Almost every owner of a four-legged friend poses the question of what is the best way to feed his pet, what kind of food should be chosen. On TV and on the Internet, they are touting the merits of various manufacturers, but each of us has also heard that dry food is harmful to babies. So who to believe and how not to make a mistake in the choice?
The benefits of finished feed
It is very difficult for an ordinary person to make the right balanced diet for his dog. At home, it is difficult, even if you perfectly know the needs of your puppy. The maximum that you can do is approximately calculate the number of necessary products that should be included in your pet’s food. But this is usually not enough. Ready-made dry food for puppies is made from raw materials of animal and vegetable origin, mineral substances and vitamins are added to it. Each component is selected in special quantities and ratios in order to thereby ensure the need for a small organism in proteins, carbohydrates, minerals, fats and essential vitamins.
There is an opinion that for puppies and large dogs, uniform nutrition is harmful. For a healthy and full growth, the animal needs to receive many different nutrients. Puppy food contains various ingredients that are beneficial to the growing body. If you give the puppy the same food, you will avoid stress from his body. If you constantly change the food familiar to the animal, the digestive system of the four-legged can suffer. By this principle, complete feed for animals is produced.
How to give dry food
There are certain rules that should be followed when feeding a puppy with dry food. This will keep your pet healthy and cheerful. It is necessary to gradually switch from simple food to dry food. This will take about a week. In ordinary food, a little dry food for puppies should be added. Gradually, its amount is increased, and simple food is reduced.
In no case can you throw a puppy treat in the form of sausages from the table, seeds and so on. The puppy's gastrointestinal tract must adapt to a certain
type of nutrition. When you feed your pet treats, you violate the ratio of ordinary food to feed.
Small breed puppy food
Small dogs can be treated with natural products or for this, dry food for puppies is also suitable. There are canned foods and dry food in industrial nutrition. Many people in our country are quite skeptical of the second option. They do it in vain, since the quality of these semi-finished products is very high and fully meets the needs of the four-legged.
There are still owners who manage to feed their pets with anything or whatever they eat. This can lead to disastrous results and cripple the dog. What is good for a person is not always useful for a small dog. At a minimum, foods with a lot of salt, sugar, and various seasonings can cause the pet to lose its sense of smell. An innocent-looking sausage or cheese can bring great suffering subsequently for a small breed of dog. The correct diet should include proteins, fats, carbohydrates, vitamins, trace elements. All this contains food for puppies of small breeds.
Owners of miniature pets can opt for feeds from Royal Canin, Pedigri, Pro Plan and others.
What feed to choose for a large breed
Large breeds include dogs that grow up to 60 cm and above and weigh more than 26 kg. A complete feed for such animals should have certain properties that will fully satisfy all the needs of their body.
Due to the large weight in puppies of large breeds, the load on the heart is more significant. Their food should be fortified with B vitamins and potassium. Saturated fatty acids, such as fish oil, are required in the feed. This helps prevent heart and vascular diseases, reduces the likelihood of obesity and its consequences.
If your dog is inactive, it is important for her to eat a particularly balanced diet, which should not be too energetic and contain animal fat in the smallest possible amounts.
What is the difference between the organism of puppies of large breeds
Large breed puppies require a special feeding approach. They quickly grow and develop, they, on the one hand, need to eat large amounts of animal protein, food must be rich in calcium and phosphorus. However, increased nutrition can harm and bring the pet to excess weight and deformation of its bones and joints.
Usually, lamb and chicken meat is added to the food for large breed puppies, but in no case pork or ducks, for example. Less calorie rice is also used.
Popular feed for large breeds
Many manufacturers produce food for puppies of large breeds. The most famous among them are “Hills”, “Happy Dog”, “Royal Canin”, “Akana”, “Brit”, “Pro Plan”, “Yarakh”.
They take into account the increased load on the cartilage of the paws, so glycosaminoglycans are added to the feed, which strengthen the connective tissue. They also include vitamins, various minerals, antioxidants. All this helps to maintain the puppy's health and helps him develop properly.
Why Royal Canin food is good for puppies
Typically, the weight of dogs belonging to small breeds, even in adulthood, does not exceed 4 kg. These include lapdogs, toy terriers, Spitz and some other breeds. Studying dogs, it was possible to determine that they are not just small, but also very small. Especially miniature specimens all the signs, both good and bad, can be safely multiplied by two.
Compared to other dogs, small breeds even spend a lot more effort on a walk, since they need to take a huge number of quick steps to keep up with the owner. Accordingly, their heart works much faster, like metabolism, which means that the owner should especially carefully choose a diet for the pet.
In Royal Canin feed for puppies of such breeds there is a high calorie content. To prevent heart problems, taurine and L-carnitine are added to it. In order not to provoke hyperkalemia in babies, the amount of potassium in the feed is contained in a minimum amount.
The food protects the dog’s teeth from plaque and tartar, and also improves bowel function. This is due to the fact that it has easily digestible proteins, but there is also a special type of fiber. All this safely affects a small growing organism and improves stool.
Thanks to a large number of nutrients, the food gives the skin health, protects against infections, and makes the coat shiny and thick. This is all due to the presence of amino acids such as methionine and cystine, vitamins A and H, as well as omega-3 fatty acids.
Why Royal Canin is so loved by dogs
And in conclusion: Royal food for puppies is endowed with excellent taste. Due to the small size of the pieces, which is specially selected for the small jaws of the puppies, they cause a great appetite, contribute to saturation, as well as the intake of the right amount of nutrients in the dog's body, even despite the great legibility in the food offered.
Whatever the owner chooses for his puppy, the main thing is to remember that these breeds are different from their big brothers and need even more care and attention.