Most dog owners are aware that puppies have different nutritional needs from adult dogs. Many people are also aware that senior dogs can have changes in their metabolism that mean they can benefit from a change in food.
Toy/small dogs, large/giant dogs – they also have some special nutritional needs. As you might guess, dog food companies have been happy to formulate foods for different lifestages and nutritional requirements.
Nutritional adequacy statements
When you look at various dog foods you will note that they have lots of information on the labels: the brand and product name, the name of the species for which the food is intended (dog or cat), a quantity statement, a guaranteed analysis, a list of ingredients, feeding directions, and the name and address of the manufacturer or distributor.
We’ll discuss these label items a bit later. The label should also include the AAFCO nutritional adequacy statement for the food. This statement indicates that the food is “complete and balanced” for a particular stage of a dog’s life such as growth and reproduction (often seen on puppy foods), adult maintenance, or all life stages.
Some products may say they are intended for intermittent or supplemental feeding only. These products are not “complete and balanced.” They may be toppings or a food that is mostly protein. Products that are obviously identified on their packaging as a treat, snack, or supplement are exempt and they don’t require a nutritional adequacy statement.
There are a couple of different ways that a food can earn a nutritional adequacy statement from AAFCO. One method is through feeding trials. An AAFCO feeding trial typically lasts a minimum of 26 weeks and includes eight healthy dogs eating one dog food formula.
That food is the only source of nutrition except for water. One-fourth of the dogs (or two) can be removed from the trial because of non-nutritional reasons and their data doesn’t have to be included in the results. However, any dogs that die during a trial must have a necropsy and the findings have to be included.
The food consumed by the dogs in the trial is measured and recorded. The trial takes place in a testing facility or a test kennel. The dogs are weighed regularly and have regular bloodwork taken that measures hemoglobin, packed cell volume, serum alkaline phosphatase, and serum albumin.
Assuming all of these measurements are within normal ranges and six of the original eight dogs survive for six months on the food, the formula will be considered to be nutritionally complete.
Dogs can lose up to 15 percent of their body weight during the trial, however, without it being considered a problem. There are some differences in feeding trials for puppy diets and gestation/lactation, especially in the length of time the trials last.
There are two other ways that a dog food can earn a nutritional adequacy statement. AAFCO allows companies to submit a nutrient profile that shows a complete nutritional analysis of the food. It’s rather rare for pet food companies to post their nutrient profiles online, though you can see a technical analysis of foods on the Fromm site.
Our friends at TikiPets kindly provide lab analyses of their foods for people who may have pets that need to watch certain nutrients when they are ill.
Foods can also gain a nutritional adequacy statement if they are similar to another food or product that already has approval. This often occurs with foods that are in the same “family” of foods.
For example, if X Brand has already gained approval for their chicken and rice formula, they should have no problem earning approval for a beef and rice and a lamb and rice food made in the same product line.
Some people feel that feeding trials do a better job than nutrient profiles of proving that a food is complete and balanced. However, most dog food manufacturers today do not use feeding trials. They are much more expensive for companies than providing a nutrient profile.
In most cases, only large, established companies have the resources to spend money on food trials. Many smaller companies, especially companies that are just starting out, don’t have the money to spend on food trials.
Many popular dog foods with very good quality ingredients fall into this category. This is an issue for you to keep in mind when you choose a dog food. Veterinarians are often advised that foods that have won approval through food trials are superior to foods that have used nutrient profiles which helps explain some of the feedback you may get from your vet about dog foods.
There are plenty of critics of the AAFCO approval process – for both the feeding trials and the other methods. The feeding trials are not very demanding and the other methods do not require that actual dogs eat the food before it is sold to the public.
Even with the feeding trials it could be possible for a dog to survive 26 weeks on a food that has a nutritional excess or deficiency that might not show up until later in life. Foods that gain approval through nutrient profiles or because they are similar to other products might be unpalatable to dogs.
They could be perfectly healthy on paper and taste terrible. The best food in the world is no good if dogs won’t eat it. You can also make a nutrient profile that looks great but it can contain ingredients that your dog can’t digest very well.
However, at this time we don’t really have any other methods for assuring that dog foods meet some minimum level of nutritional adequacy. There is room for improvement.
You can read more about feeding trials on The Honest Kitchen site and in the Whole Dog Journal.
Now that you know something about nutritional adequacy statements and how dog foods are labeled “complete and balanced,” we can discuss different lifestages and what kind of food your dog needs at different times in his life.
Puppies
Newborn puppies depend entirely on their dams, or mothers, for their nutrition. This is true unless for some reason their mother is unable to nurse them or the puppy can’t nurse. A mother dog can have mastitis or another health issue before the puppies are old enough to be weaned, for example.
In this case if falls on the breeder to provide nutrition for the puppies. This is usually done with a puppy formula that mimics the mother’s milk as closely as possible. There are commercial puppy formulas available. Some breeders prefer to make their own formulas using goat’s milk and other ingredients.
Newborn puppies need to nurse soon after being born in order to absorb the colostrum in their mother’s milk. Colostrum contains maternal antibodies to viruses and gives the puppies some temporary immunity to illnesses.
However, these antibodies can only pass through the puppies’ intestinal walls for a limited time after birth. After about 24 hours or so (the time varies), the intestinal walls become too dense for the antibodies to pass through them. This is called “gut closure” and it is normal in all puppies.
It means that after this time colostrum is no longer useful to puppies. It’s very important for puppies to nurse in this first 24 hour period. They should also show some weight gain during the first 24-48 hours. Their mother’s milk is not only the source of their nutrition, but it also keeps them hydrated. So, puppies should be allowed and encouraged to nurse as much as possible.
If you have a smaller puppy, you can encourage him to nurse first to make sure he is getting his share of the milk. A weaker puppy may need to be tube fed or require other support.
Have your vet show you how to tube feed the puppy with milk replacer. Remember that newborn puppies are delicate. If you see signs of any problems, do not wait to get your vet or an experienced breeder involved. Time matters.
Puppies normally continue to nurse for about 3-4 weeks. Some dams will allow puppies to nurse longer but the puppies should be eating solid foods by the time they are about 3-4 weeks of age. Nursing after they are a month old can begin to take a physical toll on the mother, especially if there are a lot of puppies.
Most mother dogs will start to wean the puppies themselves by avoiding them and limiting the time they can nurse. The puppies have very sharp teeth by this age and it starts to hurt when they nurse.
Puppies should remain with their mother and siblings until they are 7-8 weeks old (in the case of large breeds) or 10-12 weeks for Toy breeds. These extra weeks past weaning age allow the mother to teach the puppies about being dogs and how they should behave.
They learn lessons such as bite inhibition, how to socialize with each other, and reading the body language of other dogs. These are important early lessons for every dog.
By this time – 7 to 8 weeks – the temporary immunity the puppies had from the colostrum has begun to wear off. They should be receiving their first vaccinations.
Immunity wears off at different times for different puppies depending on many factors such as how many antibodies were in the colostrum, which puppies drank the most, and so on. Take no chances and make sure you have your puppies vaccinated.
Feeding growing puppies
Breeders usually begin offering puppies food not long after their eyes open and they start toddling around. This is usually around 2-3 weeks of age. Puppies are still nursing at this age but they are beginning to be curious about things. They often taste things, including their mother’s food.
Breeders have different philosophies about what to feed young puppies. Some breeders will grind up puppy food and mix it with a little goat’s milk to form a soft gruel for the puppies. Other breeders will use a mix of puppy food, canned food, and/or some cooked or raw meat.
The food needs to be softer at first but puppies can quickly start eating a dry commercial puppy food. It’s important to provide them with water as they begin eating regular foods.
Meals at this age are communal, with puppies often crawling over each other and diving head first into puppy pans. Sometimes they get more puppy food on their heads and faces than in their stomachs, but they soon learn the routine.
By the time a puppy is old enough to go to his new home, he has usually been eating a puppy food for several weeks unless the breeder feeds a home-cooked or raw diet. (In that case you will need to talk to the breeder about the puppy’s individual diet and whether you intend to continue to feed the same food or change to a commercial diet.)
These first few months of the puppy’s life are vital for his skeletal growth. Any nutritional deficiencies, excesses, or imbalances in his diet during these months can affect his health years later.
Your puppy’s bones are developing, he is gaining muscle mass, and his immune system is developing. In addition, his brain is developing and he’s learning about his surroundings and learning about good socialization. Good nutrition is essential while your puppy is growing.
During this growth phase your puppy needs a high quality diet that meets his specific nutritional requirements. Most breeders recommend a good quality puppy food, at least for a puppy’s first few months.
Puppy foods usually carry nutritional adequacy statements that say they are complete and balanced for growth and reproduction or for gestation/lactation and growth. You can also feed a food with a nutritional adequacy statement that says it’s for All Life Stages.
These foods have been approved to feed to dogs of all life stages, including young, growing puppies so they have the required nutrients in the correct balance. But … just to be on the safe side, you might want to feed a good puppy food until your puppy has achieved most of his adult size.
This age varies for different breeds and types of dogs. Small, Toy dogs achieve their adult size much faster than large or giant breeds. If you have a Toy breed puppy, he can be as large as he’s going to get by the time he’s 6-8 months old.
On the other hand, some giant breed dogs are still growing when they are 18 months old. So, we suggest feeding a good quality puppy food until your puppy has reached about 90 percent of his adult size.
Puppies benefit from eating on a regular schedule. This can make it easier to house train them, it prevents them from over-eating, and it discourages them from being too picky about their food. You can put their food down for about 20 to 30 minutes and then take it away until it’s time to feed the next meal.
Most puppies should have about three meals per day when they are very young. You can decrease this to two meals per day as they become adult dogs. If you have a very small puppy, he may need to have four meals per day in the beginning to help avoid any problems with hypoglycemia.
Chihuahuas, Yorkies and some other very small dogs need to keep their blood sugar levels steady with small regular meals as puppies.
While roly-poly puppies may be cute, being overweight is unhealthy for a puppy. Try to keep your puppy slim. Don’t overfeed him and don’t get carried away with giving him treats. It’s much better for his long-term health if he stays lean and active at this age.
This is especially true with large and giant breeds since they are more prone to joint and bone diseases if they grow too fast or become overweight. Many health problems such as osteochondrosis, arthritis, and hip dysplasia can be avoided later in life by watching your puppy’s weight when he’s young.
Large/giant breed puppy foods will typically have slightly fewer calories than other puppy foods and the calcium to phosphorus ratio may be slightly lower than other puppy foods. This is done to try to keep these puppies lean, encourage slow growth, and ward off future bone and joint problems as adults.
As you might expect, puppies have different nutrition needs from adult dogs. They need more calories than adult dogs, more arginine, and their amino acid needs are different. Vitamin and mineral imbalances at this age can spell disaster for a puppy.
Not enough vitamin E can lead to muscle degeneration. A choline deficiency can cause problems with the puppy’s liver function. The puppy’s growth rate can be slowed if there is a pantothenic acid deficiency.
Without enough vitamin D puppies can develop osteoporosis and if the puppy does not have enough vitamin A in his diet he can experience abnormal bone development, problems with his eyes and skin, and be more susceptible to infections. By providing a good quality puppy food, all of these nutrients should be provided in the proper amounts and correct ratios.
You can see the NRC nutrient requirements for puppies after weaning in the Appendix.
One thing you should not do, if you are feeding your puppy a commercial diet, is supplement his food with added protein, vitamins, or minerals, such as calcium. There are lots of supplements sold today and dog lovers sometimes think they are improving a dog’s diet by adding them to the dog’s food.
They may or may not be true in the case of an adult dog’s food. However, if you add supplements to a puppy’s commercial diet it can have dire consequences. Supplements that affect a puppy’s calcium, phosphorus, or vitamin D can cause imbalances in the puppy’s diet and lead to skeletal abnormalities.
The ideal ratio of calcium to phosphorus for puppies is around 1.2:1 (with some variation at different times during the puppy’s growth). Even if you could maintain the proper calcium to phosphorus ratio, adding more of these minerals to your puppy’s diet can be harmful, especially in large and giant breed puppies.
If you are determined to add supplements to your puppy’s diet then limit the supplements to small amounts of water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C and B vitamins. Avoid supplements that contain minerals or fat-soluble vitamins. The only fat-soluble vitamin that you might give your dog is vitamin E.
Adult dogs
In many ways, feeding the adult dog is the easiest time for most dog owners. Commercial dog food was originally developed with the idea of feeding adult dogs and even today the majority of dog foods are still geared toward the adult diet.
There are far more adult foods from which to select than for other lifestages. The primary difficulty most people have with selecting an adult dog food is trying to narrow down their choices.
For the purposes of feeding an adult dog food, “adult” is usually considered to be 1-6 years of age for most foods, though this is only a generalization. Dogs are usually considered to be in their prime years during this time.
Many companies offer dog foods for senior dogs with a suggestion to start feeding the food when dogs are around 7 years old. These are only suggested ages, however, since a lot depends on your dog’s size and other factors.
Small/Toy breeds often have longer lifespans than bigger dogs so they may not begin to require a senior dog food until they are several years older. Large/giant breeds, on the other hand, can have shorter lifespans.
A giant breed may not live past 9 years in some cases, so it might be appropriate to start feeding a senior dog food when the dog is 5-6 years old. As usual, it’s best to make individual choices for your dog based on his health and condition.
Some dogs can do well on an All Life Stage food for their entire lifetime, though you may want to talk to your veterinarian about some supplements for your dog as he ages.
Adult dogs can eat an All Life Stage food or a Maintenance diet after they have completed their puppy growth stage. The growth formulas used in puppy foods have more calories and more protein than adult dogs require.
If you continue to feed your adult dog a puppy food he can easily become overweight or obese. An All Life Stage or Maintenance diet is better balanced for the nutritional needs of an adult dog.
You can find the AAFCO and NRC recommendations for an adult dog in the Appendix. Under the current guidelines, AAFCO recommends that adult dogs have a minimum of 18 percent protein in their diet (no maximum) and 5 percent fat.