and fifth week of life), the puppy will be offered a specific diet for this stage. The food that is given to a puppy dog should have a soft texture, not only during the first months but also from the fourth month of life, since that is when the change towards permanent teeth usually begins. For this reason, it is recommended that different textures are gradually introduced in the following order:
• Pap
• Wet food
• Solid food with water or softened
• Solid food
Each puppy lives a unique rhythm and therefore there is no one-size-fits-all calendar, you will be able to see for yourself, by observing how your dog eats, when it is necessary for him to experiment with other textures.
Do I think or homemade food?
A hungry puppy could eat a wide variety of foods, but you probably want to supervise this process to try to offer him the best, and this is our sincere recommendation. Do you think it is best to only feed your puppy with commercial feed? Various veterinarians who are experts in canine nutrition are opposed to this unique feeding model. While it is true that puppy food contains all the nutrients they need, its exclusive use cannot be synonymous with a good diet.
On the other hand, even knowing that a puppy mainly needs foods rich in proteins and fats, exclusively following a homemade diet requires the supervision of a professional. Therefore, always adapting the texture to the chewing of the puppy, it is advisable to feed it with good quality specific feed and also with homemade food, never mixing both types of food in the same food since they have very different absorption times.
