Food & Nutrition: Feeding a puppy

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A puppy eats a lot of food. From birth up to six months of age, he'll need to eat two to four times as much as an adult dog to support all that growth. A good rule of thumb (paw?) is that after his first week of life, when his weight doubles from what it was at birth, a puppy should gain one to two grams per pound of anticipated adult weight each day. This means that if your German Shepherd puppy weighs 75 pounds as an adult, he should gain three to five ounces per day as a puppy.

What kind of food?

Generally speaking, puppy food is higher in protein and enriched with vitamins, minerals, and fats essential for growth--that is, when compared to dog food made by the same manufacturer. Still, ingredients across brands can vary greatly. Commercial puppy food must meet AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) nutrient standards for growth, and many companies go above and beyond those standards, testing their products to make sure they support puppies' development.

They don't have to, though--they're only required to meet the minimum nutrient standards. In most cases, you get what you pay for. Lower-quality ingredients are found in the cheaper brands while "premium" and "performance" varieties include higher quality ingredients for improved digestibility.

Buy "puppy food." It's more likely to have the extra nutrients a puppy needs until he's full grown. (Ask your vet for guidelines on when that might be--small dogs of course mature more quickly than big dogs.) Regular food labeled "for all life stages" is fine too.

Consider breed-formulated food. Large-breed puppy formulas help bigger pups grow at a rate gradual enough that they have time to develop strong bones and joints. Small-breed formulas provide concentrated nutrition in small, bite-size kibbles that meet a smaller puppy's high metabolic needs. And, yes, medium-breed formulas aim somewhere in between. If you can't find breed-formulated  [Continued]