Choosing The Right Food

Choosing food for your puppy
Give your puppy the healthiest start in life by choosing the best dog food for him.
 

Dog food for thought
Even before your puppy comes home, you should decide on a dog food. It has to be healthy and tasty, and it also needs to fit your lifestyle.

Dog food nutritional tips

• Read the label for nutritional claims.
• Look for life stage claims. For example, a puppy food should say it is complete and balanced for "growth" or "all life stages".
• NOTE: Foods balanced for "the maintenance of an adult dog" won't give a puppy enough nutrition.

Types of dog food

There is a wide variety of commercially produced dog food available in a variety of styles. Choose the one that fits your needs, your dog's needs and your budget. Here are some possibilities:

1. Dry food is an extremely popular choice for puppy owners. It tastes good, is easy to store, and has more nutrition per pound on a dry matter basis than other types. It also helps keep teeth clean.
2. Soft and moist food is increasing in popularity. Moist chunks are enjoyable for your dog to eat, meaning he's likely to eat all his food and get all the nutrition he needs.
3. Canned food (sometimes known as ‘wet food’) is the most palatable for your dog. However, due to its high water content, it contains less nutrition per pound of food, so you will need to feed your dog a higher volume. Also, watch for dental issues – soft foods don't scrape the teeth like dry diets.

Comparing dog food

As you would when buying food for yourself or family, always look at the packaging to see the levels of calories, protein, fat and other nutrients in the dog food you’re considering. You can then compare these levels – as long as you only do so between foods of the same type (so dry to dry or canned to canned, not dry to canned).

For example, all canned food will have less protein per pound or cup than dry food, because canned foods contain so much moisture. So with canned food you need to compare them by daily feeding amount, as you will be feeding your dog more of the canned food per day.

This comparison can help you select the food you require for certain circumstances. So if you have an overweight dog, you’ll want to feed him less calories per serve, while a hard-working dog will need more calories per serve.

The key point

Use the nutritional information on the package to choose a food that is appropriate for your dog's life stage. More or less of a particular nutrient may be good or it may not – too much calcium can lead to bone problems, for instance.

Other considerations when choosing dog food

Since this is a decision you want to make once and stick with, you should also consider other aspects of the food, including:

• Flavour – does your dog seem to enjoy it?
• Availability – can you get your chosen food easily?
• Cost – does it fit comfortably in your monthly budget?