The first weeks decide a lot
Got a new puppy or kitten?
Congratulations — and take a breath. Before you pick your species below, here is the part that is true for both: the four growth rules that make feeding a baby animal a different job from feeding an adult.
Short answer
What should a new puppy or kitten eat?
Fresh, gently cooked animal-protein meals, portioned to their current weight and age, fed in 3–4 small meals a day — and completed with a growth-stage balancer, because growth runs on strict nutrient windows (calcium for puppies, taurine and DHA for kittens) that no home recipe reaches by itself. Growth is the one life stage where guessing costs the most: the skeleton, eyes and brain being built this month cannot be rebuilt later.
What it depends on
- Age — a 9-week-old and a 6-month-old are different feeding jobs; portions move monthly during growth.
- Expected adult size — large-breed puppies grow on deliberately controlled calories and calcium; kittens sprint to near-adult size within a year.
- What the breeder or shelter fed — transitions happen over a week, not overnight.
Common questions
Can I just feed adult food in smaller portions?
No — this is the biggest myth in growth feeding. A growing body needs more calcium, more protein, more of nearly everything per kilo than an adult body, and in tighter ratios. Growth is not a scaled-down adult diet; it is a different specification. That is why PuppyPro™ and KittenPro™ exist as separate growth-tier formulas rather than smaller doses of the adult sachet.
How many meals a day?
Small stomachs, fast metabolisms: 4 meals a day up to about 4 months, then 3, settling to 2 near adulthood. The daily sachet count splits across those meals — the plan on each species page shows the exact split.
What is the biggest mistake new pet parents make?
Guessing portions and winging the minerals. Underfeeding stunts; overfeeding a large-breed puppy inflames growing joints; and calcium is famously two-sided in puppies — too little bends bones, too much damages them. The cure is boring and reliable: weigh the food, follow the age chart, complete the bowl.
The four rules both species share
1 · Growth is a specification, not a portion size. Higher floors for protein, calcium, phosphorus and energy per kilo — set separately for growth by NRC 2006 and FEDIAF. Adult food in smaller scoops quietly misses them.
2 · The windows are strict — and different per species. Puppies live inside the two-sided calcium window (too little harms, too much also harms — especially large breeds). Kittens run on taurine and DHA for eyes, heart and brain, in the fastest-growing months a cat will ever have.
3 · Small stomachs, many meals. Three to four small fresh meals a day, portioned to current weight and re-portioned as it climbs — monthly, not annually.
4 · Fresh, then completed. Gently cooked meat, egg and curd your kitchen already makes — plus a growth-tier sachet (PuppyPro™ or KittenPro™), weight-dosed, carrying the growth floors. Tested on 1 Million+ simulated bowls · Wilson C/R 95/99.
Now — which one is chewing your shoelaces?
Adopted an adult instead? dogs · cats — or jump straight to your pet's exact grams.