Whenever we get a puppy, the first thing which happens once they’ve had a little quiet time in their new home, is that they get a chicken wing to play with, we play with them with it for a while, to raise their interest in it, then they play with it themselves, until they pierce the skin and realise it is food, and eat it, then they get another [there’s no playing now, they’re eaten straight-away], and another,  until they’ve had a meals-worth.

I believe this is an excellent time to change over dogs to a natural raw diet for the following reasons:

*growth is slower and more balanced on a raw diet,

*you don’t end up [unless you over-feed them] with fat, podgy puppies, which, although they may look cuddly and cute, are carrying extra, unnecessary weight which is putting undue stress on growing, forming bones and joints, which is very important for all dogs, especially large breeds,

*they get a good workout and often don’t then chew things they shouldn’t,

*they learn from a very young age to eat bones nicely so once older, even though a large breed, you can still give smaller bones like chicken wings to them and so have more variety in the diet and make use of whatever is available, and

*they are getting good, sound nutrition from a very young age

– oh, and they love it and are very happy puppies !

These days there are a few excellent raw food companies who do puppy minces which follow the FEDIAF recommendations for the different needs of a growing pup (not to be confused with those raw companies who just put their adult minces through a finer mincing plate and call it a puppy mince…) and we would definitely recommend a proper puppy mince where all nutrient levels are worked out for you, but when we had our GSD puppies there were no puppy minces and we used:

10-15% bone
10% organ meat [liver, kidney, lung, spleen, brains, testicles, heart]
75-80% musclemeat
+ an extra 4-5% of suitably prepared suitable fruit/veg and extra omega 3 fatty acids, preferably from whole oily fish

  – of course, once old enough, pups can also be given whole ‘prey’ like rabbits and here all the ratios are already as they should be, meaning no working out is needed by you – thanks to mother nature.

Because puppies are still growing, they have more frequent meals and require a higher percentage of food than an adult dog who has finished growing, and this can seem tricky to work out as they may not be a specific breed, and parent breeds [if they are full breeds] may be unknown, so an easy way which works well, is to start your pup on 10% of their own weight at 7-8wks of age [the age most pups are when brought home], and from then on, every so often, when they are standing straight, run your hands down ribs either side. What you don’t want is to be able to feel dips in-between ribs then your pup is underweight, and personally I wouldn’t want to it to feel like ‘skin-on-bone’ though some like to grow large and giant breeds like this to lesson stress on developing joints.
We recommend that ‘the ideal’ condition is if you can easily feel every rib without needing to dig your fingers in, and pup should have a nice definite waist. If you need to dig with your fingers to feel any ribs then you need to reduce the meal size, which may also help pups to have become fussy to have a better appetite.

Now, they are no different to human babies in that some will be ‘hungry babies’ and others will want less, but this basic guide works well in our experience and is tailored to your own dog, where weight charts cannot take into account individual differences in exercise, breed or metabolic rate.

I remember my GSD [Holly] as a pup start her own change-over, as she walked past my older girls dish [Jess] and quite matter-of-factly just took out a whole lambs heart and munched it !

They love it and take to it so readily when puppies, so there are generally no problems with dogs not liking specific tastes or textures.

It can be daunting, but part of our business is to offer our clients help and support so hold our hand and dive right in !