PUPPY NUTRITION:

ROYAL CANIN

Your puppy is being fed: Royal Canin Pro Medium Breed Puppy 32/20.

Growth is an especially crucial time for your puppy, especially during weaning. The correct kibble size, shape and texture can help to ease that transition. Poor nutrition can inhibit proper development and significantly impact future health. The medium breed puppy will benefit from a specific formulation that addresses his unique needs.

Puppy Nutrition and Dietary Instructions:

All of our puppies are currently being fed Royal Canin Pro Medium Breed. DO NOT immediately change their diet when you get them home.

REMEMBER that sudden changes in diet can SEVERELY disrupt the puppy’s digestive system and cause gastric distress. The Siberian Husky requires a relatively small amount of food for its size.

CHANGING THE PUPPY’S DIET:

Should you decide to change the puppy’s diet, you must do so gradually. Sudden changes in diet can cause vomiting, indigestion, heartburn, refusal to eat, gas and diarrhea. Normal bacteria in your pup’s intestine aid in the digestion of food, and a sudden change in food can upset the balance of this bacteria causing any and all of these ailments. That’s why it’s best to change food slowly over the course of about ten days.

• Start by giving 75% of the current food with 25% of the new food for three days
• If your dog adjusted well to this change, then proceed to offer 50% of the current food mixed with 50% of the new food for days four through six
• Once again monitor your pup and if he/she is doing well then it is safe to increase the amount of the new food to 75% with just 25% of the old food for days seven through nine
• By day 10, if your puppy has adjusted well, you can successfully offer just the new food without worrying.
• If you notice any adverse effects while switching, stop immediately and allow your puppy’s stomach to settle and contact your vet if symptoms persist.
• After the switch has been made, continue to watch for any changes that may develop with the new food, such as an improvement or deterioration of coat/skin, and increase or decrease in appetite, or a change in bowel movements. As always, use your best judgment in deciding what is best for your pet.
• NOTE: Rawhides and hard dental chews are a great way to help keep your puppy’s teeth tartar free.
• TABLE SCRAPS are NOT good! Human food often contains far too much fat for a canine’s liver to process and can cause diarrhea, upset tummies and damage to the pancreas.
• DO NOT ADD WATER to their food. If you add water to their food and make it mushy, they can and will eat their food too quickly. this again will cause vomiting, indigestion, diarrhea, etc. The dry food also aids in cleaning their teeth.

We feed our puppies Royal Canin Pro Medium Breed as they are weaned. We then continue them on the dry food diet until one year of age. We do this so we don’t complicate the development of their digestive system. Once they are old enough we include them in the normal food rotation as described on our nutrition tab.

Feeding Guidelines:

(In Cups Per Day)

Adult weight 45 - 50 pounds:

 3 - 4 Months: 4 4/5 - 5 2/3 cups

5 - 7 Months: 4 – 4 2/3 cups

8 – 12 Months: 3 1/5 – 3 4/5 cups

Adult weight 55 - 65 pounds:

3 - 4 Months: 6 1/3 – 7 cups

5 - 7 Months: 4 2/3 – 5 1/5 cups

8 – 12 Months: 3 4/5 – 4 ¼ cups

How to feed your puppy:

The right diet is critical to your puppy’s growth and development into an adult dog. Different breeds grow at different rates, so make sure to select nutrition customized for your puppy’s ideal adult size. Visit Royal Caninﾒs Why Diets by Size to learn more about sized-based nutrition. The Product Selector finds the right formula for your puppy. Here are some guidelines on feeding your new puppy.

• Give several small meals. See the chart below for more information.
• Don’t overfeed. Stick to the amounts recommended on the bag.
• Don’t give table scraps. They can upset the nutritional balance of your puppy’s diet.
• Make sure clean water is always available.

• Number of meals per day.

Toy and Small Breed (up to 20 lbs. adult weight) Medium Breed (20-55 lbs. adult weight) Up to 4 months  3 meals per day Up to 6 months 3 meals per day 4-10 months  2 meals per day  6-12 months 2 meals per day Breed (55-100 lbs. adult weight) Breed (over 100 lbs. adult weight) Up to 6 months 3 meals per day Up to 6 months  3 meals per day 6-15 months 2 meals per day 6-15 months 2 meals per day

As your puppy reaches adulthood, his nutritional requirements will change. It is important to provide your adult dog with a diet that will meet his new nutritional requirements and needs. When changing your dog’s diet, make sure to gradually mix the food over a five- to seven-day period, increasing daily the amount of the new food so that 100% of the new food will be provided on day 7. This gradual change will help avoid digestive upset. 

*Did you know to help prevent problems of the pet’s refusal to eat there are several tips that can be followed. First, provide the pet with regular veterinarian check-ups. This will ensure optimal overall health and prevent most pathological problems associated with decreased feed intake. Secondly, feed a highly palatable, complete and balanced diet to the pet. When feeding the pet, it is advisable to offer the food to the pet two to three times daily. Give the food at the same time every day and allow the food to remain with the pet for 10 – 15 minute intervals. This will allow the pet a standard eating time and make this daily activity more regular. Do not give the pet any snacks between their meals and never allow the pet to consume table scraps. This will lead to finicky pets as well as cause imbalances in the diet that can result in severe health problems. Begin teaching this feeding behavior to the pet when the pet is at a very young age and most problems associated with the pet’s refusal to eat can be avoided.

*Medium-size dogs put stress on their bodies when taking outdoor exercise, which is why Royal Canin Medium diets include the Immunity Program to support coat, skin and the immune system.

*Want a gorgeous coat? Certain nutrients such as tyrosine and copper can intensify coat color.

Housetraining your puppy:

Until your puppy is 3 to 4 months old, he has little bowel or bladder control. If you follow these guidelines, you can expect to limit the number of accidents.

• Most accidents happen by allowing too much freedom too soon. Confine the puppy to one or two rooms in the house where the family spends most of their time.
• Crate the puppy when you can’t supervise him.
• Have regularly scheduled feeding times.
• Take the puppy out first thing in the morning; after naps, meals and playtime; and before you go to bed.
• Reward your puppy for eliminating outside – the more immediate the praise, the better.
• Never punish a puppy for an accident. It’s better to prevent the accident in the first place.
• Don’t wait for the puppy to tell you he has to go. Be proactive and take him out on a regular schedule.
   

Did you know a great way to keep an eye on your puppy is to put him on a leash and then tie the leash around your waist. He’ll naturally try to get away from you when he has to relieve himself, and you’ll feel the tug before the accident can happen.

Nutrition for Life:

Gone are the days when our dogs survived on table scraps alone. Now, we feed dogs according to their size, activity level, even breed. That’s why in the past 15 years, the average dog’s life expectancy has increased by three years. Nutrition has evolved from life-sustaining to life-enhancing. Royal Canin has been at the forefront every step of the way.

The four objectives of proper nutrition.

The right diet should do more than provide calories for your dog. It should work synergistically with your dog’s digestive, metabolic and immune systems to maximize his health and longevity.

Objective 1: Food as body development and maintenance.
This is what proteins, minerals, trace elements, vitamins and some lipids do.

Objective 2: Food as energy.
This is done by lipids and carbohydrates.

Objective 3: Food as prevention.
This is achieved with specific nutrients incorporated into food rations such as antioxidants and nutraceuticals. Nutrients can contribute to the prevention of renal infections or digestive disorders, for example, and have an anti-aging effect.

Objective 4: Food as medicine.
Certain nutrients added to food support the therapeutic or convalescence process, helping pets recover from a number of ailments.

Why you can’t judge a food by its label.

By law, food manufacturers are required to list ingredients by precooked weight in descending order. Often times, fresh meat or other water-rich ingredients are at the top of the list. You would think that means they represent the main nutritional ingredient, right? Wrong.

For example, lamb is a meat with high water content. So even if lamb is the first ingredient listed (because its precooked weight represents 25% of the diet), it actually only nets out to 4% or 5% lamb protein after all the water is cooked off. If the same food also contains 20% corn, 20% rice, 15% dried fish, 10% poultry fat and 10% vegetable oil, the manufacturer is still allowed to write "Lamb" as the first ingredient even though cereals will be the main ingredients in terms of quantity in the end product.

Royal Canin puts our emphasis on nutrients rather than ingredients.

We concentrate first on the right balance of protein, minerals, vitamins, lipids and carbohydrates, and then select the best ingredient sources for those nutrients. It’s a difference that will make a noticeable difference in your dog.

Coat Problems?:
Get EFA’s. A diet rich in essential fatty acids (EFA’s) enhances the luster of the coat and reduces overall scale of the skin giving a healthy, clean appearance.

Nutrition Precision

From a 2-pound Chihuahua to a 200-pound Mastiff, different-sized dogs have very different physiological needs. Here’s a breakdown of the unique variances among size – and why the right diet is so important.

Different Digestive Tracts
On average, a small breed’s digestive tract represents 7% of their total body weight, while a large or giant breed’s digestive tract represents only 2.7% of their body weight. That’s why the digestibility of your dog's food should be based on size.

Different Digestive Transits
Digestive transit time varies from 15 hours to 4 days depending on the size of the dog. It’s important to select a food for your dog that contains high-quality ingredients, including chelated minerals, and keeps starch levels at a minimum to optimize digestion. This is especially important for puppies and seniors.

Different Growth Periods
The growth period of a small-breed puppy is approximately 8 months, while the growth period could last up to 24 months for a giant breed. Size-based nutrition takes these variances into account and customizes the energy levels based on the speed of growth.

Different Growth Rates
Small-breed puppies multiply their birth weight by approximately 20 times during their first year of life. For giant breeds, this can be as great as 100 times. Therefore, it’s important to provide the puppy with a diet containing the optimal level of energy for growth while also maintaining optimal body condition in the small breed and minimizing the risk of skeletal problems in the large breeds.

Different Energy Requirements
Small-breed energy requirements are more than twice those of large breeds, which is why small-breed diets are more energy-dense.

Different Life Expectancies
The larger and heavier the dog, the earlier the aging process will start. It’s best to begin addressing the nutritional considerations of aging early in the large-breed-dog's life.