Parkway Animal Hospital's

PET OWNER'S GUIDE TO

Environment and Nutrition for Puppies

ENVIRONMENT

Protect the puppy from temperature variations. Remember that it is 8^o – 10^o F cooler on the floor than at your eye level. Avoid drafty areas.
Completely DRY the puppy to prevent chilling after each bath. A bath is OK whenever it is needed, provided the puppy is thoroughly dried to prevent chilling. A blow dryer is preferred to insure complete drying. As a rule, puppies should not be bathed more than once each week, unless needed. The shampoos we dispense are pH balanced to avoid irritation of the pet’s skin. Most over-the-counter shampoos are not. That is the major reason pets scratch after a bath using anover-the-counter product.
Portable Airline Shipping Crates make excellent beds for puppies, as well as aiding in housetraining. We suggest confinement of the puppy in a crate for the first 6 - 8 weeks at all times the puppy is not closely supervised to prevent housebreaking accidents. Puppies are “den” animals and like the security of the cage. Puppies are clean animals by nature. They do not want to mess up where they stay. Cage confinement encourages them to hold the eliminations as long as feasible which greatly enhances bladder and rectal tone.

NUTRITION:

Feed HIGH Quality Puppy Foods. No generic or cheap brands!! Cheap brands of dog food substitute low quality protein sources, which often cannot be utilized by the pup. We highly recommend the premium, high quality foods. These foods are much more concentrated than typical grocery store brands. Even though these foods cost more than commercial store brands--over a month’s time, it really will not cost you more to feed the pup, since you will be feeding less food if you follow the chart on the package. These foods greatly decrease stool volume, making housetraining easier. The food that we recommend is the Science Diet brand. See PREMIUM PET FOODS for more information.

Feed puppies 3 - 4 times daily until 6 months of age. Then feed twice daily until one year of age. Adult dogs can be fed either once or twice daily.
Feed the puppy ALL IT WILL EAT IN 15 MINUTES each feeding. Do NOT leave the food out continuously if you are trying to housetrain the pup.
We prefer to feed no table scraps. These often make the dog a “finicky eater” as well as cause vomiting or diarrhea.
It is best to avoid milk. It is best to give no milk since high quality commercial puppy food is balanced to contain everything the puppy needs for optimum growth.
The only real difference in canned and dry food is the amount of water it contains. Canned food is composed of 80% water. Therefore we recommend dry food because it is much more economical--the nutritional content is the same. A tablespoon of canned food can be mixed with the dry food to enhance the flavor if you wish. Simply warming dry food in the microwave or by adding hot water enhances the flavor. Dry food also is better for teeth care. Make any changes in brands of food gradually by mixing the old food with the new food to prevent diarrhea and digestive upsets. We recommend feeding DRY FOOD ONLY after 3 months of age. Vitamin supplementation is recommended to increase the pet’s resistance and improve general body health.

OUR MISSION:

"We embrace the art of healing and the science of medicine to enrich the lives of our animal companions.
We support you in making informed decisions that allow your pet to enjoy wellness as long as possible.
Our hospital team inspires an atmosphere of compassion and respect for our patients, our clients, and for one another."