A Few Puppy Questions

[~Aimee~]

We have an 8 week old cavalier puppy called Ruby and I was wondering if you could all help me with some questions?

Whats the best type of food to feed her? We are giving her a dry food called Advanced Puppy Plus. This is what the breeder was feeding her so we have continued also. So far she hasn't eaten much of it at all. I'm not sure if she likes it to be honest? We have also been giving her puppy milk as per the breeders instructions. Last night I gave her cooked chicken breast and rice and she loved that. What should a puppy be eating in order to get a balance diet? Is the dry food enough or is it ok to give her some chicken and rice also? What about vegies? What type? I've heard some people give their puppies weetbix. Is this ok for puppies? When can you start feeding them leftovers and which foods are too rich or should be avoided?

Also what age do you leave your puppies outside when you go out? Ruby is only very little at the moment but eventually I'd like to leave her outside for short periods when we go shopping etc. At what age would you leave them outside for a whole day i.e. when you go to work? If you do have a little puppy, where do you leave them when you go out? Inside? Outside?

Thanks, I look forward to hearing your responses

[Gretel]

Hi Aimee. I would keep her on the Advance for a while at least till she settles in well. If you chop and change with her food she will end up a picky eater. People quite often tell me that their new pup won't eat the food they were eating with the breeder. Remember at the breeders she probably had siblings to compete with at meal times and that does tend to make them eat better A healthy pup won't starve themself so put down her meal and if she doesn't eat it all pick it up after 15 minutes. Weetbix are good for people but not for pups when there is so much better food. I'd give the milk a miss too. She doesn't need it. Water is all she needs to drink. At her age I'd be feeding Advance puppy and maybe a tiny ball of mince mooshed through it so she can't just pick out the meat. The puppy food is balanced and she can grow quite well on that You can start to introduce other things such as chicken necks, pulped veggies, sardines, yogurt etc. You will get lots of advice on feeding!

My dogs are never left outside when I'm not home. They are in the kitchen with toys and beds and are comfy and I know they can't get up to mischief!

[penny A]

personally I would keep up with the advance if it is agreeing with her. puppies can get the runs quite a lot. add some puppy meat just a table spoon at a time in with the meat just to moisten it up. the first couple of days only a tiny bit you need to introduce a puppy to new foods very slowly and if you change her diet you mix the new food with the old food for the first few days.

I dont think you need to give her a lot of milk. once animals have left their mum they dont drink milk. only us humans do that. puppies need feeding at least three times day what you could do is feed her a little meat morn and eve to get her used to the new diet.

it doesnt do the pup any harm having chicken and rice occassionally as well as fish. but like I just said just a table spoon in with her regualar buscuits. keep the buscuits as the main meal just add things to it to moisten the buscuits.

weetabix is just our way of spoiling our pets in my eyes but as far as I know they again dont do the pup any harm. in small quantities. warm water with a dash of puppy milk.

once your puppy gets older her diet wont be as important as it is now. things like vegetables can come later if you look at the tin a lot of food already has vegetables in it. so too much will give her the runs. most food you buy from pet shops are already complete and have all the ingredients your dog will need.

I will say that please buy your dog a good tin meat not just cheap stuff. they need the good food at a young age to help their bones and muscles grow properly. and dont give it too much meat in one go take it slowly. the buscuits are the main key of the diet as they have the most important ingredients in them.

hope this helps a little

[Gretel]

I don't buy any tinned foods. A good dry food is far better than any tinned. If you want to add something to make it more appealing to her use a tiny bit of mince. I'm talking smaller than a teaspoonful and squish the dry into it so she doesn't seperate it. I use human grade mince.

Edited to add Cavalier babies only eat very small meals at that age.

Edited August 14, 2008 by Gretel

[LuvMyCav]

Hi Aimee, I have a crate for Charlie so when he was a puppy, I would put Charlie in his crate with a treat when i went out and would make sure I was back within 2-3 hours. Usually i only left him for short intervals but once or twice a week when I was shopping, it'd be a couple of hours. If I hadn't had the crate I would have used a tiled room eg kitchen, laundry or bathroom.

Penny (on ckcs thread) leaves her cav, Izzy, outside during the day when she works. You could ask her what age she started that.

Re: food, ditto to everything Gretel said.