Puppy

Puppies require a higher level of nutrients in their diet to help boost their immune systems and to help them grow into healthy adult dogs.  Puppies should never be fed a diet designed for an adult or senior dog as it could stunt their growth and lead to nutritional deficiencies. Puppy food should be fed until the dog reaches its full adult weight. For small breeds, this may be up to a year. Medium breeds usually finish growing between 12-18 months, while large/giant breeds should be fed puppy food for 18-24 months before maintaining on an adult food. 

• Get the best out of your puppy by feeding a good quality diet.
• Ensure you are feeding the right food for your puppy's age and size. 

Large breeds do benefit from a slight different nutrition. If you are unsure, always ask.Up until 6 months of age, your puppy should be fed 3-4 times a day. At six months, this can be reduced to twice a day and it is advisable to maintain on twice daily feeding for the rest of its life.

Adult

At this stage you need to maintain all the good work you have already done during the puppy years, so it is important to still feed a good quality diet to your adult dog. This diet will contain good quality ingredients and the correct balance of the nutrients mentioned before. You should still remain at twice daily feeding intervals. If you have a working breed or extremely active dog, a diet with a higher protein and fat content will help to provide him/her with the energy required. However, if you have a dog which is a little lazy or has the tendency to put on weight, you should choose a lower fat diet. Many Light diets are also designed for maintenance as well as weight loss.

Senior

Although your dog may not look any different on the outside, as they age, changes occur internally. As a rough guide, small, medium and large breeds are classed as a senior at approximately 7 years of age. Giant breeds are slightly earlier at 5 years of age. Unfortunately, giant breeds do not live as long and differences can be noticed earlier in their life. 

As a dog ages, they do require a food with a lower energy content as their metabolism can slow down. However, it is still important to offer a food with a high quality digestible protein to help maintain good muscle mass and promote antibody production for their aging immune systems.

So we have looked at Lifestage, but what about Lifestyle?   Each dog is an individual and therefore, should be fed as an individual. What suits one dog, may not suit another! Some common issues involved with nutrition are obesity and food intolerances.