What is the best puppy food?
The diet that we choose for a dog will always be an important factor, since it will contribute or not to its general health, but there are stages in which it is even more important, such as during the growth phase. Inadequate nutrition during these months can lead to serious disorders that affect the future of the puppy. To help us choose, in this AnimalWised article we review what is the best puppy food.
Types of puppy food
In general, for puppies we will find the same types of food that are marketed for adult dogs. It must be remembered that they should feed on breast milk until at least eight weeks of age. Approximately from the month they can begin to try solid foods.
We can opt for these formats, remembering that we must always choose an option specifically formulated for puppies:
- I think or dry food: It is possibly the most widespread option thanks to its comfort, price and storage. They are small hard balls that can be offered directly or soaked.
- Cans or wet food: in this case, the food is presented in pieces, normally with sauce, or in pate, with a soft texture, which makes it easier for the puppies to ingest.
- dehydrated food: This food is purchased dehydrated. At home you just have to add water before offering it to the puppy.
- personalized food: companies like Barkyn prepare individualized menus, that is, they adapt to the nutritional needs of each dog perfectly. You only have to send his data so that the food made for him arrives at home, taking into account his race, weight and lifestyle. We are talking about dry food, but at Barkyn they also have wet food ideal for puppies made with fresh chicken and fresh salmon as main ingredients. Likewise, they offer a liquid supplement that is added to their usual food to reinforce joint health, making it ideal especially for puppies of large and giant breeds.
- Homemade food: puppies can be fed with food that we make ourselves at home. It is not about giving them the leftovers of our dishes, but about choosing and cooking ingredients, following the menus formulated by a nutrition expert so that they do not have any deficiencies.
- BARF diet: consists of offering raw or lightly cooked food. It is based on meat, meaty bones and offal. Like homemade food, we need the advice of a canine nutrition professional to ensure that the menus are balanced. There may be transmission of parasites and pathogens in raw foods.
What is the best puppy food?
The best food for puppies is one that meets your basic nutritional needs. Thus, its main ingredient must be protein of animal origin, which can come from both meat and fish. Later, always to a lesser extent, it can contain other complementary ingredients, such as legumes, fruits or vegetables. The set must provide:
- proteins
- carbohydrates
- fats
- vitamins
- minerals
All this in optimal quantities, hence the importance of choosing a quality food. It must be taken into account that puppies are in a stage of rapid growthwhich means that they will have nutritional needs that are different from those they will have as adults, hence the importance of always looking for a meal made specifically for them.
The puppies are going to need a higher percentage of nutrients like proteins for this reason, as well as a greater contribution of energy. These needs are usually maintained until one year of age, although large or giant breed dogs will continue to grow up to 18-24 months.
Always read the label to ensure that we choose the best food. We must give it several times a day, according to the amounts indicated by the manufacturer/nutritionist and do not add any type of supplement (such as calcium) without consulting the vet, as it could be counterproductive, unbalancing the diet.
How to choose the best puppy food?
Starting from the basic premises that we have exposed in the previous section, we can choose the best food for our puppy taking into account its characteristics and our possibilities.
Thus, if we have a recently weaned dog, it is better that we lean towards the soft options, which will be more accessible to chew and swallow. We refer to wet, dehydrated or homemade food. It may also be a good option to soak the feed with warm water until the pellets soften. It can also be made with milk specifically formulated for puppies or with some homemade broth. no fat or salt.
The ideal would be to cook every day for our puppy, avoiding the potential transmission of pathogens with cooking, following the instructions of a canine nutritionist. But it is not an option available to everyone, since it implies time that is not always available.
For this reason, personalized diets are a good option, as they allow us to adapt to the specific needs of the puppy and choose between the format I think or wet food. An older puppy, already accustomed to chewing, can be well fed with food, as long as we decide for a good quality one (you have to read the label with the ingredients carefully) or for a personalized option, because it will go away. adapting to their needs during growth.
If you want to read more articles similar to What is the best puppy food?we recommend that you enter our section on balanced diets.