Growing puppies, adults in the maintenance phase and ageing dogs all have different nutritional requirements. As a consequence, a diet needs to be adapted in every stage of life to ensure the dog remains as healthy as possible.
Whatever the breed, a puppy's requirements in terms of energy, protein, minerals and vitamins are much greater than those of an adult dog. It needs energy and nutrients to maintain its body, but also to grow and build it. Its digestive functions are different to an adult's, too. It is much less able to digest starch, for example. The puppy's teeth (also first teeth) are an important factor that needs to be taken into account when choosing the size, form, hardness of kibbles. The formulation of puppy food must take all of these factors into account. To cover these hefty energy requirements the food must have a high-energy content while concentrations of all other nutrients will also be higher than normal in a specially formulated growth food.
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