MEALTIME

In terms of nutrition, your dog’s first 12 – 14 months are absolutely critical for establishing a foundation for a healthy life. Inadequate nutrition can stunt growth, impair mental development, and adversely affect personality. Fortunately, it’s easy to provide top-notch nutrition to puppies and dogs.

GUIDELINES FOR FEEDING DOGS AND PUPPIES

Dogs are omnivores, preferring meat, but quite willing to eat just about anything, including berries o ff a bush, and grass. Although domestic dogs can survive on grain-based foods, they do best on food high in animal proteins. So give your puppy a food whose first listed ingredient is a high-quality animal protein, such as chicken meal or lamb meal. As we’ll see later, it’s best to avoid foods that contain chicken heads, feet or intestines which may be found in foods that contain chicken by-product meal.

Feed puppies a food specifically formulated for their special needs. To sustain proper growth, puppies require a certain percentage of protein and fat and optimal levels of particular minerals and vitamins (which differ from the ideal levels for adult dogs). It is extremely important that these nutrients be consistent. That’s why highquality puppy foods like MAX, Ultra, or Natural Choice are ideal. And with the Smart System™ with DHA, your puppy will learn faster. With formulas for puppies and large breed puppies, each batch is formulated to the same specifications, so there are never any surprises for your puppy’s digestive system.

Nutro puppy foods are sized and textured specifically for a puppy’s smaller mouth. They taste great, too, so your puppy is eager to eat enough to fulfill all his nutritional requirements. In fact, Nutro guarantees great taste in its puppy foods or your money back. Use the label’s feeding instructions as a guideline for daily portions, which are based on the puppy’s weight and age. If necessary, adjust portions to meet your puppy’s caloric requirements. While your puppy is teething, moisten the food to make it easier to chew. Your teething puppy’s gums are quite sore, and bleeding gums are quite common.

• Always have plenty of fresh water available regardless of the animal’s age. Refill the water dish often.

• After a puppy is three months old, reduce feeding frequency to two or three times a day.

• Feed a mature dog twice a day, or reduce to once a day if you must. If you feed canned food, dump out the leftovers from the previous meal. Feeding times should be the same from day to day. Remember, puppies and dogs thrive on consistency.

• Almost all puppies take immediately to all MAX , Ultra, or Natural Choice Puppy foods and then eagerly graduate to MAX, Ultra, or Natural Choice adult foods. Don’t be tempted by the many lower price varieties of dog food you see in the supermarket. Typically, these brands are less digestible, which means your puppy may have to eat more to obtain sufficient nutrition.

• The more a dog has to eat, the more waste there is to cleanup. A super-premium food such as MAX, Ultra, or Natural Choice Puppy will not only provide superior nutrition, but can also reduce your cleanup job by producing small, compact stools.

• Look for foods that contain sunflower oil or poultry fat. These are good sources of linoleic acid, the essential fatty acid that promotes healthy skin and a sleek, shiny coat. You’ll find that MAX, Ultra and Natural Choice consistently provide among the highest linoleic acid levels available.

Choose brands that use high-quality meat proteins like chicken meal. Chicken meal does not contain chicken heads, feet or intestines which may be found in foods that contain chicken by- product meal. The chicken meal used in Nutro’s puppy and adult dog foods is chicken with most of the water and some of the fat removed to provide a highly digestible, concentrated protein source.

Nutro dog foods also contain ground rice, a highly digestible carbohydrate that’s good for your puppy’s stamina and energy. Choose foods that contain highly digestible cereal grains like ground rice and oatmeal. Some dog foods use grains like ground corn which can be hard for your puppy to digest.

THE HAZARDS OF TABLE SCRAPS AND SUPPLEMENTS

Don’t “improve” a puppy or dog food with table scraps or leftovers. This alters the carefully balanced mix of ingredients in the food and can cause diarrhea, vomiting, allergic reactions, or excessive weight gain. Show your love in other ways.

Avoid the old practice of giving your dog poultry or animal bones. Even hard bones can splinter when chewed, and injure your dog’s mouth, esophagus or stomach.

Make sure you don’t drop chocolate on the floor, or leave any where your dog can get at it. Chocolate can be hazardous and even deadly to a dog.

Also, be sure your puppy doesn’t eat cat food. A food that’s nutritionally balanced for a cat isn’t appropriate for a dog’s needs, and vice-versa.

You don’t need to use any off-the-shelf supplements unless your vet tells you to. A properly formulated puppy or dog food will provide all the vitamins, minerals and fatty acids your puppy needs. Adding supplements can actually be harmful.

Don’t prepare your own pet food in hopes of providing a more nutritious diet than commercially available superpremium foods or to reduce the amount of fat your dog eats. Weight control is important, and so is adequate nutrition. If your adult dog should become overweight, switch him to MAX Weight Control, Natural Choice Lite or Ultra Weight Management to be sure he gets the nutrition he needs while his caloric intake is reduced. If he’s a large breed, switch him to Natural Choice Large Breed Weight Management.

While all your dog really needs is a healthy meal every day, everyone enjoys a treat now and then. Keep a variety of healthy Nutro treats and biscuits on hand. They’re great for training and for maintaining dental health. Nutro treats and biscuits are made with the same nutritious ingredients as Nutro dog foods, so you can make your dog feel special and keep him on his nutritional program at the same time.