Pet Blog November Archive

Best Way To Wean Your Puppy

By Fred Keebler at 11/13/07 11:22

No matter whether a puppy is being fed by its mother, or his owner, he will eventually have to be taught to depend upon something else besides milk as his food. This procedure is called the "weaning" process, and constitutes the changing of your pup's diet from a liquid to a solid. Once a puppy reaches the age of about four to six weeks ,and their eyes begin to open up, and they are moving about, they should experiment with solid food that is being fed to the mother. Around this time, you should begin to teach your puppies to feed from a bowl. Establishing an early feeding routine accomplishes four very important things you should be aware of.

Read more: Best Way To Wean Your Puppy [click]

All About A Growing Puppy

Once a puppy is weaned from its Mommy, or the bottle, it can start learning how handle or digest various types of food. The growing puppy will continue to deal with the different types of foods it will be eating. The first eight to ten months of this time the puppy will be growing substantially, and burning energy at a high rate. One of the reasons a puppy’s growth is stunted is due to food that is poor in nutrients, or nutrients that are difficult for the puppy to digest, which doesn't give him the nutrients or energy to keep up with his rapid growth.

Read more: All About A Growing Puppy [click]

A good source of energy for dogs

Traditionally, dog owners were trying to replace the diet of their dog by feeding them natural ingredients. The foods today are more confined for longer-lasting, and made into a more natural form than the foods eaten in the wild.

Foods such as horse meat, hog livers, and bone meal are natural ingredients still available to dog owners. These meats are generally not considered part of the human diet. The humans diet consist of a huge selection of natural foods, all of which have been experimented as dog food.

Read more: A good source of energy for dogs [click]

5 Steps To Change A Dog's Diet

Below are the top 5 steps to effectively change your dog's diet without throwing him into shock.

1. If a dog is switching owners or moving to a new location with the family, or just going through an emotional strain, it is best to not change it's diet. You should wait until the dog has adjusted to the new location or owner before changing his diet. Once your dog has taken up with the new owner or location, the dietary change should be set immediately.

2. You should always start out slowly changing the dog's food, I suggest starting at about 25% change from the old food to the new food. A dog will hardly notice the difference if the two foods are mixed well. Most dogs should eat this new mixture just as well as it did its old diet.

   Although, some dogs may not accept this new change, it is always best to just be patient and never rush the change. You can't expect a dog to change a habit it has been used to over night, when it took him months to get used to the old diet. As soon as your dog is eating its new 25% mixture as good as it did its old food, continue with step 3.

3. Just as you did in step two, you should only replace 50% of his old food with the new food, you should put a little less effort in trying to conceal the new food with the old. We are now half way there, once the dog accepts the 50% change in his food continue to step 4.

4. By now, you should see where this is heading -- yes, you guessed it only substitute 75% of the new food with the old food, and hardly any effort at all should be made to hide the new food, except to mix it with the old food. At this time, most dogs will take to the increased mixture when it is first fed.

5. At this point your dog should really be accepting this new diet, if it accepted the new diet at the first feeding during step four then this final step should be a breeze. All dogs are different and some require more attention and patience, don’t ever become discouraged, a dog can sense this and feel they are doing something wrong. Changing a dogs diet is a process and should be taken with care and understanding.

4 simple rules to follow when feeding your dog

1. The same person should consistently feed your dog every time. This rule does not need to be applied when different members of your family are feeding your house dog. This is more importantly applied to dogs that are in a strange environment, such as a boarding kennels, veterinary hospitals, or dog shows. Dogs which are use to a one person feeding may experience all sorts of bizarre eating habits if that person is changed.

Read more: 4 simple rules to follow when feeding your dog [click]