Raising a puppy is not much different than raising a child. 

A puppy must eat quality food and must eat it on time. It must learn basic things step by step since a very young age and must be clean and dry. “What is the best food for my puppy” is the question which pops up pretty often. My answer would be that we have two types of the food:

– “live food”: meat, eggs, rice, yogurt, etc 

– “dead food”: all kinds of dry food for dogs. 

The difference is big.

I opt for using both or mix them at the same time. 

Firstly, dogs like tasty food so I always add a little salt in “live” food. 

Secondly, we have dry food for dogs which is very tasty. 

Thirdly, sometimes, for some reasons, we can’t prepare a “live food” meal so we need to use dry food for dogs. 

Fourthly, dry food is very well balanced and it means a lot especially when we have very young puppies and need to feed them their first meal at about 20 days of age. 

The first three reasons are obvious but I will explain a little bit more the last one. Here, we speak about premium and super premium quality world known food and the best one is with meat in it in the first place and then with rice and everything else. Dry dog food can contain a variety of seeds, fruit, fats, rice, corn, etc. Even if some dry dog food is good or of premium quality, it can happen that dogs would not want to eat it because, simply, it doesn’t taste well. I have come across some dry dog food of not so high quality which dogs accept and eat better than some high quality food, simply because of the taste. 

As I have already told, dry dog food is very well balanced and the best for the very first puppy meal. It is full of proteins, carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins. 

If we prepare a meal using “live food”, we can’t always achieve the same ratio of all those nutrients which can lead to a situation that at a very young age a puppy would not want to eat every time because the taste cannot be the same consistently. The stool in puppies may become soft and they may experience an abdominal pain. We can say that simply puppies in that situation would not get all the necessary nutrients in a good ratio needed for a normal growth. 

I am discussing this topic from the aspect of a professional breeder but, of course, a puppy would grow up anyway with any type of food. However, from the aspect of a professional breeder, a puppy’s full capacity should be achieved. This is why dry dog food is the best for a puppy since everything in it is well balanced – the content, the taste and the quality is always the same. 

Later on, at the age of 60 days or some time before, we can start adding, little by little, “live food”. Adding new food will always be followed with a change in a puppy’s stool and we simply need to be consistent because the stomach needs time to make enzymes for the new type of food. Soft stool is not always a sign that something is wrong. Simply, the stomach needs new enzymes for new type of food. 

Later, we can add eggs, yogurt, rice and all kinds of meat including all kinds of liver. 

A puppy at the age of 2 months by the age of 5 months needs to have 3 meals a day. We will know when to reduce the number of meals according to the puppy’s condition. Puppies cannot become fat.

In my opinion, the best quality dry dog food is not better than “live food”. Yes, it is easier for using but no, it cannot completely replace the “live food”. In my opinion, the best option is using them both. 

If we use premium or super premium dry dog food, we don’t need to add additional supplements such as calcium, but when using only “live food” for dogs, we should use additional calcium but strictly by the producer’s declaration.