How much should my dog eat? This may help you…

For your dog’s good health, making a proper feeding schedule is important. If you give too little food to it each day, the dog can be deficient in vital nutrients that help it keep healthy. On the other hand, feeding it with too much is to make your dog at risk of becoming obese. And obesity comes with its own set of health risks for pets. To find a proper answer to ‘How much food should my dog eat?’, we have tried some suggestions here in this article.

In order to ensure that your dog is eating properly, put them on a regimented schedule of the perfect amount of healthy foods.

But you should remember that food formulated for puppies is in fact quite different from food formulated for older dogs. Brain, other organs, and bone development occurs rapidly in puppies. This development sets up the foundation for normal function and health throughout a dog’s life. So, young dogs need higher levels of protein, fat, calcium and phosphorus when compared to adult dogs. Without proper food, even if only few of them can have deficiencies, many can have lifelong complications.

Always keep in mind that puppy needs formulated foods with a balance of nutrients to help puppies grow up healthy and happy. You should manage protein-rich formulas to support their growing muscles. Likewise, the food must also be carbohydrates-rich, which active puppies need to remain energetic. In addition to that, calcium supports developing teeth and bones and DHA helps support healthy brain and vision development. You should ensure that the food you are going to feed your puppy has all of these elements.

Apart from giving food timely, there are many other considerable elements to keep your dog healthy. Giving your dog enough exercise and playtime is much essential.

But it is not essential that only puppies need puppy food. Some breed sizes also can benefit from size-specific formulas. It means if you have a large breed puppy, it may benefit from a large breed-specific puppy formula. Small breeds can also benefit from small breed-specific puppy formulas. No matter any breed size, the food needs to be balanced for growing puppies.

However, the objectives of making difference in formulas is because of the unique needs of large and small breeds. In fact, large breed dogs have a higher risk of joint problems. So, food for a large breed puppy should/may include additional nutrients to support their growing joints.

In the same way, small breeds puppy may prefer smaller kibble. Therefore, it can more easily chew the food, helping you to ensure that it gets all the necessary nutrients.

How much should my dog eat from birth to 12 months?

0-3 Weeks

If your puppy is 0-3 weeks old, it should be with its mother. It gets necessary nutrients from the mother’s milk. The nutritions also protect puppies from diseases. While drinking mother’s milk, you should not worry about how much to feed your puppy because such milk provides them with nutrition.

3-4 Weeks

In this period, puppies begin developing their teeth. They also begin weaning off their mother’s milk. So, the you can blend a 50:50 portion of canned wet puppy food with a milk replacer in a flat saucer, gradually reducing the amount of milk replacer until you’re only giving them puppy food. You need not worry if the puppy don’t like the new food right away. It may take a few days to adjust to the new formula. To make transition smoother, you can help by rubbing fingers in the mixture and then gently on the puppy’s nose and mouth.

4-6 Weeks

Your puppy should have been completely transitioned to puppy food by this age.

6-12 Months

Also Read : How to teach stunt tricks to your dog?

This period is to gradually begin switching your dog to eat adult food. Further, small breeds can switch between 7-9 months and larger breeds around in the 12-month mark. It doesn’t hurt to keep him on puppy food longer than needed to make sure he’s getting all the nutrients he needs as a developing dog.

While satisfying your concern that how much food ‘my’ puppy should eat, you need to be aware of the food-quality as well. The that dogs eat should be higher in protein and enriched with vitamins, minerals, and fats essential for growth. Ingredients across brands can vary greatly. Commercial puppy food must have met the given nutrient standards for growth.

Finally, “how much ‘my’ dog should eat” also depends, to some extent, how much your dog weighs. Therefore, you’d better consider the body weight of your dog for its proper feeding.