Puppy Food: What You Need to Know for a Healthy Start in Life

Which dog food is right for your dog? When it comes to puppies, the answer is clear: puppy food! But which one is right? We’ll give you some important tips.

Would you like to learn more about other feeding options? In the comprehensive LuckyChef Dog Food Check, we take a close look at all of them. 

You can find a complete overview of all feeding options on the Dog Food Check homepage.

During the first six months of life, your dog grows incredibly quickly: organs, bones, muscles and the immune system are developing.

Puppy food needs to provide significantly more energy and nutrients in relation to body weight than food for adult dogs.

Important: Nutritional mistakes during the first few months of life are difficult to compensate for later. Chronic joint problems or increased susceptibility to illness can be the result.

A nutritionally complete puppy food provides plenty of protein as well as calcium and phosphorus. Puppies also have a higher need for essential fatty acids such as omega-3.

The benefits of puppy food at a glance:

• Nutritionally complete: It provides exactly the amounts of nutrients a growing body needs, without requiring additional supplementation.
• Adapted energy content: The puppy gets the amount of energy it needs for growth, without under- or overfeeding.
• Supports healthy growth: A balanced calcium-to-phosphorus ratio and appropriate amounts of protein and fat promote steady growth and reduce the risk of later joint problems.

• In the first few weeks of life, a puppy needs one thing above all: closeness to its mother and plenty of rest for those first stages of development. 
• From around the 8th week, the growth phase begins, during which puppies visibly shoot up in height. 
• Up to around the 7th month, bones and muscles grow particularly quickly. Small breeds go through this phase earlier than medium-sized and large breeds. 
• This is followed by the so-called maturation phase: The body becomes more stable and the proportions even out, although development is often not yet fully complete.
• A dog is truly fully grown and ready for adult food once its growth plates have closed. Depending on the breed and final size, this usually happens between 12 and 24 months of age.

Proteins: The main building blocks for muscles and tissue. Nutritionally complete puppy food contains particularly high-quality protein and plenty of essential amino acids – important for building and maintaining muscles and organs, for example. 

Fats: They provide plenty of energy as well as essential fatty acids and are important for the development of the brain and nervous system. Good puppy food should contain omega-3 fatty acids such as DHA and EPA. 

Calcium and phosphorus: Essential for bone development. Good puppy food provides both nutrients not only in the right amounts, but also in the right ratio of 1.2:1 to 1.5:1. 

Vitamins and trace elements: Vitamin E supports the immune system, while trace elements such as copper, iodine, selenium and zinc support numerous metabolic processes. Vitamin A promotes eye health, and vitamin D is particularly important for bone development. 

Carbohydrates: They provide energy and should come from easily digestible sources such as sweet potatoes in puppy food.

“Puppy food should not be about making a young dog grow as quickly as possible, but about helping them grow into a healthy adult. That sounds obvious. But unfortunately, it isn't always the case when it comes to dog food. 

A puppy doesn't simply need more of everything, but a precisely balanced supply of energy, high-quality protein, minerals and vitamins. Calcium, phosphorus and the ratio between them are particularly important. 

Too much energy can accelerate growth, but it does not automatically make bones and joints more resilient. Especially in large breeds, “growing faster” is not a sign of quality, but rather a reason for concern. After all, the foundations laid during puppyhood can affect the dog for many years to come. 

A consistently inappropriate supply of energy or minerals can increase the risk of later problems with bones, joints and weight. Growth can compensate for a lot – but not everything. 

That's why I'm critical of providers who recommend virtually every menu for every stage of life. 

An adult dog, a puppy and a senior simply don't have the same nutritional needs – even if the label sometimes makes it seem as though biology can be solved with an asterisk. 

Nor is it a good idea to add mineral supplements on your own. 

Adding calcium, bone meal or vitamins to a nutritionally complete puppy food does not automatically improve the diet. Sometimes, you're simply adding to the problem. 

From a veterinary perspective, puppy food should be specifically formulated for growth, suited to the dog's expected adult size and fed in a way that keeps the dog lean. 

My conclusion: Puppies are meant to grow. But the recipe should not only keep the bigger picture in mind – it should also have the adult dog in mind.”

The puppy food market is huge. Keeping track of all the colorful packaging, promises and feeding concepts? 

Not so easy! A good starting point is to look at the different types of food:

Dry food for puppies: Specially formulated puppy dry food is designed to meet their increased nutritional needs and is practical to store. Its compact form also makes it easy to portion and, if necessary, soften with warm water. 

• Find out more about dry food in our Dog Food Check. 

Wet food for puppies: It has a higher moisture content and is well accepted by many puppies. For puppies, switching from mother's milk to wet food is often easier than switching to dry food. 

• Our Dog Food Check gives you all the information you need about the advantages and disadvantages of wet food.

BARF: Raw feeding is generally possible for puppies, but only with careful planning. A puppy's nutritional needs are very specific. The calcium-to-phosphorus ratio in particular needs to be calculated with great care. 

• You can find comprehensive information about BARF and its challenges in our Dog Food Check.

Home cooking: Home-cooked food scores points for its natural ingredients. It is particularly easy to digest, and you have full control over what goes into the bowl. However, without a well-planned recipe and appropriate supplements, puppies can also develop nutritional deficiencies. 

• Our Dog Food Check takes a closer look at home cooking.

Fresh food for puppies: Fresh menus are gently cooked. Their texture and aroma are similar to freshly prepared meals and are well accepted by many puppies. Fresh menus are also easy to digest and provide many natural nutrients.

• Find out more about fresh food in our comprehensive Dog Food Check. 

Feeding puppies and young dogs is not something that takes care of itself. The following mistakes are particularly common:

• Overfeeding: Too much food because appetite is mistaken for actual nutritional needs. Treats, chews and training snacks are also often not included in the daily ration.
• Growing too quickly: Food that is too high in energy can accelerate growth too much. This increases the risk of skeletal problems such as hip or elbow dysplasia, especially in large breeds.
• Inappropriate calcium and phosphorus intake: Too little or too much calcium and phosphorus, as well as an incorrect ratio between them, can seriously affect a puppy’s bone development.
• Switching too early: Switching to adult food too early or changing the type of food too frequently can mean that the puppy no longer receives enough nutrients for its ongoing growth.

Simply expand the section below to learn more about feeding puppies correctly.

Here we answer important questions about puppy food.

Are you missing something? Feel free to contact our editorial team!

redaktion@luckychef.com

Good puppy food is tailored to the needs of young dogs. You can recognize it by a transparent declaration with a high-quality protein source listed first and the absence of unnecessary fillers or substitutes. The food must be nutritionally complete and formulated as a complete food for puppies. Also, make sure that calcium and phosphorus are present in an appropriate ratio.

If you stay with the same type of food, you can switch from puppy to adult food from one day to the next. If you want to be particularly cautious, you can gradually transition over three days by increasing the proportion of adult food each day and reducing the proportion of puppy food accordingly. When staying with the same type of food, this is usually not necessary, as the food is digested in the same way.

Not necessarily. Grain-free food is mainly useful in cases of a confirmed intolerance. Otherwise, high-quality grains can provide valuable, easily digestible carbohydrates.

The right time to switch your dog’s food is when their weight remains stable for several weeks and they are barely gaining any more height. This indicates that the increased nutritional requirements are no longer necessary. In large dog breeds, bone growth is usually complete by around 14 to 16 months of age.

The best way to determine the right amount of food is an individual growth curve, which your veterinarian can create based on the breed and the weight of the parents. Weigh your puppy weekly during the first year of life and compare its weight with the curve.

There is no single best puppy food. The food needs to suit your dog. The ingredients are key. A high-quality protein source such as meat or fish should always be listed first in the ingredients, followed by other sources of protein or easily digestible carbohydrates such as sweet potatoes or whole grains. A balanced calcium-to-phosphorus ratio is also important.

What comes after puppy food? Which food is right for an adult dog? If you want to get a complete overview of all feeding options, take a look at our comprehensive Dog Food Check.

• In our Dog Food Check: Dry Food for Dogs, for example, we explain which types of dry food are available and what you should consider when feeding them.
• What makes Sensitive Dog Food special? Find out in our Dog Food Check on sensitive dog food options.
• We explain what a natural, raw diet for your dog can look like in our Dog Food Check on BARF for Dogs.
• If you want to know how to feed your dog fresh food without cooking it yourself, take a look at our Dog Food Check on Fresh Food for Dogs.