The diet of puppies


In the growth and development phase, it is essential to feed little ones a healthy and balanced puppy food in order to lay the corner stone for a healthy dog’s life.

During the first four weeks, the puppy will receive all of the important nutrients from his mother’s milk. After this period, it is not sufficient on its own to cover the growing needs of the puppy, and you will slowly start the transition to solid food.

Healthy nutrition from an early age

Puppies undergo physical development within just one year, which a human needs 15 years to undergo. The enormous growth spurts of muscles and skeleton require a well-dosed balanced diet so that the initial handful of dog can become a well-proportioned and healthy adult. That’s why it is important to offer them a special puppy food, which meets the needs of the young and growing puppy.

A conscientious breeder will give you your puppy’s usual food and a feeding plan when you collect him. Follow this plan in the first few days, as the puppy needs to settle into his new home first. At the beginning, the puppy is exposed to lots of new sensations and his immune system is easily overtaxed. If there is a completely new food for him to get used to on top of this, it will quickly become too much for him and this can lead to diarrhoea. After a settling-in period of at least one week, or when the puppy has become accustomed to the new living conditions, the food can be changed.

PLATINUM offers a healthy and balanced dog food for all of a puppy’s needs with its Puppy Chicken puppy food. PLATINUM places special emphasis on the ingredients as a corner stone for a healthy puppy’s life. It uses 73% fresh meat in the dry food and 84% fresh meat in the wet food, which is also suitable for human consumption. Just like his ancestor, your little house wolf needs meat every day to stay healthy and strong throughout his life.

In addition, the high-quality PLATINUM puppy food is gluten-, soy- and GMO-free and 100% free from attractants, odourants and flavour enhancers. It is cooked in its own juices – without the addition of water – using the unique slow-cooking method. This gentle manufacturing process and the valuable nutrients ensure that the food is extremely wholesome and easily digestible for your puppy.

Switching to PLATINUM food

Please observe the following points when feeding our special puppy food:

  • We recommend not gradually changing the diet to PLATINUM but instead doing it abruptly – i.e. without a transition phase. We do not advise mixing PLATINUM dry food with other dry foods due to the different digestibility of the two food types.
  •  Give your puppy the food dry or moistened with a little (preferably lukewarm) water – but do not let it soak.
  • In the beginning, feed only the low value of the feeding recommendation; you should increase the amount of dry food only if necessary, namely in 10 to 50 gram steps according to the respective final weight.
  • You can also find the feeding recommendation on our website – our Service Team will be happy to advise you by phone or email.
  • The aim with growing dogs is always optimum, not maximum growth rates.

Correct feeding

Straight after moving in, you should allocate a permanent, peaceful eating place for your puppy, where he can empty his food bowl undisturbed from now on. The dog should also always have a bowl filled with water freely available to him. Whereas, food should only be made available at fixed meal times. The leftovers in the food bowl, or food that the dog has not touched, should always be thrown away as soon as your four-legged friend has moved away from the food bowl.

Please ensure that your new family member always has the opportunity to indulge in a rest after eating. Normal puppy play cannot be prevented (and should not be prevented either) but additional playing and excitement shouldn’t happen straight after meal times.

Important: Avoid regularly changing the food – you may satisfy the human need for change, but you won’t be meeting the needs of your dog.

If you want to give your dog a little variety in his diet, you can feed him PLATINUM dry and wet puppy food separately or in combination. Reduce the amount of dry food accordingly as a 3:1 ratio, i.e. for 30 grams of wet food, reduce the dry food to 10 grams.

Dogs often suffer from being given too much food these days – this results in growth that is too rapid or being overweight in the growth phase. This can have serious consequences for your puppy or young dog. Therefore, food dosages provided by the food manufacturer apply as a guide to the recommended feeding amount. But you should leave some leeway for individual character: depending on the activity and temperament of your dog, you should feed them larger or smaller amounts. You should also always keep an eye on your adolescent young dog’s appearance.

Before your puppy moves into your house, the breeder, or animal shelter would usually have fed the dog three times a day. You can maintain this regular cycle up to when the puppy turns sixth months old. After that, you can change over to two feeds a day (ideally in the morning and evening).

Important: If your dog refuses to eat for a long period of time and if he also seems very tired, you should definitely consult a vet!

Consumption of treats and other delicacies on the side need to be taken into account when thinking about the daily food rations in order to avoid overfeeding. The lean PLATINUM reward snacks are free of unwanted additives, which place strain on the animal. We have consciously decided not to add vitamins and minerals to this food so as to avoid providing the dog with a surplus amount. Just like PLATINUM dog food, the snacks are gluten-free, soya-free and GMO-free and only contain high quality ingredients that are also suitable for human consumption. And most importantly: 76% fresh meat!

PLATINUM Click-Bits are particularly suitable for daily puppy and young dog training, or simply as a snack in between meals. The small treats fit in any bag and don’t crumble.

Dietary proteins for growth

There are a lot of different types of proteins that occur naturally: when it comes to dietary proteins, you can choose – depending on the origins – between animal and vegetable based proteins.

Proteins from lean meat are the most important for the adolescent and adult dog. High quality proteins from fresh meat, which form a central component of PLATINUM dry and wet food, can be optimally absorbed and utilised by dogs. The dog’s digestive tract is designed for the eating habits of a meat eater, so the easiest food for him to utilise is meat.

The sources and quality of protein used are vitally important when it comes to dog food. The percentage values alone that state the amount of protein that you find in every dog food in the declaration of ingredients (raw protein) are therefore of little significance. Contrary to popular opinion, it is not the proportion of protein alone that allows the dog to grow quickly or slowly, it is much more about the total amount of energy consumed that impacts on his growth. And the final size that your dog will one day reach is genetically determined anyway.

Switching to adult food

For small breeds, e.g. dachshunds and pugs, we recommend changing over to PLATINUM adult food from PUPPY Chicken from when the puppy reaches twelve months of age.

With medium sized dogs like Australian Shepherds and Border Collies, this changeover can be done from when the puppy reaches six months of age. The particularly large breeds like Bernese Mountain Dogs and Rhodesian Ridgebacks can be changed over to PLATINUM ADULT from four months of age.

If you switch to ADULT food before the end of their first twelve months, you should follow the puppy feeding recommendation table until the end of the twelve months to ensure a sufficient supply of nutrients.

Food supplements – yes or no?

Whether you also rely on food supplements when feeding your young addition to the family depends on what kind of food you choose for your puppy:

PLATINUM as the sole complete food

If you choose to feed your four-legged friend PLATINUM PUPPY dog food (and ADULT later on) you do not need to add any additional food supplements at all, as all PLATINUM dry foods are complete foods that contain everything your little darling needs to grow up healthily. The use of supplements could even be damaging in this instance, as any additional minerals could unnecessarily upset the balance between nutrients and trace elements, which are featured in PLATINUM products.

PLATINUM plus raw food or home cooked food

If you decide to combine PLATINUM with barfing (raw feeding) or home-cooked meals, i.e. preparing your dog’s meals yourself, it may be necessary to use nutritional supplements. You should, however, always bear in mind that the incorrect dosage of such supplements given to your pet could lead to long-term health damage. So make sure you get detailed advice on this topic!

Quantitative and trace elements as well as vitamins must be present in every dog food in the right quantity and ratio. Due to the potentially serious health consequences of a deficiency or oversupply, it is important to be particularly careful when managing the composition of rations for growing animals. You also need to ensure you observe particular hygienic requirements when using raw products. A qualified nutritional consultation (you can get this for example from veterinary faculties at universities) should represent a meaningful form of support for the creation of a needs-based nutrition plan and not just for during the particularly sensitive growth phase.

The benefits of PLATINUM dog food

  • PLATINUM uses a unique preparation method called FSG, which offers numerous advantages compared to conventional dog food.
  • Dog food prepared with FSG is gently cooked only in its own meat juice and is therefore nutrient-rich like BARF, excellent for building muscles and also extra tasty for your dog.
  • With at least 70% fresh meat in the dry dog food and 83% fresh meat or fresh fish in the wet dog food, PLATINUM places great value on a composition of the food that is adapted to the needs of dogs.
  • The declaration and composition of dog food prepared with FSG is tested regularly and independently by ELAB Analytik GmbH (formerly TÜV SÜD ELAB) - for canine health protection.
  • PLATINUM is generally very well accepted by dogs of all breeds and ages. Even four-legged friends with sensitive digestion or intolerances usually tolerate PLATINUM dog food well.
  • All products are free of soya, GMOs and gluten. In addition, no flavour enhancers, attractants, odourants or colourings are used.
  • Over 2,000 positive customer reviews at Trusted Shops speak for themselves!