care
What to Feed an 8-Week-Old Puppy in India: A Plain Guide
An eight-week-old puppy should eat exactly what it was eating at the breeder's for the first two weeks, in three or four small meals a day. The safe long-term choice is a puppy-formula dry food, softened with warm water at first; boiled rice with chicken or egg works as part of the diet if you know what it lacks. No milk, no bones, no table scraps.
A puppy leaves us at eight weeks fully weaned and eating on its own, and the first thing every new owner wants to do is feed it something better. Resist that for a fortnight. The single most common reason a healthy puppy gets diarrhoea in its first week at home is a change of food, and a small puppy with diarrhoea dehydrates faster than you would believe. Here is how to feed it properly — now, and as it grows.
Rule one: do not change anything for two weeks
Ask the breeder exactly what the puppy has been eating, which brand, how much and how often, and keep that going for at least fourteen days. The puppy is coping with a new home, new people, new smells and no mother. Its food is the one thing that can stay the same, and its gut will thank you.
If you plan to switch to a different food later, do it gradually over a week: three-quarters old food and a quarter new for two days, then half and half, then a quarter old and three-quarters new, then all new. Any loose motions along the way means slow down.
What a puppy actually needs
A puppy grows from a few hundred grams to most of its adult weight in its first year, and in a large breed that means building a skeleton fast. The diet has to carry more protein, more fat, more calcium and phosphorus in the right ratio, and more of certain vitamins than an adult dog’s food does. This is why “puppy” formulas exist, and why adult dog food — let alone rice and dal — is not a substitute in the first year.
The practical choices in India come down to three.
Puppy dry food (kibble)
This is what we recommend for most homes, and what most of our puppies are weaned onto. A reputable puppy formula is a complete diet: everything the puppy needs, in the right proportions, in every bowl. It stores well, which matters in Kolkata’s monsoon, and the amount is easy to measure.
- Choose a puppy formula, and for a Labrador, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd or Great Dane a large-breed puppy formula, which controls the calcium and the growth rate to protect the joints.
- For the first few weeks, soak the kibble in warm water for ten minutes so it is soft. Puppy teeth are small, and softened food is easier on the stomach. Move to dry over a month.
- Follow the packet table for quantity, by expected adult weight, then adjust to the puppy in front of you.
Home-cooked food
Plenty of Kolkata households feed boiled rice with chicken, and puppies thrive on it as part of a diet. The honest problem is what it lacks: calcium, several vitamins and minerals, and the fat balance a growing dog needs. Fed alone for months, it produces a puppy that looks fine and has thin bones.
If you want to feed home food, do one of two things. Either make it a portion of the diet alongside a complete puppy food — many of our customers do half and half — or ask a vet to design a home diet with the right supplements. What works well as the home-cooked part:
- plain boiled rice with boiled, boneless chicken, no spice, no onion, no garlic
- a boiled egg, mashed, two or three times a week
- a spoon of plain curd, which most puppies digest well
- a little boiled pumpkin or carrot
What does not: chapati as a staple, dal as the protein, anything with masala, and anything cooked for the family and scraped into the bowl.
Wet or tinned food
Good quality, convenient and expensive. It works as a topper on kibble to tempt a fussy eater, or as a full diet if the budget allows. In a Kolkata summer, anything left in the bowl spoils within the hour — pick up what is not eaten.
How often, and how much
| Age | Meals per day |
|---|---|
| 8 to 12 weeks | 4 |
| 3 to 6 months | 3 |
| 6 months onward | 2 |
Set meal times and keep to them. Put the bowl down, give the puppy twenty minutes, and take up whatever is left. A puppy that grazes all day is harder to house-train — because what goes in on a schedule comes out on a schedule — and harder to judge for appetite, which is your first warning sign of illness.
Quantity comes from the packet table and then from your hands. Run your fingers along the puppy’s side: you should feel each rib under a thin layer, without seeing them. Too easy to feel and the puppy needs more; hard to find and it needs less. Weigh it weekly on the kitchen scale while it is small enough. Steady gain is right. Fast gain, especially in a large breed, is not a bonus — it is strain on joints that have not finished forming.
Monthly food costs vary a great deal by breed. Each of our breed pages lists what that breed costs to feed per month as an adult, and our dog price in Kolkata page sets them side by side.
Never feed these
- Milk — causes diarrhoea in most puppies past eight weeks
- Cooked bones of any kind — they splinter
- Onion and garlic, including in gravies — toxic to dogs
- Grapes, raisins, chocolate — toxic
- Anything sweetened with xylitol (some sugar-free products) — dangerous even in small amounts
- Fried food, sweets, biscuits meant for people — not toxic, just the fastest route to a fat, itchy puppy
Treats are fine for training, in tiny pieces, and should be a small fraction of the day’s food. A few pieces of the puppy’s own kibble work as well as anything.
Water, and the Kolkata heat
Fresh water in a clean bowl, always, changed twice a day. A puppy on dry food drinks a lot, and in April to June it needs more still. If you ever see a puppy drinking far more than usual with no change in weather or food, mention it to the vet. Our post on summer care covers the hot-weather routine in detail.
Store dry food in an airtight container, not the open bag. In the monsoon, kibble left in a paper sack goes soft and mouldy within a week, and a puppy will eat it anyway.
When to call the vet
Loose motions for more than a day, vomiting more than once, refusing two meals in a row, or a puppy that is dull and not interested in play — any of these in a puppy under four months is a same-day vet visit, not a wait-and-see. Small puppies have no reserves. Keep the vaccination card and a note of what the puppy has eaten in the last two days; the vet will ask for both. Our guide to the first week with a new puppy covers the other things to watch for in those early days.
Common questions
Can I give my puppy milk?
No. Most puppies lose the ability to digest cow's milk by eight weeks, and it causes loose motions and dehydration — the opposite of what you want in a puppy's first weeks. Water is the only drink it needs. A spoon of plain curd is a different matter and most puppies handle it well.
Is home-cooked food enough for a puppy?
Not on its own. Rice with boiled chicken or egg is safe and puppies love it, but it is short on calcium, several vitamins and the fat balance a growing skeleton needs. Use it as part of the diet alongside a complete puppy food, or get a vet to design a supplemented home diet. Rice and dal alone is not a puppy diet.
How many times a day should an 8-week-old puppy eat?
Four small meals a day until about twelve weeks, then three until six months, then two for life. A puppy's stomach is tiny and its energy needs are enormous, so frequent small meals keep blood sugar steady. Toy breeds in particular should never go long without food.
How much should I feed?
Start from the feeding table on the food packet, which is set by the puppy's expected adult weight, and adjust to the puppy — you should feel the ribs easily but not see them. Every brand's table is different, so a cup of one food is not a cup of another. When in doubt, weigh the puppy weekly; steady gain is the goal, not fast gain.
