When can 5-month-old puppies eat homemade chicken, beef, and kibble?

I would not recommend trying to feed a home-cooked diet to a growing large breed puppy like Buddy - this is because nutritional balance is extremely important at this age for proper growth and development. It's extremely difficult to properly balance a home-cooked diet for a growing puppy like this - not as simple as just following a recipe and adding some supplements, I'm afraid. Nutritional imbalances in young puppies can cause severe orthopedic issues later in life such as hip dysplasia, growth plate abnormalities, and other types of joint problems. For this reason, I would strongly recommend feeding a good quality puppy food for large breed puppies - my favorites are Purina Pro Plan and Royal Canin, but there are many options available. Once your dog is fully grown, you can revisit the idea of a home-cooked diet if you wish, since it's much easier to balance this type of diet for an adult dog :)

You could add some meat or chicken to your puppies dog food but your puppy needs to have some dog food because it is nutritionally balanced for a puppy. Feeding just meat/ chicken and rice is not recommended because your puppy would not be getting the proper nutrition. If you want to use a home made recipe than you should use the website called balance it to make the diet nutritionally balanced for a growing puppy. https://secure.balanceit.com/

Homemade foods are tough because they are almost always deficient in vitamins and minerals without a supplement. It is not impossible, however. I like the website balance it.com. You can set up an account, look for recipes, and they can even analyze the nutrients in your current recipe. The key is a meat+ grain+ fruits and veggies for nutrients. Good luck!

Hi there and thank you for using PetCoach to address your concern. I would recommend keeping Rocky on a balanced puppy food such as Royal Canin or Science Diet. If you want to cook a home diet, I recommend using ( www.balanceit.com ). Please let me know if you have any further questions and I would be more than happy to help you further.

Hi there! It's certainly possible to feed Ziva a home-cooked diet if you want to, but it's almost impossible to correctly formulate this yourself without help - especially for a growing puppy. I recommend using a website called balanceit.com, which uses formulas set up by a veterinary nutritionist to help you put together a complete and balanced diet using whatever ingredients you choose.

It is difficult to make and feed a balanced home made diet. More often that not, the dog will develop a nutritional deficiency. This is especially true for puppies. Ideally, Murphy should be fed a good quality commercial puppy diet. Brands include ProPlan, Orijen, Canidae and Acana.

Hello, and thanks for your question. All of these ingredients are safe for your dogs, but they are likely not "completely and balanced" and may not meet all of the nutritional needs of your dogs, especially the growing pups. I recommend feeding a high quality dog food, such as Purina, Science Diet, Hills, or Royal Canin. If these foods aren't available in your area and you need to provide homemade food, here's a helpful website to make sure their needs are met: https://www.balanceit.com Hope this helps!