Puppy Nutrition

After your Japanese chin puppy has been weaned, his body will accumulate itself to the new types of food he eats. The next 12 to 18 months of life will be a learning period for him as he continues to adjust to his new diet. Nutrition wise this is the most important period of a dog's life. He is using a high amount of energy and nutrients to fuel his rapid growth and if his food is not giving him the energy and nutrition he needs his growth will be stunted. Each breed of dog grows at a different rate and understanding what the nutritional needs of your dog are is very important.

Giving your puppy food that is hard for his sensitive digestive tract to digest will cause diarrhea. Adult dog food is not meant for a young puppy with a sensitive digestive tract and sensitive intestine. Feeding any age dog food that they are not used to can irritate their intestine and produce diarrhea.

Starting your Japanese chin on a long healthy life starts with giving him a jump start by giving him proper nutrition as a puppy. What you feed him as a puppy will determine how well he grows and his health later in life. Sound skeletal and bone structure of your puppy depends on having an optimal level of calcium and phosphorus in his diet. The kibble size and texture of his food can also hinder a puppy's growth. Kibbles need to be small enough for the puppy to grasp and soft enough for him to chew. If you have a Japanese chin puppy that has just been weaned, there's nothing they like better than soaked kibble fed to them by hand.

When your chin puppy is growing he multiplies his weight by up to 20 times. This explosive growth period requires twice as much energy and nutrients as an adult dog. Not only must it have twice the energy and nutrients, they must also be in a form easily digestible by a puppy.

As your puppy continues to grow you will want to mix in foods that are a little harder to digest. Then eventually when you switch over to all adult food his digestive system will be used to adult dog food.