Congratulations! You just adopted a new dog into your family, but what you do about feeding her? You’ll want to use the best, most affordable dog food and that’s what this post is about. We suggest what to look for when choosing food for pups as well as food for adult dogs.
Puppies
Assuming you’ve adopted a pup that has been weaned from mom and is on solid food, you’ll want to make sure to get as many calories per day into this little one as you can so she can grow up healthy and strong.
Before heading home with your new pup, find out what she has been fed. You will want to use that food until she’s ready to transition to an adult formula.
Puppy food tends to be loaded with calories which is exactly what you want at this stage in order to aid in her growth. You’ll want to feed her about a half cup of food three to four times per day for the first few weeks.
The vets at petmd.com say that puppies can be fed puppy formula foods until they’re about a year. The issue surrounding this is that dogs can start to gain weight from the high caloric intake puppy food provides. Talk with your vet and get his recommendation.
Types
There’s canned, semi-moist and dry kibble. The best is kibble because it will contain more meat protein and that’s what you’re looking for. Semi-moist is also a good option because it won’t spoil quickly. It does tend to be pricey and, using this alone without dry food, won’t help clean plaque off your pup’s teeth.
Brands
You’ll need to do some research to find out what brand will work best for your budget. Talk to breeders and trainers who work with dogs and see what they would feed their new pups. Blue Buffalo has a great line of puppy food.
Dogs
There’s a movement afoot called BARF – biologically available raw food which is supposed to simulate what dogs eat in the wild. Dr. Sherry Weaver at Cesar’s Way, says that there isn’t enough evidence out there to prove that this type of feeding regimen is more beneficial than commercially available foods.
Unless your dog is suffering from a medical condition that would cause you to feed her raw food, look for the highest quality food you can afford that has meat – not meat byproducts – as the key ingredient. Blue Buffalo puts out a good product and so does Rachael Ray with her Nutrish line. She even has a zero grain variety.
Choose the best quality for a price you can afford and you’ll both be happy and healthy.
Image Credit: istockphoto.com
