Feeding your new puppy

Congratulations on your new puppy!! Most exciting!!

Don’t forget to take lots of photos as they grow very quickly!!

I imagine you are feeling a tad nervous or anxious at the moment, especially if this is your first dog. Imagine how your new puppy is feeling now that they have left mum and all their brothers and sisters!!!

So, it is pretty important that you introduce your puppy to its new surroundings and let it settle in. It’s also very important NOT to feed your new pup as soon as you arrive home. Over the next 24 hours or so your little mate will realise that it has left home for a new one and if you have fed it something it is not used to…well…it might come out both ends to say it nicely!

A better idea is to wait until your puppy asks to be fed. If it is asking for food try small pieces of mashed chicken necks however, it’s more important for your little mate to get to know its surroundings by exploring and playing. This can be quite tiring, and you may find your new pup will sleep through the night after all the excitement of the day.

The next morning however, you will have a hungry pup that will be willing to accept the first food you offer!!

One thing of great importance to consider is that the way you feed your new puppy from the start will determine its health for the rest of its life.

A couple of things to consider:

• Raw - the bulk of your puppy’s diet should consist of raw meaty bones and the rest of their food should also be raw (NatureDog) meat, offal, fish, vegies, fruits.
• How much – your puppy should be kept hungry…and I do not mean starve at all! A puppy should be fed little amounts more often. This ensures that your puppy does not grow at its maximum growth rate.
• A puppy that is fat and roly poly is not healthy. A puppy that is lean and slim is.
• Your puppy needs to learn to eat everything.

Your new pup is just that, a pup. It will want to play and play and be loved. When your pup is tired it will sleep. When it is hungry it will go looking for food.

That’s what dogs do in the wild and nothing has changed as far as your pup is concerned. They do not go on long extended walks until they are much older!!!

Play is the best exercise.

Your puppy is a descendant of the wolf or wild dog.

Domestication has not altered the digestive tract and therefore eating habits of your pup. Marketing of modern processed food has made us believe the opposite.

Dogs are omnivores, that is, they eat both meat (carnivore) and vegetables (herbivore) foods. Dogs in the wild would first eat the stomach contents of its prey which contain digested grasses, vegetables, fruits, and stacks of vitamins and minerals. Next would be the internal organs and meat and then they would finish off with the meaty bones.

The amount and type of food is balanced out over time. Dogs do not sit down and eat a complete and balanced meal every time they eat!!! This is another marketing myth!!

The balance is achieved over time.

Wow!! How do I do this?

Well there is a number of ways…

• The major component of your pup’s food will be raw meaty bones…at least 50%.
• The next major component will be raw vegies & meat mix, NatureDog available at Waggy Tails.
• Add raw meat from different animals or protein sources.
• Add raw offal from different animals or protein sources.
• Ensure you pup grows slowly and not at its maximum rate by keeping it slightly hungry and lean and slim. Small amounts more often.
• Feed a wide variety of foods, different meats, vegetables, fruits, fish like oily fish such as sardines, herrings, salmon, eggs, yoghurt, kefir, milk and honey, cod liver oil, apple cider vinegar, kelp, brewers’ yeast, alfalfa, turmeric and offal meats,
• The best exercise is play…don’t go on big walks just yet!
• Feed your pup raw food, that is, food high in protein, fats, vitamins and minerals such as NatureDog, bones and meat. But you can also lightly steam some vegies and mash them up and feed as a meal.
• A diet of dodgy processed commercial canned or dry food, raw steak and vitamin supplements can lead to a dodgy dog down the track.
• A balanced meal is a myth. Balance over time is much healthier for your pup. If you play with you pup you will find that you are able to watch and feel how your pup is growing. You can then change how much you feed it as you are aware of its weight and overall condition and health. Learn to look and feel your pup.
• Modern processed food is the equivalent to what we call junk food in our diet as it contains salt and an abundance of preservatives, vitamins and minerals and sometimes sugar and fats that are not useful to a dog’s well being. Feed this as a pup and, well…you see what happens to humans when they eat junk food!
• If anything at all changes or you are not sure, then check with your vet.

How much to feed your pup…

• If the pup is too fat, feed less. If the pup is too thin feed more.
• Puppies can be fed 3 – 4 meals per day.
• But don’t be rigid with the rules. If you miss a meal, that’s ok. Dogs don’t wear watches or count their calories!!!
• Feed 8 - 10% of bodyweight of total food for the day.
• Reduce this to 6 – 8% at 2 – 3 months.
• Aim to be feeding approximately 2 – 3 % of bodyweight by the time your pup is 6 – 8 months.
• So, you might feed 3 – 4 meals per day and then start cutting down the quantity and number of meals per day. The transition should be gradual not sudden. Watch and feel you dog and adjust the food intake as necessary.
• Your pup will thank you for this!

So how can NatureDog help?

• NatureDog provides the raw meat & vegetable mix that you can use in conjunction with raw meaty bones which are best for young pups.
• NatureDog contains chicken mince & bones, seasonal vegetables, minced offal (heart, kidneys) eggs, kelp, alfalfa and spirulina. You can also get a kangaroo, rabbit or beef varieties.
• NatureDog DOES NOT contain any filler like rice, pasta, cereals or grains, cooked or raw!! We know dogs are not designed to digest rice, wheat, cereals etc.
• Nor does Naturedog contain any cooked bones!! Cooking destroys vital enzymes which dogs are unable to digest safely!
• If you want to be a healthy dog then eat all your food TOTALLY RAW!!
• NatureDog is just as convenient as canned or dry food.
• The food will last at least 5 - 6 days in the fridge.
• Another thing to consider is that you can add some whole oats (soaked or cooked), add a teaspoon of honey and olive oil to the NatureDog vegie and meat mix. Or make up just oats, milk (eg.goats or sheep), raw honey, coconut oil, half a crushed kelp tablet, some shredded coconut, some mashed up vegies and raw egg is quite good too.

But remember with a growing pup, from approx. 4 months old, you should be feeding a minimum 50% bones.

• The best raw meaty bones for a young pup are chicken necks or wings.
• For small dogs smash the neck or wing with a hammer or meat tenderiser into smaller pieces to encourage eating. Remember, you don’t know what your dog has been fed up to this point and so they may resist. Teach your dog to chew a bone by making it chew the bone from your hand.
• Never give a bone to your dog and walk away. Always be around just in case it gets stuck on a tooth.
• As the pup grows, lamb necks are great too. Any type of raw bone is the best…never, ever cooked. Never, ever any nasty sharp bones.
• Bones are better known as ‘nature’s toothbrush’.
• Feeding your dog bones is the best dental care you can give. 

Suggested serving sizes

• Feed approx. 50% as bones and 50% as NatureDog, you decide.
• One chicken wing weighs approx. 90 gm and one chicken neck weighs approx. 40 gm.
• One heaped dessertspoon of NatureDog = approx. 100 gm.

Ok, as an idea for feeding...

With all foods, if you notice that your pup is putting on a bit of weight, cut back on the quantity. If your pup is starting to feel a bit thinner, add some more, especially the bones.

What you are aiming for is balance over time.

So, imagine what you would feed your pup over the next 10 – 14 days.

For example –

• Feed your pup raw meaty bones and NatureDog.
• When the tub of NatureDog is finished consider a couple of days of just raw meaty bones and a couple of meals of oats or some rice or legumes.
• Then the next few days might be raw meat and some offal and raw meaty bones.
• Then next we might start another tub of NatureDog with some oily fish and bones. Or add in some extra meat or offal.
• Mashed up steamed vegies.
• As we get a bit older we may skip a meal every now and then. Fasting is excellent for the health of your pup as we tend to overfeed our animals and having a ‘rest’ from food also allows the digestion system to have a rest.
• Always think of what to feed as part of their overall dietary intake over a period of time.

You can add a variety of foods. Just watch how your pup takes to this food.

• Raw meat from different animal sources – think lamb, chicken, pork, beef, venison, duck, rabbit, kangaroo, crocodile, buffalo, turkey, goat, goanna– chunks or mince.
• You might add an egg.
• A small piece of lamb’s fry or chicken liver chopped finely or other types of offal – heart, kidney, brain, trachea, tripe
• Small pieces of tinned or fresh (smashed or minced) fish like sardines or salmon are great.
• Different types of raw meaty bones that can be chewed and eaten.
• Really ripe fruit and skin (no grapes) mash up and put into ice cube trays.
• Spoonful of yoghurt or cottage cheese or kefir. Check for any dairy allergy.
• Leftover steamed vegies (no onion)
• Apple cider vinegar, coconut oil, cod liver oil, flaxseed oil, bone broth.
• Make a paste of turmeric powder, coconut oil, black pepper and water and add to the food.
• Ground pumpkin or sunflower seeds
• Hemp oil

Raw meaty bones include (but not limited to):Chicken wings / necks / frames. Turkey wings / frames/necks. Beef ribs / brisket bone. Lamb necks/lamb ribs/lamb brisket. Whole fish (with bone). Goat ribs / necks. Venison ribs/necks. Whole quail. Duck wings / neck / frames

Please note

Pick one day during which you don’t want your pup to eat much. In other words have a couple of hours of fasting. This really helps clean your pup out a bit and also makes them look forward to eating the next meal! It gives their digestive tract and all their major organs a rest.

Also you might want to have two days of JUST bones. The bones make the poo change colour and be easier to pick up. They won’t smell as bad as what your pup is doing now and will decompose quicker and are more environmentally friendly!

YOU, AS THE OWNER WILL REALLY APPRECIATE THIS!!!

There are lots of things to think about and eat and do. But remember to be flexible and change around what you feed your pup, and experiment with different quantities.

Remember it’s all about balance over time, lots of variety and raw.

copyright Nature Dog www.naturdog.com.au  available at Waggy Tails