Collection: Puppy food

There is little that beats the joy and excitement of bringing your little mink home for the first time. Many preparations must be made, including choosing and purchasing food. Often, the breeder will send some of the food it has eaten to the pet for collection, and it is a good idea to feed your puppy the food it is used to eating until it is comfortable in its new home. If you want to change puppy food after a few weeks, you should choose a variety based on the dog's expected adult weight. Most food manufacturers also offers puppy food specially adapted to different breeds, so that the puppy gets exactly the important nutrients it needs.

Many people feed their puppies both dry and wet food, which the four-legged friend often appreciates. However, dry food is the most common food option, as it is both convenient in terms of storage and usually covers all the puppy's needs. In addition, dry food is good for the teeth and helps prevent and treat tartar. It is also good to supplement with wet food, which often consists of a pâté or pieces of meat in a sauce. This type of food has a high liquid content and therefore helps prevent dehydration in puppies who struggle to get enough water.

How long your dog should be on puppy food will vary depending on when they stop growing in height. Smaller breeds of dogs will stop growing earlier and can therefore switch to adult food after a shorter period of time than larger dogs. To determine approximately how long your dog should be on puppy food, you can also look at their weight.

• Small dogs (up to 10 kg adult size) should have puppy food until about 10 months of age.
• Medium-sized dogs (from 11 to approx. 25 kg adult size) up to approx. 12 months.
• Large dogs (26 to 45 kg) should generally be fed puppy food until around the 15-18 month stage, while very large dogs (45 kg+) can switch to adult food around 18 to 24 months of age.

However, the transition should always be slow and gradual when changing food. It takes about 2 weeks for dogs' sensitive intestinal flora to get used to the new food, and we recommend proceeding as follows: Replace 25% of the old food with the new food for 3 days, before increasing to 50% for 3-4 days. Then 75% for 3-4 days and finally 100% new food.