Congrats on embarking on an amazing journey with your new best friend! Special times ahead!
I’ve been a canine nutritionist for almost 2 decades, with many years involvement in the pet food industry, science, research, media, and pet food regulations.
It may sound like a shocking revelation, but most puppies are already on a journey to ill health.
Don’t be alarmed, as the information in this guide to feeding your new puppy will give you a true insight into the nutritional needs of your pup, and it shouldn’t be scary or daunting.
Read on!
What did the breeder ween your puppy on?
We assume breeders know what they’re doing, but in terms of nutrition this sadly isn’t often the case.
Many veterinarians aren’t hot on nutrition either. It’s from no fault of their own, and you should view them as pet doctors rather than pet nutritionists – they’re different skillsets.
The first weeks of your puppy’s life are very important to their growth and development, and if your puppy was weened on a poor quality kibble or sugary milk “treat” product then you need to turn that around right now.
Your breeder may have recommended a brand of kibble, and they may wholeheartedly trust that product without ever considering if it was good or not. We’re easily led, and pet food marketing departments have infiltrated both breeder and veterinary communities for decades – they know exactly how to convince us their products are “the best”.
Ask your breeder what your puppy was weened on, then take these simple steps:
- Keeping in mind your puppy is primarily a carnivore, or omnivore with a strong prey-bias, read the ingredients on the food your puppy was weened on, and make note of the non-animal ingredients which are likely suboptimal for your puppy.
- Having researched all types of pet food for many years, I can assure you there are many marketing tricks which convince us a pet food product is better than it is, so find that puppy food on a review website (Pet Food Reviews and Pet Food Ratings are a good start if you want my opinion).
Ask yourself – do the ingredients in the puppy food sound ideal for your puppy as a “carnivore”?
The basics of feeding your puppy
Feeding your puppy is simple, but so many new puppy owners believe it’s as simple as taking home a puppy and picking whichever brand of “puppy food” suits your budget.
Don’t go thinking a dog food is healthy simply because the packaging is nice, the breeder weened your pup on it, or your friend’s cousin Jill said her dog does great on it.
In my experience, the most popular household brands of dog food are some of the worst, being little more than processed grains combined with token ambiguous meat and fat content which barely meets regulations.
Any individual dog owner may hear the odd bad thing about a brand of dog food and palm it off, but my work has meant I hear many reports of particular brands of dog food, and understanding what they’re made from leaves me with no surprise.
Dogs are resilient creatures. Scavengers. As are cats. What that means is we can feed them a terrible dog food for years without realizing the harm it is causing, and then when our middle-aged dog starts showing symptoms of illness we put it down to older age or bad luck.
I don’t want that to happen to your puppy, and neither do you, so what can we do about it?
The answer is simple – feed your dog the best diet possible, within your budget.
Consider the following:
- Most dog foods (including puppy foods) are made mostly from starchy carbohydrates which you should consider suboptimal for your puppy. You wouldn’t feed your meat-loving puppy a diet of cornflakes, yet most kibbles are mostly processed cereal grains. Whatever puppy food you choose, keep in mind it should be meat-based, and meat-based puppy foods cost more.
- Can you imagine if you ate the same processed food every single day? That would be crazy, right? Yet most dog owners feed their dog the same processed food every single day. Pet food companies have convinced us we should do that for the sake of their health, but I beg you not to think that way. Don’t get locked in to one particular brand of puppy food, because it puts utter reliance on that product to be everything your puppy needs to be healthy, and in my experience that really isn’t the case. Variety in your puppy’s diet is a good thing.
- Kibble isn’t the only answer. Kibble is a convenience product, designed primarily for profit. Yes, there are benefits of kibble – it’s often the most affordable way to feed your puppy, is “complete and balanced” with all the complex nutritional needs of your pup, and most of the time is safe and easy to feed. However, dogs (and cats) survived for many thousands of years without depending on hard nuggets of grains to keep them alive. Other options are wet, air-dried, freeze-dried, BARF, homemade, or raw, and assuming these are meat-based are very likely a much healthier option for your puppy, even if you feed kibble as well.
I find so many new puppy owners are baffled by the sheer amount of puppy foods and diets on offer, and the more you search for answers on social media the more confused you’ll be.
I say don’t panic. All you need to do right now is start thinking, and you will find your feet.
Step 1 can be as simple as looking at the ingredients of your current puppy food, and simply thinking how appropriate they might be for your puppy as a carnivore (or meat-biased omnivore).
Think of your puppy as a carnivore
Science funded by the pet food industry will convince you your puppy is an omnivore like us, but it doesn’t take much to realize they’re nothing like us.
When it comes to pet foods, animal ingredients are by far the most expensive, often causing 10x that of grain or vegetable matter. You should see that as the real reason we’re told dogs are omnivore, as it means pet food companies can make very cheap processed foods for our pets and maximize profits (it’s a multi billion dollar industry, don’t you know?)
Cats are factually carnivore (obligate or true carnivore), and even the kibble we feed them is packed with grains or other starchy carbs which they have little need for whatsoever.
I asked an ex sales rep of Hill’s why we feed our pets grains. His initial response was because “dogs are omnivores”, and when I asked his opinion of cats being fed grains his response was along the lines of “I’ve often wondered that”.
He then recalled overhearing a conversation from Hill’s boffins who had determined the optimal diet for a sick cat was – surprise surprise – almost identical in nutrients to a mouse.
Whether your puppy is a carnivore or an omnivore doesn’t really matter, but if you consider your puppy a carnivore you are on the right track to feeding them a healthier diet!
What you should know about “dog food” and feeding
Always consider dog food brands as “products”, because that’s what they are.
Some puppy foods are very good, and some are terrible. Some cost a lot more than others, but usually for good reason.
The truth is, feeding your puppy will be much more expensive than you originally thought, although there are ways to keep the cost down and nutrition up (see below).
Most new puppy owners see the price of a supermarket brand of kibble as the benchmark, when the reality is that kibble is little more than by-products of grains which couldn’t be used to produce human food products. Or in simpler terms – garbage.
When you use the price of cheap kibble as the benchmark, it’s easy to be shocked by the price of a semi-decent kibble, with words like “extortionate” or “absolutely f**king ridiculous” running through your mind.
Understand most who feed those cheap supermarket kibbles spend huge amounts when their pet starts needing urgent vets visits and operations in a few years time.
Oh, and suffer the consequential heartbreak.
Even if a tight budget means those cheaper kibble are all you can afford, here are some great tips to feed your puppy on a diet.
Actually, let me give you some of those tips now, because they’re so simple, straightforward, and cost effective, and in most cases offer your puppy much more in terms of health than a cheap puppy food.
Great ways to feed your puppy a healthy diet on a budget
Many foods we eat will be great for your puppy too, but the best foods for them are meat, meat fats, offal, and raw meaty bones.
Because we’ve moved away from eating offal (and onto less nutritious processed foods!), you can buy offal really cheap and sometimes get raw meaty bones for next to nothing.
Other options are eggs which are super nutritious, and the odd can of tuna or sardines (in spring water) are great too. Whole sardines are fantastic.
Bone broth is insanely easy to make in a slow cooker, and adding a little garlic, turmeric, carrots, sweet potato, or other healthy foods can give your puppy a very healthy meal for barely any cost at all. Bone broth can be as simple as throwing a whole chicken in the slow cooker with water and a little apple cider vinegar.
Take advantage of reduced meats and offal at the supermarket!
Quick tip: Why not change to a healthier diet yourself, and cooking for your puppy at the same time?
I say this because I did just that.
Quite often I cook bone broth, healthy meats, fats, and even offal (this took some willpower on my part), and I make enough for my dog and cat as well.
Cooking for both yourself and your puppy is a fantastic way for both of you to have a healthier diet, and it really saves cost as well!
Raw & Raw meaty bones
I’m an advocate for raw feeding, but don’t worry if this raises alarm bells right now.
Just keep in mind the following points:
- Dental health is so important to the long lasting health of your puppy, yet barely any commercial dog foods or dental health treats will truly support your puppy’s dental health. Dental diets and dental treats should be considered a gimmick, and the best way for our dogs to maintain healthy teeth and gums is by chewing or gnawing on raw meaty bones or tough meat-based chews. Brushing is another option, but my 15 year old cat has excellent teeth and I haven’t brushed them once.
- Most of the long-named vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients in a kibble can be found in animal/whole-prey ingredients. However, kibble will often be around 50% starchy carbs, with most of those nutrients dusted on after processing. If you feed your puppy a raw food diet, those nutrients will come from foods nature intended them to consumer, and nature is pretty miraculous when it comes to nutrition.
Transitioning from breeder’s kibble to a better diet
We’re often told transitioning from one kibble to another should be staged over a period of two or three weeks, but do you want to know the real reason why?
We develop dietary intolerances on a limited diet, and if we introduce something new then will often suffer stomach upset or other reactions.
Dogs and cats really suffer from being fed the same sh*t every day, and most pet owners believe they’re doing the right thing by doing so – in fact the pet food industry tells us we should do this, with the real reason being it locks you into their product for the lifespan of your dog.
There’s no time like the preset to start offering your puppy a varied diet.
It’s common for puppies to have bouts of diarrhea, especially when changing puppy foods or introducing new types of food. Just keep in mind this should be temporary (if it isn’t then speak with a veterinarian).
At the time of writing, my 15 year old Maine Coon has always had a varied diet. The average lifespan for a Maine Coon is 12 to 15, yet a checkup at the vet last week showed he’s still in excellent health, and thanks to raw meaty bones his teeth are still strong and healthy.
My Border Collie turns 9 soon, and is also in great health from having a very varied diet. She continues to run around the dog park like a 2 year old, and in many cases faster than a 2 year old dog.
The more puppy-appropriate foods you offer your dog now, the less risk of dietary intolerances and sensitivities in the future.
Growth stage nutrition and common mistakes
Puppy stage will be 1 year to 2 years depending on breed, but keep in mind puppy kibble is often more nutritious than Adult formulas where animal are ingredients are reduced and carbohydrate ingredients are increased.
Make sure you understand the nutritional needs of your specific breeds, particularly if you have a large breed puppy where calcium needs to be regulated.
Growth stages of puppies can be summarized as follows:
- Neonatal (0–4 weeks) – Mother’s milk is king. If bottle-feeding is needed, use a high-quality puppy milk replacer. Be aware many puppy milk products are intended as a treat, not a nutritious replacement to a mother’s milk. Can you imagine weening a puppy on a sugary product labelled as “Puppy Milk”? It happens… sadly.
- Weaning (4–8 weeks) – Slowly introduce a soft, digestible diet. Wet or soaked high-quality puppy food is a good option, although I personally consider weening on raw more natural and nutritious as long as you are aware of the risks.
- Juvenile (2–6 months) – This is the fast-growth phase. Puppies need energy-dense food with the right calcium-to-phosphorus ratio.
- Adolescent (6–18 months) – Large breeds mature slower, needing careful calorie control to avoid rapid growth and joint issues, but also the right foods to ensure their joints are fully protected.
Keep in mind the puppy phase is the most vital period in their life for a healthy and nutritious diet.
Any questions?
It’s hard for me to summarize the many aspects of puppy feeding into a short and useful guide.
I always do my best to make such a guide interesting, with enough quick and fast facts to get you thinking for years to come, but it is always a balance of being useful and being utterly boring.
If you have any questions about feeding your puppy, please feel free to ask in the comments section below!