What Type Of Dog Food Is Best For Puppies?

Welcoming a new puppy into your family is a joyful and exciting time. As a new fur parent, you want to give your little one the absolute best start in life. What your puppy eats during their first 1 or 2 years of life greatly influences how they will grow up. So it’s only normal that you want to know what the best dog food for puppies is. This blog post will look closely at all the different dog food options, explain what your puppy needs and provide you with all the information necessary to make the best choice. 

What are the different types of food for puppies?

As a new fur parent, you might be overwhelmed with the number of food choices available for your pup. It can be hard to know which is the best puppy food in Australia and what you should be feeding your growing pup. To help you make an informed choice, we have listed below the pros and cons of each option and explained how each one is made.

Wet food

Wet food is the second most popular type of dog food, after dry dog food. Cans of wet dog food mainly contain meat — fresh or frozen meat in the best brands and cooked or rendered meat (more processed) in the less expensive ones. Commercial wet dog food producers guarantee that their product contains all the nutritional elements your puppy needs.

• Kibble/Dried food

Dry food, or kibble, is the most bought dog food in Australia, but not many owners understand how it is made and what it contains. It is usually made by coarsely grounding meat, often an inferior quality meat byproduct, cereals, corn and other grains fillers. These foods are dried at high temperatures, in a process that renders them “unfit for human consumption” since it removes over 50% of their nutrients. To compensate for this loss and make their food nutritionally complete, manufacturers usually add synthetic vitamins and minerals, together with preservatives, stabilisers, gelling agents and concentrated flavours.

• Fresh/Homemade 

If you want absolute control over what you feed your puppy, then a raw homemade diet is the best option for you and your dog — seeing as you choose and prepare every one of your fur baby’s meals. There are a variety of homemade diet regimes on the internet but, if you choose to go down this road, we strongly recommend you speak to a veterinary nutritionist to fully understand your dog’s nutritional requirements beforehand. Another option is to subscribe to a fresh dog food home-delivery service. These companies’ products are usually scientifically formulated to provide a complete diet and make it easier for you to feed your puppy fresh ingredients.

• Raw/BARF

In recent years there has been growing interest in the BARF diet. This acronym stands for Bones and Raw Food or Biologically Appropriate Raw Food. Believing that dogs will thrive on a diet that closely resembles their ancestors’, this veterinary-designed feeding program advocates the use of raw bones, organ and muscle meats, raw eggs, dog-safe fresh fruits and vegetables and some dairy products such as yogurt. 

• Freeze-dried food

Freeze-drying is not the same as dehydrating. The latter uses heat to remove water from the food, while the former dehydrates the food at a low temperature, thus preserving all its nutrients. It might sound high-tech, but it’s actually been around for several decades. In fact, we consume freeze-dried products every time we have a cup of instant coffee or eat 2-minute noodles or most camping food. Freeze-dried dog food, like that at Frontier Pets, retains almost 100% of the natural nutrients found in its raw form. It is a simple and convenient way to feed your puppy minimally processed food without any of the hassle of buying, storing and preparing a fresh and raw meal.

What to consider when choosing puppy food

Whether you are a first-time puppy owner or an experienced puppy parent, you want to make sure you give your pup a great start in life with the best puppy food in Australia. The most important thing is to give your puppy a nutritionally balanced diet, rich in all the micro and macronutrients needed to grow into a healthy adult dog. A puppy’s diet should primarily contain proteins, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fatty acids. What you don’t want to feed your puppy is grains, cereals, meat byproducts, additives and preservatives. Also remember that, while dog treats will always be your puppy’s favourite food, they shouldn’t account for more than 10% of their daily caloric intake.

What type of dog food is best for puppies? 

So, after all of this, what is the best dog food for your puppy? To put it simply, exactly like it is for us humans, the less processed food your puppy eats, the better. Unlike us though, dogs’ evolution and biology require that they have a high intake of fresh raw meat. We believe that a BARF diet is the best option for your puppy. Since we understand that homemade meals and feeding your puppy raw meat every day might not be a viable option for you, we have designed a range of 100% organic and GMO-free freeze-dried products.

By choosing Frontier Pets products, you will be providing your growing puppy with all the nutrients they need at a minimal effort from you. What’s more, unlike other freeze-dried brands on the market, our meat is 100% ethically sourced, and we are committed to ending factory farming one bowl at a time.

Want to give your puppy the best start in life? Secure yourself a Frontier Pets puppy welcome pack today.