What do springer spaniel puppies eat

If you are not sure about which food to choose, you can ask your local pet store consultant, vet, or veterinary nurse. All these people will have had training about the diets they sell and are useful sources of information.

Rest assured though, whatever food you choose, if it is on the shelf, it must have met AAFCO standards. Bones and raw food BARF and homemade diets are becoming increasingly popular in the canine world, especially amongst working dog homes.

The idea behind them is that you know exactly what you are feeding your dog and can source it locally and know that it is non-GMO. Also, the food can be made up of quality ingredients and not full of bulking ingredients. The difference between BARF and homemade diets is that BARF diets contain raw meat and uncooked bones, while homemade diets consist of cooked meats and no bones.

The benefit of BARF diets in particular is that they are very similar to what dogs would have eaten in the wild. BARF and homemade diets both come with considerable risks though. Most owners do not consult a veterinary nutritionist when first deciding the recipes for their dogs.

As a result, the recipes are often imbalanced, which can lead to stunted growth, weak bones and bladder stones. In addition, BARF diets bring with them considerable health and safety risks.

Raw food can contain organisms such as Salmonella and E. The raw bones are also a concern in a barf diet. In theory, they should be able to be digested by the stomach acid; however, unfortunately this is frequently not the case, and therefore your dog may be at higher risk for perforations or blockages from these bones. The first thing to look at on a pet food label is the ingredients list. Ingredients are listed in order of quantity.

Therefore, if chicken is first on the list, this will be the main ingredient. A quality food should have a meat-based protein as the first ingredient. There are many potential ingredients in dog food. Meats make up the majority of the protein content, and can be derived from chicken, beef, turkey, lamb, fish, venison, and duck. These proteins can be pure meat or meat-derivatives, but the label must state the source. Some meats are more allergenic than others, and therefore if your Springer suffers with itchy skin, venison and duck are better than common meats, such as chicken or beef.

Fish proteins are excellent sources of omega-3 and omega-6, which, as discussed earlier, contribute to healthy joints, skin, and coat. In addition to meat ingredients, there are usually many different types of grains, vegetables, and sometimes fruits. Grains can make some dogs gassy, and anecdotally, can cause skin reactions. Therefore, they may not be suited to all dogs; however, if your dog does not react to grains, they can be excellent sources of dietary fiber to keep your dog regular.

Vegetables and fruits are ingredients which contribute most of the minerals and vitamins to the diet. You will most commonly see potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, and carrots listed on the ingredients list. These are all excellent sources of vitamins A, B, and C, as well as magnesium, potassium, and iron.

In combination, this will help keep the eyes and brain healthy, keep the heart beating in a regular rhythm, boost the immune system, improve the production of red blood cells, and aid in nerve conduction. These details are per gram of ready-to-eat food, and therefore cannot be directly compared without first doing some calculations. In conjunction with the ingredients, once you have adjusted the guaranteed analysis, it is a great tool to analyze the food.

If you are struggling to keep your Springer at an appropriate weight, you should seek the advice of your veterinarian or veterinary nurse. They will be able to advise what would be the most appropriate weight of your dog. Often, it is as simple as feeding the recommended requirements on the packaging for the target weight, rather than the actual weight of your dog, which will help adjust his weight.

The best way to monitor weight, though, is not through figures, but instead, body condition scores. You must decide what is best for your dog; your own daily routine andthe amount of exercise your dog is having, so that you can feedthem accordingly. Adults should be fed a high quality, well balanced nutritional diet, appropriate to their specific needs.

For example, dogs which are working gundogs, hounds, terriers, police, sheepdogs, sled dogs etc have higher energy needs than pet dogs of the same breed type, size, sex and age. Dogs living outside in kennels especially in winter will require more food to maintain bodyweight than in other seasons. Careful consideration and understanding should be given to the feeding of breeding bitches before, during and after mating, increasing food intake and quality of food particularly in the latter stages of pregnancy and during lactation feeding puppies.

Stud dogs too need to be kept in the peak of health and fitness, and maintenance of a good diet is also important for them. The older dog, as it perhaps becomes less active, also needs to have adjustments made to its diet, especially should there be health issues that arise because of its age.

For the older, and sometimes sick dog, the guidelines are the same as for puppies and adults - provide a specially formulated diet which is tasty, digestible and which has appropriate nutrient content. Some older dogs can suffer temporary loss of appetite, making it more likely for them to lose weight because of inadequate energy intake. This may require the addition of supplements of extra vitamins and minerals.

You should speak to your Vet about this. Specific illnesses in dogs too require special dietary treatment. For instance, the diabetic dog will require consistent energy and carbohydrate intake; dogs with kidney problems, a protein diet containing high quality protein; and dogs with heart problems, a low salt diet.

All of these, of course, are likely to be needed in conjunction with other treatment s , and Vets will often prescribe special proprietary diets, together with specific medication. There are 37 essential' nutrients that dogs must eat in their food. Prepared dog foods are formulated to provide all of these in the right amounts and proportions and great care is taken to ensure that there are foods available that suit dogs of all shapes and sizes,whether they are small or large breeds, puppies or adults.

Although many nutrients are needed in higher quantities, some nutrients may need to be adjusted in other ways. For example, large breed puppies are susceptible to bone problems, if too many calories and calcium are given during this growth phase. Therefore, dog owners should always be aware of the risks of adding supplements to a carefully formulated puppy food. For a very young puppy the food needs to be easy to chew and eat.

Springer spaniel puppies will need different types of food depending on their age. If the puppy is completely new as in it has recently been bought from a breeder , then contact them to find out what food they were feeding the puppy beforehand. A good breeder will usually give you all of this info before you leave with you new puppy and often supply you with a bag of food. This is very important to keep the puppy healthy, so it is a good idea to contact the breeder before bringing the puppy home.

If you feed a springer spaniel puppy something different to what its body is used to, it can cause stomach upset and cramps for the dog. If you want to change to a different brand of food than the one which the puppy has previously been fed, then slowly transition between the two brands over the course of a week, again to avoid stomach upset. When looking at purchasing food, you must consider the health of your dog as well as pricing. It is best to feed a springer spaniel puppy a mixture of kibble and meat-based food for a balanced diet, as puppies require more protein and fat because they are still growing.

This puppy kibble is shaped to help with cleaning their teeth when chewing! You may consider looking into other brands if you discover an allergy or other problem with your pup. Whilst there are plenty of delicious foods which your pup can eat; there are also lots of human foods which are dangerous to your springer. As puppies like to chew, make sure these foods are always out of reach:.

There may also be foods to which your particular springer spaniel is allergic; however, these are the foods that are poisonous to all dogs, and even more harmful to puppies.

If your puppy consumes any of these foods, contact your vet immediately, even if there is no apparent reaction. Springer spaniel puppies grow up very fast, so to maintain healthy and balanced food intake, you will have to change when and how often you feed a springer spaniel puppy.

This is because young pups are very small, and therefore are not able to digest lots of food in one go; however, your springer pup will still need to eat almost three times the amount of food that an adult springer would.