Firstly if you are lucky enough to have a new pet puppy in your life, we have to say congratulations!
Dogs are awesome; puppies are even more awesome. We hope you really enjoy the new pooch in your life.
But… owning and caring for a puppy comes with work and responsibility. For example, you need to keep your young dog well fed with a diet of good quality puppy food products.
Knowing how often to feed the right dog puppy food to your pup suitable for their age is essential to make sure they have healthy growth and conditioning.
How Often Should You Feed Your Puppy?
From as soon as you get the puppy home from the breeder, you should feed them four times per day until they are four months old (16 weeks of age).
At four months old, you can drop your feeding schedule down to three meals a day and stick at this until the puppy reaches six months old (24 weeks of age).
Once they reach that age, they can be fed twice a day. You can then stick to this schedule of feeding them twice a day forever.
But remember, like humans, they might have times when they want a little more, especially at bedtime, so expect them to say so loudly.
That is basically it. In a nutshell, you now have a really easy-to-follow puppy feeding schedule that will allow them to eat well as they grow up into eating a diet of adult dog food.
(These feeding schedules are the same for small and large breed dogs, the difference is in the amount of food they are given, not the frequency).
NOTE – We are confident our puppy feeding advice will be fine for your young dog, but we suggest you always double-check the feeding schedule when you talk to your veterinarian to ensure good health.
What are the Best Times to Feed Your Puppy?
The meals for both a puppy and an adult dog should be spread as evenly as possible across the day to help balance their energy levels and nutrient needs.
So how you work this out for feeding your puppy, in reality, should be in a way that works and fits with your busy life schedule.
However, it also important to think about house training the puppy. Most puppies need to pee or poop very quickly after they have eaten their pet food, so make sure you have time to take them outside before getting on with your day.
What Sort of Dog Food is Best?
You should not feed them adult food. There are some really high-quality puppy foods that we would strongly recommend you use to feed the young dog.
Puppies have their own specific nutrition needs for different life-stages, and adult food will not meet those needs for the dog as well as puppy food will.
We suggest asking your vet or your puppy breeder for advice on the best puppy food brands and products, give them a go and see how the puppy gets on with them.
What About Snacks in Between Meals?
Small health snacks in between meals are not only ok for puppies but advisable.
Puppies only have tiny little bellies, so the food goes through them much quicker than it would an adult dog.
So giving them some little snacks of food throughout the day will help keep up their energy levels with some nice healthy puppy nutrition.
Snacks such as kibble or treats tend to be dry, as opposed to the canned food, so it is even more important to make sure the dog is drinking enough water to compensate for the courser ingredients.
What Sort of Snacks Should You Give Them?
When your puppy is really young, you should only give them soft, easy to chew food for snacks, and it should be in bite-sized pieces to reduce the risk of choking.
There are many purpose-made snacks ideal for busy pet puppy owners, which are great for feeding your puppy as a nice little treat.
Or you can make your own healthy puppy food treats for your pup.
For example (you might be surprised at this), lots of puppies will really enjoy eating raw or cooked vegetables.
Or you can give them snacks for raw or cooked meat if you prefer.
Please make sure the snacks are appropriate for their age, easy to chew and swallow, and use foods that the dog gets excited about so that they are an effective reward for good behavior during training.
NOTE – We still encourage you to give adult dogs snacks, but perhaps less than you would for puppies.
We would just use them for an occasional treat for older dogs and also for rewarding them for good behavior.
Some Final Advice from a Professional Dog Dietician (Ph.D.)
Some great advice for dog owners from a professionally qualified canine dietician.
The man in this video actually has a Ph.D. in feeding dogs and dog foods!
So we think it makes sense to listen to what he has to say alongside your breed, your veterinarian, and the advice we have shared in this post:
So, that is all for this short post looking at puppy feeding guidelines to make sure you give your puppy the best dog food in the right amounts at the right frequency.
Knowing how often and when to feed a puppy will help you keep your pet pup in tip-top body condition and make sure their natural growth process is well facilitated.
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to visit PupsterPassion.com!
