Bringing up your puppy is very similar to bringing up a baby. Except, as my mom would say, a baby eventually grows up and learns to take care of itself as an adult.

I don’t mean to scare you – just want to put things into perspective for you – your puppy relies on you from the day you bring him home. It need you to feed it, to groom it, play with it, and love it. You are also responsible for your puppy’s health care over its lifetime – you need to make sure he feels and looks good, and to make sure you know when things are not right.

Your puppy health care responsibilities involves things like taking him for his regular checkups at the vet. Or making sure he takes his worming tabs, flea pills. Taking him for his vaccinations on time. And making sure he’s clean, fed, warm and safe.

I know – it is basic – but you’d be surprise what people miss when they are not informed about the things they should look out for. So, to avoid health complications and diseases later on, here are some of the best puppy health care practices to follow:



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1. His Food.

Dogs are not picky eaters, but that does not mean that you’re free to feed them anything you want. For one, they are not built the same way we are. If you feed them table scraps, your dog might develop intestinal parasites later on.

Also, their body reacts differently from ours; for example, if you unknowingly feed chocolate to your puppy, STOP IT! It poses a lot of danger, because chocolate contain Theo bromine, a chemical which can be toxic for dogs.

Another mistake that pet owners make is to overfeed their dog. Sure, chubby and plump dogs are adorable, but I sure hope you are not compromising their health because of pure aesthetic reasons. Overweight dogs are susceptible to a lot of illnesses and joint problems. Dogs cannot handle large amounts of food and they don’t know when to stop eating; it’s recommendable to feed your dog once or twice (at the most) a day in small portions – if you’re unsure ask your vet or look on the packet of the particular dog food you buy – they usually have recommendations.



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