New puppy nutrition advice

[MrsCrosbyNRTB]

Hi, we are adopting a rescue puppy next week. Although she was born in the rescue her mum was a skinny stray who was only found when she was literally about to whelp .

This will be our first dog and there’s so much info out there on what to feed her that I’m getting really confused! I’m conscious that although she’ll have been fed adequately in the rescue, her poor mum won’t have had good antenatal nutrition. To complicate matters, she’s coming from overseas so I can’t just keep her on what she’s on currently.

She’ll be 16 weeks when she arrives and she’s little, her estimated adult size is likely to be around the King Charles Spaniel region.

The very supportive rescue has advised fish / chicken and rice for the first few days as she’s likely to be unsettled from the transport. But what then? This little pup hasn’t had the greatest start and I really want to get it right for her.

Thank you!

It's both a personal preference of the owner and dog as to what type you feed her.

I wanted to feed kibble but we ended up on wet food because that is what suits my dogs stomach and taste.

If you look at allaboutdogfood.co.uk you can search for quality and price for all types (cooked, raw, dry, wet). Some brands are specific to puppy or adults whilst other brands can be fed to both because they are high in everything a dog needs even at the age of a puppy which is growing.

I would try and buy small amounts of anything until you are sure what suits her so you don't end up with lots of food she won't eat.

Thank you! Obviously we don’t know yet if she’s fussy or has a sensitive stomach. Is it possible to mix feed a combination of kibble and wet for variety as she gets older? We’ve always had cats but not dogs so it’s a learning curve!

Yes, you can feed a mix of wet and kibble. Don't leave the food down - if the puppy doesn't eat it, remove it and give it the same thing later. If you try to tempt it to eat with special treats and variety, you could end up with the fussy eater you don't want. If the puppy starts to eat the wet food and leave the kibble, reduce the amount of wet food or you could end up feeding that all the time.

IME puppies are are always completely famished and will chow down whatever you provide.

Thank you. This is bringing back memories of weaning my youngest child

Our rescue went immediately onto complete raw food and stayed on puppy food until he was 12 months to boost him as early feeding had been hit and miss. We kept to at least 3 meals each day until he was about 9 months. We used frozen nutriment. The pup is looking fab now.

I would suggest complete raw. And second @BiteyShark ‘s suggestion to use www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/

My pup had stomach issues and raw has been so good for him - no issues at all! Plus they do the smallest poos on it (compared to kibble which has lots of bulking ingredients) which is also a plus! It’s much cheaper than most imagine too.