A puppy in your house can be really exciting for children, but at the same time, this experience can be exhausting. The most important thing is the selection of the best dog food. Pet stores offer endless lanes of dog food, dog treats, and dog toys. To keep your puppy happy and healthy, you should provide a balanced diet to keep your puppy strong and active. Choosing the best food brand for your puppy can be overwhelming. Some food companies offer recipe based dog foods. The better food companies often invest in research and get the advice of veterinary nutritionists to provide balanced nutrition for the development of puppies. The good food keeps the hair coat of dogs sleek and shiny.
Tips to Choose the Dog Food
It can be overwhelming to choose the best food for your dog because numerous brands are available in the market. Consider the following tips to choose the best items for your dog:
Read Ingredients and Calories
Before selecting any dog food, carefully read the ingredients listed by body weight. The ingredients with lots of moisture like fish, chicken, poultry or beef will be at the top of the ingredients list. Remaining will be vital nutrients like protein, but these can be less in quantity because of water removal from dry pet food.
If you want to buy food for your puppy, make sure to choose food that is high in calories. Puppies need more calories than adults to compensate energy requirements. Almost half of their calories will be used for tissue development and growth. It is essential to choose healthy and balanced food for puppies to provide them sufficient nutrients for their development.
Gluten and Grains are Important
Grains are often used in pet foods because these are good to provide carbohydrates to your pets. Dogs can metabolize the carbohydrates to use them as a source of energy. Some people avoid grains in the food of their dog. If your dog is allergic to grains, you can avoid it and give its substitute. Gluten allergies are rare in dogs, but still, you should consider it.
Size of Your Dog
While selecting food, you have to consider the size and age of your dog. The bone growth of Dane puppy and Chihuahua puppy is different; therefore, both require different foods. Large breed dog foods have a particular ratio of phosphorus and calcium to ensure proper development of bones and avoid joint diseases.
Every pet food is mainly designed for the different size of dogs. A small Yorkie dog may find it difficult to eat or digest larger pieces of dog food. Look for particular formula as per the size, age, and breed of your puppy. If you want to buy wet food, you should mindfully consider the chunk sizes of food.
Maintain the Health of Your Puppy
It is important to maintain a healthy weight of your puppy for its long life. Underweight puppies can’t properly develop, and overweight puppies are at greater risk of health problems. It may lead them to heat exhaustion, diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure and arthritis.