Growth and Development

Correct Diet for your Puppy

Correct Diet for your Puppy

Daily Calorie Requirements for puppies.

To maintain good health, dogs require a diet that includes carbohydrates, fats, proteins, minerals and vitamins in the proper proportions. Raw meat containing about 5 per cent fat, plus an equal amount of cereal in the form of biscuit meal. Cooked, boned fish can be substituted for meat. Flaked maize or oatmeal can be used as an alternative to biscuit meal. Canned foods mixed with an equal amount of cereal may be used in place of raw meat. These tinned foods are more expensive but more convenient. If tinned food are used, do supplement them occasionally with a piece of fresh meat, particularly liver, to ensure vitamin intake. 

A young puppy weighing 2 lbs ( 0.9 kg), requires at least 8 teaspoons ( 40 ml ) water daily. In addition he needs a diet containing minerals, proteins, carbohydrates, fats and vitamins. As long as there is no diarrhoea or vomiting, add powdered cow’s milk, at twice the strength recommended for human babies, to the puppy’s diet. For puppies, Lactol is a complete diet. Food every two hours for the first week, day and night, afterwards, every three hours a day for ten days. However, if there is diarrhoea or vomiting, then neither milk nor milk products should be given. 
The amount of bread that can be fed is largely determined by the amount of activity. A racing Greyhound can take a loaf and more and utilize it properly, but half a slice is enough for an old Cocker who prefers to lie near the fire in winter. Are bones dog’s natural food? Yes, they have always been a part of dog’s natural food, but that was in the days when dogs were dogs and not centrally heated and overfed like their owners, and also we have no way of finding out how many wild dogs or wolves crawl off into the underbrush to die of peritonitis caused by a penetrating bone splinter. Quite often the owner says about his ill dog. ‘He’s got a bone stuck in his throat’. But actually the dog turns out to have tonsillitis or bronchitis. Since the dog can’t clear his throat as we do, so his spasmodic retching effort look as if he’s trying to clear the bone. 

The amount of food needed will depend upon the amount of exercise, but a rough guide is one-half pound of dry dog food or its equivalent for a 20 lbs. Dog, smaller breeds generally require more food per pound of body weight than do larger breeds. Pups need more food than mature dogs, especially during the period of rapid growth between six months of age. A well-balanced diet for a dog is not too different from that for a human being, except that the dog’s intestine is not well-equipped for handling roughage, so foods, like bran and certain vegetables containing an excess of fibre should be avoided. Most commercial dog foods contain a balanced diet and can be used as a basic element in feeding, supplemented by small amounts of meat and fats. 
Cow’s milk is a completely satisfactory substitute for bitch’s milk, as it contains much less proteins and fat and an excessive amount of sugar which often results in diarrhea. The best results are obtained with an artificial bitch’s milk. Such puppies need to be fed only three times daily, eight hours apart, up to three weeks of age, and twice a day up to eight weeks. Once supplementary feeding is begun, they gain weight very rapidly up to four months of age, then move slowly, reaching nearly adult size by six months of age. All left-over green vegetables of carrots, a good gravy from the joint or stew, are valuable, cheese is also rich in protein, and any left-over pieces and grinds can be grated and added to the food. If you make friends with your butcher, he will supply you with scraps for a few rupees daily. These can be fed raw without any danger of any kind of infection, and raw meat is better than cooked meat. An occasional sheep’s head will give sufficient meat for two or three days ( for an average size dog) and also make grand stock in which to soak the dog or puppy meal. 

You should feed your dogs at about 7 p.m. and there is really a sound reason for this, apart from the fact that it is most convenient for us to do so. Rest and digest at the same time; dogs in their original and wild state had to hunt and kill for their food. This required a great deal of energy. After they had found and killed they ate. Then they rested and slept, and during this rest period the food was digested and assimilated it,, there fore, seems a reasonable assumption that your dog is active all day, but generally rests and dozes in the evening and sleeping through the night.

When nursing an older dog, whose appetite may be sluggish, stimulate the appetite by feeding meat extracts and flavourings. Since a dog’s sense of smell and taste diminishes with age, some extra attention to diet will be necessary to keep the sick elderly animal eating. Most elderly dogs are nephritic, that is, they suffer from kidney problems, and they should be fed a low-protein diet, composed of white meat ( rabbit, fish or chicken) , with carbohydrates in the form of rice or biscuit meal mixed in. supplement the dog’s diet with tablets of Vitamin A and Vitamin B-12 which are found in Abiadec drops and Cytacon tablets. 

Make every effort to tempt the dog to eat voluntarily. If nothing works, you will have to force-feed. This is last resort. Remember, the smallest amount of food taken voluntarily will do more than a much larger amount which has been forced down. If your pet skips food for a day don’t worry about it, but two days without eating should make you visit the veterinary doctor with your pet. If you find that it is trying to eat ( and obviously wants to ) but does not eat, the chances are he has a rotten tooth or something lodged in his mouth. If your pet has been missing for some days and comes back with a greater than normal appetite, don’t feed him all it wants but rather give him three small meals through out the first day.