Use These Puppy Feeding Guides to Help You with Feeding Your Puppy
Bringing home a new puppy with his cute face, tiny body, awkward movements, and soft fur may feel like the most exciting thing to ever happen.
But it can also feel like a full-time job. There are so many things to keep in mind, like training and feeding a puppy.
Since puppies are growing and changing so quickly for the first few months of their lives, puppy feeding changes right along with them. How you are feeding a puppy at week 10 and how you are feeding your puppy at month 10 are entirely different.
Guide to Feeding Puppies
To help you figure out exactly how feeding puppies works from birth to the adult years, we have collected 8 helpful puppy feeding guides.
These guides will let you in on the all the important information when it comes to puppy feeding guidelines, including:
- How to make a puppy feeding schedule
- How to update your feeding schedule for puppies as they age
- What types of food to feed a puppy
- How much food to feed a puppy
By the end of reading through our list, you should be able to feel more confident when it comes to feeding puppies and helping them become healthy dogs.
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Best Puppy Feeding Guides | Brief Comparison
Feeding Puppy Guides | The Type of Guide for Feeding Puppies | Best for… |
| American Kennel Club | General guide | All puppies |
| Canine Journal | How much food to feed a puppy | All puppies |
| Dog Breed Info Center | Detailed puppy feeding chart, even based on breed | All puppies |
| Dog Food Advisor | What food to feed puppies | All puppies |
| Eukanuba | How to switch your puppy from puppy food to adult dog food | Older puppies |
| Fido Savvy | How to bottle feed newborn puppies | Younger puppies |
| Great Dane Lady | A guide to feeding giant breed puppies | Giant puppies |
| PetMD | How to create a puppy feeding schedule | All puppies |
Table: Top 8 Best Puppy Feeding Guides | Above list is sorted alphabetically
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Things to Remember About Feeding a Puppy:
Before we start looking at things like designing a puppy feeding schedule, here are a few important facts to know:
- When your dog is considered a puppy depends on his or her breed. Many times this happens around 18 months, though larger dogs will still be in puppyhood for longer, and smaller dogs can be in puppyhood for fewer months.
- All puppies are unique; simply because something works for many puppies does not mean it will always work for your puppy.
- As helpful as these puppy feeding guides are, they are not a replacement for consultation with a vet.
Now that you know these important facts about feeding puppies, let’s look at the guides.
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American Kennel Club
First up on our list of puppy feeding guides is the American Kennel Club’s “Puppy Feeding Fundamentals.” This is the best place to start when it comes to understanding feeding puppies.
These general tips for feeding a puppy on this feeding guide for puppies include:
- A timeline of puppy feeding from six weeks to one year
- How often you should be feeding a puppy
- A puppy food guide to know what type of food to try
- Tips on charting their weight and growth
- Advice about human food and puppies
- Other general tips for feeding puppies
None of these sections go into many details like a specific puppy feeding schedule, but this is a great spot to get the main ideas for puppy feeding.
Canine Journal
Next up on our reviews of puppy feeding guides is Canine Journal’s “How Much Food Should I Feed My Puppy?” If you are not sure how much food you need to be feeding puppies, this is the puppy feeding chart for you.
The main goal here is to provide a puppy feeding chart to know how much to feed your young pooch each day.
Not only can you find a puppy feeding chart from 5 pounds to 100 pounds, you will also be able to save a printable graphic you can hang up near your puppy’s food for reference.
Puppy Feeding Chart
Canine Journal does remind you that these puppy feeding guidelines are only a general suggestion. Before feeding a puppy, check the label on your puppy’s food, keep in mind their activity level, and consult a vet for any adjustments.
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Dog Breed Info Center
The Dog Breed Info Center’s “Basic Feeding Guide For Dogs” is a detailed look at feeding a puppy.
For each puppy age range – the first 8 weeks all the way up to 1 year old – you will be given comprehensive information on a puppy feeding schedule and signs to look out for. For example, for feeding puppies 3 to 6 months old, they say:
“Your puppy will be teething. He may become a finicky eater or lose his appetite. Keep feeding him nutritious food twice a day. If he has an upset stomach for more than one or two days, take him to the veterinarian.”
An additional feature that is unique among puppy feeding guides is that this gives you a puppy food guide for these common breeds from small to large:
- Chihuahua
- Yorkshire Terrier
- Toy Poodle
- Miniature Poodle
- Scottish Terrier
- Cocker Spaniel
- Beagle
- Springer Spaniel
- Collie
- Boxer
- Labrador
- Golden Retriever
- Great Dane
- Malamute
- St. Bernard
- Mastiff
Dog Food Advisor
Consider the “Best Puppy Foods” article from Dog Food Advisor to be your puppy food guide. Not exactly sure what you should be feeding a puppy? Look here.
Since not all dog food is made equally, this puppy food guide will give you:
- A list of criteria you should be following for feeding puppies (example: no chemical preservatives or modest carbohydrate content)
- Lists of their recommended dry puppy foods
- Lists of their recommended wet puppy foods
- Information on health problems and food
While it is a great idea to ask your vet for a food recommendation, you may learn that your puppy does not like or feel good on any one particular brand. This feeding guide for puppies and its lists of dog food options helps you look into many possibilities.
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Eukanuba
On our list of the puppy feeding guides, the “When To Switch To Adult Dog Food” from Eukanuba is one of the most important for transitioning puppies.
Since puppy food often has a different split of fats, proteins, and carbs than adult dog food, it is important to pay attention to the time when you need to move them up.
This puppy feeding schedule gives you a 4-day plan for switching your young dog from puppy food to adult dog food.
In addition to this puppy feeding schedule, you will also find a puppy feeding chart that shows you when most puppies need to make the change over to adult dog food based upon their weight. Their general suggestion, however, is:
- 9 to 12 months for small breeds
- 12 months for medium breeds
- 12 to 24 months for large breeds
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Fido Savvy
Next up on our best puppy feeding guides is Fido Savvy’s “How To Bottle Feed Puppies.” Where the last feeding guide for puppies focuses on feeding a puppy who is getting older, this guide focuses on feeding puppies at their very youngest.
While the best situation for young puppy feeding is to have their mothers nurse them, this is not always possible for various reasons.
If you find yourself feeding your puppy before they are old enough to chew, this puppy feeding guide teaches you:
- The proper way to bottle feed, including helpful video instruction
- A puppy feeding schedule for bottle feeding
- Tips on preparing the formula
- A list of all the most important supplies for feeding a puppy in this way
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Great Dane Lady
Here is another more specialized guide for feeding puppies. The Great Dane Lady offers her “Feeding Amounts For Large Giant Breed Dogs.” While the website is geared toward Great Danes, this puppy feeding guide applies to all giant breeds like:
- Mastiffs
- Newfoundlands
- Pyrenees
- And more
Giant dog breeds have a unique set of potential health issues due to their quick growth, so paying close attention to feeding puppies of this size is important.
You will find helpful information and giant puppy feeding guidelines, such as:
- How much food is needed for feeding a puppy of this size
- How the puppy feeding schedule changes from age to age
- How many meals a day the food should be split into
- How to feed females verses males
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PetMD
Last up on our list of puppy feeding guides is PetMD’s “Creating A Puppy Feeding Schedule.” Since the happiness and health of a puppy, just like with a baby, relies on a schedule, PetMD helps you figure out how to add puppy feeding into your day.
Not only do they have you a full rundown of everything that should be in your feeding schedule for puppies, they also offer an example of an ideal puppy feeding schedule.
Puppy Feeding Schedule
This guide for creating a feeding schedule for puppies helps you keep in mind all sorts of schedule issues like potty training and plenty of exercise.
Conclusion – Top 8 Guides for Feeding a Puppy
Now that you have information on the top puppy feeding guides, you can move forward in feeding your puppy with confidence. Here are a few final tips to help out:
- Meet with your vet and discuss what you have learned about feeding puppies; see if he or she has different suggestions.
- Watch your dog to see how he or she reacts to your current puppy feeding schedule and make any adjustments as needed.
- Realize that the puppy feeding guidelines that worked when they were very little may not work when they are older puppies; keep talking to the vet and making adjustments.
This information is a great starting place for you to understand the complex and important steps of feeding puppies.
Image Sources:
- https://www.pexels.com/photo/two-yellow-labrador-retriever-puppies-1108099/
- https://www.caninejournal.com/how-much-food-should-i-feed-my-puppy/
- https://www.petmd.com/dog/puppycenter/nutrition/evr_dg_feeding_schedule_for_puppies
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