Generally speaking, puppy food should take into account:- the various breeds and growth curves, and- the puppy's ability to properly digest foods - even food meeting the highest standards sometimes runs into the hurdle of digestive intolerance, even if the food is well balanced
This said, it is true of all puppies, regardless of breed or type, that their energy needs (per Kg of body weight) are much greater than an adult's. The puppy needs not only "maintenance" energy, but also energy for construction of the new tissues needed for growth. Its protein, mineral and vitamin requirements are also markedly higher than in the adult, which is why puppy food should have a high protein content (more than thirty percent of the dry weight for small breeds, thirty-seven to thirty-eight percent for large breeds) provided by high-quality proteins. Young dogs are much more sensitive than adults to protein deficiency, which can slow growth, irreversibly damage conformation, or cause anemia, a drop in blood proteins, or a deficiency of antibodies leading to greater susceptibility to disease. Calcium and phosphorus intake should be monitored to prevent a serious bone disease (osteofibrosis) that occurs when there is no mineralization of the skeleton, a classic disease appearing in puppies fed exclusively on meat or homemade food without mineral supplement. This is why a food should contain between 1.3 and 1.6% of calcium and 1 to 1.3% of phosphorus (as a proportion of dry weight), depending on its energy content and the size of the puppy.
There are thus a number of characteristics common to different puppy-food formulations, namely high energy content, high concentration of all essential nutriments and a limited amount of starch.
Special adaptations are required, however, for different-sized breeds.
At the age of three months, a terrier puppy weighs two to three kilograms, while a giant breed dog can weigh about twenty kilograms. Obviously, the jaw sizes of the two puppies will be different! As we will see later, dry food is incontestably the best for puppies, however, the terrier puppy will have a hard time picking up medium-sized kibble, while the larger puppy will waste it. It is therefore practical to offer different kibble sizes for small-, medium- and large-breed puppies.
A large-breed puppy requires more calcium than a small-breed puppy. A twenty-kilogram puppy eats only one-and-a-half times as much (in terms of energy) as a ten-kilogram puppy of the same age. If they eat the same food, the larger puppy may suffer from calcium deficiency. Puppy food for large-breed puppies should have a higher concentration of calcium.
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