Ask Dr Fiona

What’s the best diet for a small puppy? We use Hills dry food in the morning and cooked meals at night (chicken with rice, carrots, beans etc or beef with similar. Is this ok?

Your puppy needs to be fed a balanced premium puppy food suitable for their age and stage. This needs to meet Australian standards. Hill’s is one of these brands but you can always discuss other options with your veterinarian.

It is important not to overfeed or underfeed puppies and if your puppy is a ‘large breed’, a puppy diet suitable ‘large breed’ is essential to avoid musculoskeletal problems.

Puppies have small tummies and should be fed 3-4 times daily. This can be reduced to twice daily as they grow.

If you are feeding a commercially prepared balanced premium puppy food, it is not necessary to add anything else into your puppy’s diet as these diets are completely balanced and contain everything your puppy needs. A premium dry food is also a good choice as it encourages chewing and improves dental health.

Some people like to cook meals for their dogs to add variety to the diet. Adding foods such as chicken and rice can mean you overfeed your puppy, while feeding too much raw meat can cause nutritional deficiencies that can be detrimental to your puppy’s health. Cooked diets can lead to dental problems as they are less likely to encourage chewing. They can also lead to a fussy pet who prefers cooked food over dry food.

If you’d like to chat in person, you can get a vet within minutes on a live video call or start a text chat to discuss in more detail.

We’re here to help!

Chat soon,
Dr Fi