Pound for pound your Chihuahua puppy needs twice as much calories as an adult Chihuahua. Chihuahua Puppies need a lot of calories to support their rapid growth, they grow the most in the first five to six months. Providing proper nutrition is essential to a puppy's health, they are building bone, muscle, and organs. They need good nutrition to grow up strong and healthy and all that playing and learning! We feed all our Chihuahua's Health Extension Little Bites and we make it available all times of the day, so they can eat when they want and as much as they want. Please note that a puppy's attention span is limited, therefore, they may nibble a little​, walk away and then return to their food. This also helps prevent hypoglycemia, which both Chihuahua puppies and Chihuahua adults can get if not properly nourished, because they are considered the smallest breed. On that note we recommend always having Tomlyn Nutri-Cal High-Calorie Dietary Puppy Supplement on hand!

Treats do not usually provide the nutritional requirements puppies need, so limit their treats. If you want to give them something special, real meat, like dehydrated chicken (chicken jerky) is a high quality treat that they will love, however, always limit their intake. For a Chihuahua puppy, and all the way through adulthood it is a treat just spending time with you. Obedience training and learning new skills also deserve a special treat, it surely makes learning fun!

High quality puppy foods:

As the general public has become more informed and aware of the need for higher quality dog foods, many companies have produced just that, however, they can still be hard to find. Big stores like Wal-mart and Petsmart do not always carry them (depending on your location). The best way to ensure that your puppy is eating properly is to make your own dog food. However, for most of us that is not possible. For those that do have the time or the inclination, these homemade puppy foods are highly rated and use very high quality ingredients:

Large breed requi​re​ments are different than small breeds, so please buy those specifically for small breeds, as mentioned above. Roughly speaking it should be 40% meat, 30% veggies, 30% starch, the starch should not be corn, white or brown rice is fine. Making your own dog food is great, as you know exactly what is being fed.

There are some foods you should definitely avoid giving to your Chihuahua puppy and Chihuahua adult. First and foremost is chocolate, followed by avocados, alcohol, mushrooms, grapes, coffee, tea, caffeine, raisins, currants, macadamia nuts, onions, garlic, pits from fruit, raw eggs, rhubarb leaves, salt sugary foods, Xylitol, yeast, white potatoes, and all dairy products.

All that being said, we want to share with you where you can buy all your puppy needs, Chewy.com is the best place to purchase Health Extensions Little Bites,  Kingdom Pets Chicken Jerky and Tomlyn Nutri-Cal High-Calorie Dietary Puppy Supplement, in addition when you get your puppy from us, we have weaned your new Chihuahua puppy to a mixture of Purina Pro Plan Focus Puppy Classic Chicken & Rice Entree  with Health Extensions Little Bites. We will provide you with enough to get by for several days. We also will provide you  with Milk-Bone Mini's Flavor Snacks Beef, Chicken & Bacon Flavored Biscuit  puppy Treats that are perfect for your Chihuahua puppy's teething needs, they really love them. You can click on the links in this text and they will take you to the website to purchase them. We provided photos below of  Health Extensions Little Bites, Kingdom Pets Chicken Jerky, Tomlyn Nutri-Cal, and Purina Proplan Focus Puppy Classic Chicken & Rice Entree so you will know exactly which nutritional products we recommend, as well as the key benefits of all the nutritional products above. We have also provided photos of what these items look like. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions. 

****Stay tuned for next weeks Premium Chihuahua Care Blog on Coats and Sizes****