Facts & figures

Size guide

Very small & small 1 - 10 kg
Medium 11 - 25 kg
Large and very large 26 - 45 kg+

Diet

Understand your puppy's nutritional requirements

Puppies require a complete, nutritionally balanced diet to support their growth and development, and to support good health through their adulthood.

We recommend feeding your puppy a premium puppy diet. Puppy diets are higher in protein, fats and carbohydrates than regular adult diets to support growth and development. Because premium diets are completely nutritionally balanced, puppies can be fully supported on these diets without the need for any supplementation.

Does size matter?

Large breed puppies should be fed a large breed specific puppy diet, as these diets are specially formulated to support their joints and bone growth.

As your puppy grows, you will need to slowly transition them to an adult diet. Obesity is common in adult dogs and some breeds are more predisposed (e.g. Beagle, Labrador retriever, Golden retriever etc.).

Obesity can be prevented by feeding your dog an appropriate balanced diet, following feeding guidelines, maintaining a meal time routine and engaging in regular exercise.

Feeding guidelines

The volume and frequency of feeding will be dependent on the size, age and breed of your puppy. Feeding guidelines are available on the side or back of all premium puppy diets. Generally, puppies should be fed several small meals throughout the day, and this will gradually decrease to 1-2 meals per day when they are 6-months of age. Meals should be given at roughly the same time each day to establish a good routine. Your puppy should always have access to clean water.

Care should be given when providing home made diets to your puppy, as it is extremely difficult to ensure all of their specific nutritional requirements are met. Never feed your puppy (or dog) raw meat. Raw meat can carry salmonella (and other dangerous pathogens), which can be life-threatening for puppies if they become infected (it can also be harmful to your household, especially young children). Bones should also be avoided, as they can result in choking, gastrointestinal obstruction or broken teeth (which would need to be extracted).

Dangerous foods

It is important to remember that dogs do not have the same physiology as we do. There are many foods that are safe for us but are toxic or even deadly for your puppy. If unsure, read our common dangerous foods for your puppy – you can print this page and put it on your fridge for a quick reference!

Obesity

Obesity and excessive weight gain are strongly correlated to many diseases in our pets.

Dogs and cats with underlying joint disease and chronic arthritis experience more pain when they are overweight. Cats that are overweight are at risk of developing diabetes mellitus.

It is always advisable to ensure that there is no medical problem behind the animal’s weight gain.

If you are worried about your pet's weight, ask our primary care team about our nurse-led Weight Loss Clinic.

Our Primary Care nursing team will support you and your pet throughout their weight loss journey. The program includes regular weigh-ins and progress checks, and our team will be there to answer your questions throughout the process.

A body condition score chart from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association (WSAVA) used to assess a dog's body fat coverage.

UVTHS Clinic

Phone

(02) 9351 3437

Address

University Veterinary Teaching Hospital, Sydney, (UVTHS), Evelyn Williams Building B10, 65 Parramatta Rd, Camperdown, NSW 2050

Pro tip!

Have your puppy sit before you give them their meal. Praise them (‘Good!’) and lower their food bowl. If they jump up, put the bowl back on the counter and ask them to sit again. Repeat until the food bowl is on the floor. Introduce an ‘OK’ command to signal to your puppy that they can eat. While a single treat is a great primary reward, a whole meal is the jack-pot, so puppies will pick this up very quickly!