Best puppy food options for small breeds

Martha Terry's avatar
By
Published In Buying Guides
Chihuahua puppies eating small breed puppy food
2D799C0 Two chihuahua puppies eat from a bowl
(Image credit: Alamy Stock Photo)

All puppies are adorable, but the smallest dog breeds ramp up the cuteness factor, as they can almost fit in your hand – and certainly your pocket. When it comes to feeding these tiny pups, it’s ideal if you can find one of the best puppy foods for small breeds that are designed specifically for their needs. Typically the size and shape of kibble, if it’s dry food, will be designed for tiny mouths and teeth, so it is easier for them to chew and swallow.

Small and toy breeds tend to have higher energy requirements than larger dogs per body weight. They have higher rates of metabolism and so a specific diet is ideal to give them the right balance of nutrients. Some toy breeds are prone to hypoglycaemia (blood sugar lows), so they might need feeding more frequently. However, as they are so little, they do only need small amounts of food to help them develop normally into a lean and healthy adult dog.

CATEGORIES
Martha Terry
Martha Terry
Features editor

Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.