Can puppies eat regular meat?

I have an 8 week old chihuahua and she's eating some dry food. She doesn't really like it when I moisten it, so I have to leave it a bit crunchy which I hope doesn't hurt her teeth.





Anyway, yesterday after I gave her her food bowl, my bf and I were fixing tacos and a small piece of grilled steak fell on the floor. My puppy ate that thing so fast, which kinda made me worry, but at least it was small and didn't have seasoning in it. She really seemed to enjoy it and behaved much happier later, didn't seem to hurt her stomach, and slept more peacefully I noticed (could all that be from one piece of meat?!)





So what I'd like to know is if puppies can eat small portions of regular meat? Is any type of wet food okay (I read that canned wet food is not good, but I'm not familiar with this)?





Thanks for your advice!

Can puppies eat regular meat?
Absolutely puppies can eat meat. I would be disciplined with what you give. The 'dropped' food would be a nice treat. Just be a firm enough owner to not give treats of what your eating or you could create a monster who begs. Be a good pet owner and train your puppy to know who is the alpha dog.





Now on the other hand, you can cook unseasoned ground beef and mix with rice and French cut green beans and feed a small bit to your pup for one of his meals. This quite nutritional and a nice change for your dog. We have a chichuahua as well and he gets 1/4 cut every evening. But morning and afternoon he get 1/2 cup dry dog chow. (Puppy Chow when he was a puppy.) Our vet suggests this mixture for puppies when their moms won't nurse and they need good food early.





(one last thought on the meat being good for puppies....they did not have commercial dog foot a hundred years ago. They didn't even have it when my dad was a kid back in the 30's. They ate the scraps from the family's table. Dogs were not always domesticated. They hunted for food. And I'm pretty certain they didn't hunt for tomatoes and carrots in the garden! If you get my drift!)
Reply:yes its good for them even though its not dog food....its better to feed them regualr food than dog food.........
Reply:puppies really shouldnt be fed people food.. it makes them beg for food and you will never get them to stop....but i think the puppy will be okay after this one time...just dont let him eat it as a normal meal
Reply:Absolutely, puppies can eat meat. Dry food is good for them also. Have you thought about a raw diet?
Reply:Dogs have evolved to eat meat. Once they are off mother's milk they are perfectly suited to eat meat. You should teach your dog to NEVER grab and eat food you have dropped. Your dog should only eat something you gve it permission to eat.
Reply:Yes, they can have meat. I'm not too sure what you mean by "regular". But you can feed them raw meat or cooked meat. I prefer to feed mine cooked, although they do get their share of raw. Crunchy food is good for their teeth. Especially small breeds. They are prone to bad teeth and it helps keep the tartar in control. ☺
Reply:meat as part of your puppies diet is good but not as table scraps. Wet food is good for puppies since puppies eat alot when they are young and need it to grow. But not too much wet food as it can make you dog fat.





Veggies are good also. MOst dogs love veggies and some don't. I would wait on hard veggies until your puppies teeth get stronger to where she eats crunchy dry food with out it being a little moist.


i hope this helps!
Reply:yes your puppy can actually eat regular meat. Beef, chicken and fish are best. i would try to stay away from pork, most dogs have a hard time digesting it expecially if it is fatty.





Yes the little piece of meat can actually change your dogs behaviour to the best. the reasong behind this is because dogs are naturally carnivour. which means they are natural meat eaters. If you keep the meat intake small you shouldnt have any problems with its weight.





hope this helps
Reply:You can get really good dog nutrition info from this website.





www.rawmeatybones.com





Vets are only give about a 30 min. lecture on dog nutrition paid for by the big dog food companies. This means they learn to promote certain brands of kibble... Dogs are carnivores and are very, very close DNA-wise to Wolves... They need a species appropriate diet of raw meat, raw meaty bones, with a small amount of organ meat (liver, kidney, spleen, etc.)





Here are some good sites to get you started.





www.rawmeatybones.com (read the 2 books here by Tom Lonsdale DVM)





www.rawfed.com


www.rawlearning.com


www.rawfeddogs.net





http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfe...