Eating and Sleeping

When it comes to feeding puppies and dogs, I am a fan of variety, whole foods, and moderation.

Consider that food is more than calories — it is also important to the immune system via the impact on the gut microbiome. A diet of just kibble is typically not optimal for gut health any more than our bodies would be happy existing on a single food.

This morning, for example, the puppies had a meal of brown rice, butternut squash, stew meat, and a bit of plain kefir — blended up because the stew meat is too chunky for babies.

Titan gets to eat alone to ensure his fair share. Okay — he gets more than his fair share :)

Because their primary food source is still nursing, I am not overly worried about exact amounts of things in the homemade puppy food; this changes when they are not nursing. I use BalanceIT both for the recipes and to ensure that the homemade food covers all the nutritional bases.

It sings and moves — the Moonshadows thought bubbles: What the heck is that?!

The puppies also eat Darwins Natural, which is a raw food that meets the guidelines as a complete food, including for large-breed puppies; I brown it for the puppies instead of feeding raw.

The puppies are not eating kibble yet. I will introduce Orijen Large-breed puppy kibble to them at seven weeks. When they leave us, they will be used to eating three meals a day plus nursing: one meal of soaked kibble, one meal of homemade, and one meal of cooked Darwins.

The puppy that stays here will stay on that level of variety.

Puppies who are not nursing should eat four times a day for the first few weeks, and then can move to three times a day until at least six months. FYI: I feed my adult dogs three times a day.

I ask new homes to choose two of the current feeding options or all three if one is adventurous. Again, homemade food should utilize BalanceIT product and recipes to ensure complete nutrition.

Puppies grow so fast — we do need to pay attention to their nutritional needs.

I have been asked about the platform beds. This one has a leg removed so that it moves under the puppies.

My advice on the beds: Don’t bother. I bought two and none of the dogs sleep on them. The puppies’ favorite thing to do on them is pee but they will do that on any bed.