Puppy Food (1 ½ -12 months)
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Why use puppy food?
To ensure optimal health, the best puppy food will have the right balance of energy and nutrients. Nutrient requirements are at their highest in puppyhood in order to support healthy growth and development. This energy-to-nutrient ratio differs from adult dog food.
It will also vary in relation to the breed size of your puppy. That’s why our range of puppy food is specially formulated to provide the right energy and nutrient balance to meet the specific metabolic needs of puppies of different breed sizes.
What is the difference between puppy food for small breeds and large breeds?
The recommended puppy food should match the breed size because the metabolic needs of a small breed dog and a large breed dog are not the same.
Small breed dogs develop from puppyhood to adulthood sooner than large breed dogs. Most small breed dogs reach adulthood around 10 months of age, whereas large breed dogs reach maturity as late as 18 months of age.
This is why at Vetdiet®, we target specific nutrients and functional ingredients to provide the best nutrition possible for your puppy based on their breed size. Our line of puppy food includes:
- Vetdiet® small breed chicken and rice puppy formula
- Vetdiet® all breed chicken and rice puppy formula
- Vetdiet® large breed chicken and rice puppy formula
What nutrients should be found in puppy food?
Aside from protein and fat, puppies have specific nutrient needs to fulfill in order to support optimal growth. For example:
- Calcium and phosphorus must be delivered through the diet in the right amounts and proportions to support optimal bone development. If these are not correct, permanent bone deformities may occur.
- Vitamin A is necessary for the healthy development of eyes. If this vitamin is deficient in the diet, the puppy may become partially or completely blind.
- The essential omega-3 fatty acid DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is critical for central nervous system development, good vision and sense of smell. To improve the learning ability of puppies, we add this to all Vetdiet® puppy food.
Can I feed my puppy dry food?
Yes. It is important to introduce dry puppy food around 4 weeks of age. When introducing dry food to puppies, you should moisten it with water up until the time their adult teeth appear (between 14 and 18 weeks of age).
Puppies need to be fed dry food frequently, as often as 5 times a day at weaning when they are 7 to 8 weeks of age. As puppies get older, the number of meals can be reduced. Experts recommend 3 meals per day at around 10 weeks of age, then 2 meals at 5 months of age.
Always feed a dry food labeled for puppies, as these are formulated to deliver the best nutrition possible for your puppy.
Remember that your puppy needs to have plenty of fresh, clean water available at all times in order to avoid health issues from dehydration.
What’s best: dry or wet puppy food?
The best option is to mix both dry and wet food into your puppy’s diet.
In the first weeks, young puppies have small teeth, called milk teeth, and won’t be able to chew dry food. It is always recommended to moisten dry food for puppies until their adult teeth appear. One way to do this is to mix some wet puppy food with water into the dry food. Wet puppy food is more flavorful and will help encourage your puppy to eat.
It is important that you also feed them a wet food labeled for puppies so that they receive the right food to meet their nutritional needs.
Why is Vetdiet® the best dry puppy food?
At Vetdiet ®, we follow all of the latest scientific data to provide optimal natural nutrition for the healthy development of puppies.
As puppies mature into adulthood, their metabolic processes change from growth to maintenance. It is important to provide the right level of nutrients and energy for lifelong pet health.