What To Feed Your Chihuahua Puppy

What should you feed your Chihuahua puppy? You should feed him a high quality brand of dog food which contains all the nutrients his growing body needs. When he is a puppy he will require a special puppy-formula which is extra high in nutrients (up until he is one-year old). After that he should be switched to the adult formula.

This article will tell you everything you need to know about feeding your Chihuahua puppy.

Change Your Puppy's Food Gradually

When you purchase your puppy, ask the breeder what she has been feeding him. When you bring your Chihuahua puppy home from the breeder you should continue to feed him the same food in the same quantities as the breeder was feeding him. If you later decide you want to change his food, to a different brand for example, then gradually mix it in with the food the breeder was feeding him over 7 to 8 days until you are feeding him the new food entirely. Why do you have to transition slowly from the old food to the new? Because without allowing his tummy to adjust he may suffer diarrhea, vomiting, or constipation.

Feed Your Chihuahua High Quality Dog Food

Your Chihuahua needs a lot of different nutritional elements in his food to keep him healthy, including: protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. A high quality commercial dog food contains all of these nutritional elements in the correct amounts to give your Chihuahua puppy a complete and balanced diet he needs to live a long, healthy life.

Feeding your Chihuahua other foods, on top of the canned, semi-moist or dry commercial dog food you're feeding him, is not necessary, and it can even make be detrimental to his health. For example, if you feed him extra tidbits of food, on top of his dog food, it can make him fat or deprive him of nutrients (because he gets full on food tidbits and doesn't eat his dog food which contains the nutrients he actually needs).

Feed Your Chihuahua One Of The Trusted, Major Brands

Always go with the major dog food brands as they have done years of research and testing to ensure the nutritional quality of there food is up to scratch. They also have their million-dollar reputations on the line. So always go with trusted brand when buying food for your Chihuahua.

The high-quality major brands of dog food will carry the AAFCO "Complete and Balanced" statement on the label. This statement means that the dog food contains all the essential nutrients your dog needs in his daily diet. Don't buy a dog food which doesn't have this statement, all major brands should have it, but double check the label to be sure. AAFCO is an agency that regulates and enforces labels on dog foods - only dog foods which meet the strict standards can carry this AAFCO "complete and balanced" statement.

Types Of Dog Food

Dog food comes in three varieties: canned, semi-moist, and dry (which is called kibble).

Canned dog food is wet - about 85% water. Semi-moist dog food is pellet shaped and is soft to touch and chewy - it contains about 30% water. Kibble (dry food) is hard in texture and contains about 5% water.

Most people assume that you can't feed your dog a diet of dry kibble alone, which is an incorrect assumption. You certainly can feed your Chihuahua nothing but dry dog food - kibble - for his whole life and he will be happy and healthy. It contains all the same nutrients found in a canned or semi-moist dog food.

You can mix kibble in with canned food, but it is often easier to just feed your Chihuahua one type or the other.

Puppy or Adult Formula

Most brands of dog food come in puppy growth and adult formulas. The puppy growth formula contains more protein to help your Chihuahua puppy grow. Feed him the puppy growth formula until he is one year of age, and then switch to the adult formula.

How Much Food To Feed Your Chihuahua Puppy

The label on the can or bag of dog food provides good guidelines for how much to feed your puppy, based on his weight and age. You should also consult your Vet for some guidelines on how much to feed him.

Monitoring his body weight and behavior is key. If he seems to thin and lacking energy, you may be feeding him to little or he may be sick. Take him straight to the Vet for a checkup. If you are feeding him to much he will start to put on excess fat, in which case you will need to give him more exercise and cut down on the amount of food you're feeding him.

When To Feed Him

You should feed your Chihuahua puppy four times per day until he is 6 months old. Divide your Chihuahua puppies daily ration of food into four equal meals that you will feed him throughout the day. After he is 6 months old you can feed him twice or three times per day, once in the morning and once at night usually.

Water

Water is the most important nutrient of all. It goes without saying that your Chihuahua pup needs to have access to a fresh bowl of drinking water 24 hours a day. You should wash his drinking (and food) bowl every evening, just as you wash your own dinner plates, as they can be breeding grounds for diseases.

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