Puppies and adult dogs require very different diets and care. You can tell exactly when your puppy is maturing, and how to support him during his growth.
Puppies, like Mini Goldendoodle dogs, have unique personalities and appearances but also have unique nutritional needs. With age, what a puppy needs from his diet will change until he eventually becomes a healthy adult dog. But what exactly is needed, and when do puppies officially become ‘adult dogs’?
When do puppies become adult dogs?
The age at which a puppy becomes an adult will depend on its breed and size. All breeds are categorized into five dog sizes: very small, small, medium, large, or very large. Puppies will become adult dogs at the following ages:
• Very small breed (4 kg): eight months
• Small breeds (5-10 kg): 10 months
• Medium breed (11-25 kg): 12 months
• Large breeds (26-44 kg): 15 months
• Very large breeds (45 kg and heavier): 18 to 24 months
The different classification of when a puppy becomes an ‘adult dog’ is due to the length of the growth phase for different breed sizes; large and very large dogs take longer to fully mature than small dogs, although they all experience intense growth spurts.
What do puppies need from their diet?
A puppy’s body will go through significant changes as it grows rapidly, regardless of size or breed. Puppies need more calcium in their diet than adult dogs to support their well-developed skeleton.
They also need more protein, because muscles and other body tissues develop quickly. Their diet should be more energy-dense than fully developed dogs, as they cannot eat as much as adult dogs but require a lot of energy to support their physiological development.
Unique problems in puppies
Your puppy’s diet and care need to take into account two specific issues that affect young dogs far more than adult dogs: their vulnerable digestive systems and their compromised immunity.
Puppies have weaker digestive systems than adult dogs, especially sometime after weaning, and they are easily affected negatively by environmental changes or new foods. They need to be fed food of the right size, shape, and texture to make it easy to eat and highly digestible so they can get all the nutrients they need without causing stomach upset.
Between four and 12 weeks of age, puppies enter a phase called the ‘immunity gap’. This is where the immune support from their mother, which is provided through their milk, is reduced while their natural defenses are not fully developed. During this time, their diet is the main way to support this process and boost their immunity through nutrients like vitamin E.