Noncommercial Diets

Products made by dog food companies are not the only choice available. Homemade diets are gaining in popularity.

Home-Cooked Meals

You may prefer to cook your puppy's meals for yourself. If you do, consult your veterinarian and research how to create nutritionally complete meals for your puppy. Books and other resources are available, so study them for recipes. Don't just feed her what you eat. She's a different species, and she has different nutritional requirements.

The advantage to a home-cooked meal is that you can better control what goes into your puppy because you control all the ingredients. Keep in mind, though, that feeding a puppy table scraps is a leading cause of pancreatitis and obesity in dogs. Some foods that humans eat are also poisonous to dogs. In addition, cooked bones can splinter and injure your puppy's esophagus or digestive tract. So if you choose to prepare your puppy's meals, research exactly what to feed her.

Raw Diet

Raw or biologically appropriate raw food (BARF) diets are gaining in popularity. Advocates for the diet say that it more closely matches a puppy's nutritional needs and can help to prevent or cure certain diseases. They especially note that chewing on raw bones helps to