7 Best Dry Foods For Goldendoodle Puppies 2023

Calling all new Goldendoodle parents! As you know, our Goldendoodles are prone to sensitive tummies and food allergies, not to mention some pesky inherited diseases like hip dysplasia. But fret not, with the right diet, managing and even avoiding these issues becomes a lot easier.

It’s clear to see that choosing the right dog food is crucial for your Goldendoodle puppy’s wellbeing. After all, you want your pup to have all the necessary nutrients for their active and growing lifestyle. Dry puppy food is a fantastic option for your Goldendoodle because it’s packed with essential nutrients and is great for their dental health.

There are thousands of options out there, but we’ve done the hard work for you with this guide. So read on to find out more about the best dry food for Goldendoodle puppies – no matter what special needs they have, we’ve got you covered.

 

Best Dry Food for Goldendoodle Puppies

If you want to give your Goldendoodle puppy dry dog food, you’ll need to think about what you need from it. Are you looking for a high-protein option or the best food to give your puppy a healthy coat? No matter what you’re looking for, our top picks below have got you covered.

Best overall puppy food – Hill’s Science Diet Puppy

Hill’s is already well-established as a high-quality food producer, and their puppy food is no exception. This food promotes muscle growth, a healthy immune system, and healthy brain and eye development. This is our choice for the best overall because of the nutritional value and the fact that it’s available in multiple sizes (perfect for pet parents with multiple hungry Doodles!).

There’s a reason Hill’s products are so often recommended by vets. Along with Royal Canin, it’s one of the most trusted pet food brands among professionals. If it’s good enough for them, it’s good enough for us.

Pros

• It comes in three sizes (4.5lbs, 15.5lbs and 30lbs).

• It has fish oil.

• It’s made with natural ingredients.

Cons

• The bigger bags can be on the pricier end of the scale.

Best for all-natural ingredients – Merrick Backcountry Raw Infused Puppy Dry Food

The first ingredient in this food is real deboned chicken, which means that it’s very high in quality protein – just what growing Groodles need! This food aims to provide your dog with a well-balanced diet that’s rich in complex carbohydrates. They use high-quality, all-natural, organic ingredients to avoid food allergies and provide your pup with all the nutrients it needs.

If you’re looking for all-natural ingredients, the team at Barksinthepark.co recons Hill’s Science Diet is just as good and slightly more affordable. However, it doesn’t use as high quality chicken (Hill’s uses chicken meal instead).

Pros

• It comes in three sizes (4lbs, 10lbs, and 20lbs).

• It has two options: healthy grains and grain free.

Cons

• The price ranges from $27 – $82, so it can be a little pricey.

Best high-protein – Nutro Natural Choice Puppy Dry Food, Chicken & Brown Rice Recipe

This food is high in protein, omega-3, and DHA – key ingredients that promote brain and eye development. It doesn’t contain ingredients that might cause your dog to have an upset stomach, making it an ideal choice for puppies’ delicate tummies.

Like the Merrick food above, Nutro uses real chicken as the number one ingredient meaning it’s packed with protein and your Goldendoodle puppy is sure to find it delicious!

Pros

• It contains real chicken.

• It doesn’t contain GMOs, by-product chicken meal, wheat, corn or soy.

• It doesn’t contain synthetic ingredients.

Cons

• It only comes in two sizes (5lbs and 13lbs).

Best grain free food – Blue Buffalo Wilderness High Protein Natural Puppy Food

This food is high in protein, with a real chicken protein source that supports lean muscle growth. It’s high in fatty acids and complex grains that promote brain and eye development.

Blue Buffalo use all-natural ingredients to make this food – it contains blueberries, carrots, brown rice, fish oil, and sweet potatoes too. Each of these ingredients brings different benefits for your dog, making this the best Goldendoodle puppy food for variety and quality of ingredients.

Pros

• It contains real chicken.

• It comes in five sizes (4lbs, 4.5lbs, 11lbs, 22lbs and 24lbs).

• It comes in four flavors.

• Uses high quality grains.

• No by-product, meal, or artificial flavors.

Cons

• None! This is a great choice.

Best for coat health – Taste of the Wild Grain-Free Dry Puppy Food

Even new Goldendoodle puppy owners will be familiar with the challenges of keeping this curly breed’s coat tame! While we can’t say this food will stop your fur baby from getting dirty, we can say it will help keep their coat in good health.

This food will promote healthier skin and a healthy coat due to the fish protein source, which is high in vitamins, minerals and omega-3. If for some reason you decide this isn’t for you, Purina Pro is a great alternative if you’re looking for a dog food containing fish or fish oil.

Pros

• It’s grain-free puppy food.

• It contains real fish.

• They also have this flavor in their adult food (you don’t have to find a new food when your Doodle gets too old for this one – winner!).

• It comes in three sizes (5lbs, 14lbs and 28lbs).

Cons

• It can be pricey as bags range from $21 – $60.

Best for overall health – Purina Pro Plan High Protein Dry Puppy Food

This food is more than just a delicious meal for your furry friend. With its carefully crafted ingredients, this dry puppy food is specifically designed to provide your puppy with the necessary nutrients for a healthy life. The inclusion of glucosamine and EPA promotes joint health and mobility, while high-quality protein from chicken helps build lean muscles.

Like the Taste of the Wild food, this is a great option for coat health. It contains vitamin A and omega-6 fatty acids, which nourish your pup’s skin and coat, leaving her looking shiny and healthy.

The highly digestible formula ensures optimal nutrient delivery, making sure that your puppy gets the most out of her food.

Pros

• It contains real chicken.

• It contains fish oil.

• It’s fortified with probiotics.

Cons

• It only comes in one size (34lbs)

Best for digestion – Royal Canin Dry Dog Food

Like Hill’s, Royal Canin is a brand highly recommended by vets, so you can be sure it will give your puppy the best start in life.

This puppy dry dog food is made to be digestible for growing puppies while providing them with prebiotics and a blend of vitamins that promotes healthy digestive and immune systems. This food should also provide your dog with lots of energy (we’ll apologize in advance!).

Purina Pro is a better choice in terms of ingredients as it contains real chicken as opposed to the chicken fat and meal found in this product.

Pros

• It comes in three sizes (6lbs, 17lbs, and 30lbs).

• It contains chicken fat.

• The protein source is chicken by-product meal.

Cons

• It can be a little pricy with a price range of $26 – $90.

 

Choosing the Best Goldendoodle Puppy Food

You can’t just feed your puppy any dog food off the store shelf. It’s important that you find the right food for your dog’s needs. You need to consider what stage of life your dog is in, the weight and size of your dog, as well as the nutritional needs of the breed.

A good thing to note here is that you might come across by-product meals when looking for the best puppy food for your Goldendoodle. Many people aren’t fond of these kinds of dog foods because they assume that the animal by-products are things like hooves and feathers.

In fact, this couldn’t be further from the truth. By-products in dog foods are commonly organs like the liver and kidneys, which are very nutritious for your puppy and high in protein. Here are a few more things to keep in mind:

Life stage

First, it’s important to buy the appropriate food for your dog’s life stage – in this case, you should be looking at food options specifically designed for puppies.

Adult dog food isn’t suitable for puppies because their nutritional needs are different. If your Goldendoodle is under 15 months old, then it’s a puppy and should eat puppy food. You can look for foods made for large breed puppies if you have a Standard Goldendoodle.

Nutritional needs

Proper nutrition is absolutely vital for growing Goldendoodle puppies. They need it to set them up to be healthy adult dogs. Without the right nutrients, your puppy will need to be put on supplements to make sure that they’re healthy. Failing to provide the right diet when they’re young can also lead to health problems later in life – it’s never too early to start giving your dog the best!

Ingredients

You should buy high-quality dog food with the best, real ingredients. You can tell from reading the ingredients on the bag (and checking the price) whether or not you’re dealing with the right kind and quality of food.

Protein

The first thing you should look for in good quality dry puppy food is a source of protein. Protein is necessary to help your Goldendoodle pup grow healthy, strong muscles, as well as help its body process energy.

Always go for a puppy food that contains real animal protein. Plant protein is sometimes adequate, but there should be more meat than plant protein. It should be one of the top three ingredients. There are many protein sources available, from chicken or fish to venison!

Fats

A high-fat diet isn’t ideal for your Goldendoodle, but some fats are necessary and even healthy! Fats in dog food will help your puppy absorb minerals and vitamins, and give them energy.

When looking at puppy food, you should make sure it contains healthy animal fats. Chicken fat and fish oil are good fats to have in your dog food.

Amino Acids

Amino acids are the essential building blocks for your puppy’s muscles. Taurine is a particularly important amino acid that helps maintain heart health and is definitely a must when looking for the best dog food.

Minerals and Carbohydrates

It’s also important that you pick dog food that has minerals and complex carbohydrates to give your puppy all the energy they need. Calcium and phosphorous are great minerals to help your dog grow and maintain strong bones.

Whole grains are a great source of complex carbohydrates and typically don’t trigger allergic reactions in dogs. Sweet potatoes and brown rice are ideal for your puppy.

Whole grains are also a great source of fiber for your puppy, which is essential for its growth and health. Fiber also provides prebiotics which prevent the growth of harmful bacteria in the gut as well as promote healthy digestion.

steer clear

Avoid any dog foods with artificial flavors, artificial colors, artificial preservatives, and any other synthetic ingredients.

 

Benefits Of Choosing The Best Goldendoodle Puppy Food

A healthy diet equals a healthy puppy, and a great diet can also improve any health issues your puppy might be suffering from.

Buying the right dog food can remove all the guesswork in figuring out if your dog is getting all the nutrients and vitamins that it needs.

Healthy fur

Choosing the best dog food for Goldendoodles will ensure that your puppy has a soft and shiny coat with minimal shedding.

Healthy skin

Goldendoodles can be prone to skin diseases because of their Poodle genes. Their skin can become inflamed, itchy, irritated and scaly. If your puppy doesn’t have healthy skin, it can also affect its coat and cause it to fall out. Omega 3 fatty acids in dog food play a huge role in promoting healthy skin for your dog.

Healthy hips

Goldendoodles can inherit hip dysplasia from their Golden Retriever parents, as well as other hip problems common in their Poodle parents.

Too much calcium in dog food can increase the risk of them developing hip problems, but the right amount of calcium will strengthen their bones. This makes it less likely your pup will suffer from these conditions in the future.

Healthy stomach

The prebiotics found in the whole grains of your puppy’s food helps protect their gut from any harmful bacteria while also promoting a healthy gut and digestive system. Low-quality puppy food can trigger digestive upsets – the last thing you want is your fur baby throwing up because of unsuitable food!

Healthy heart

A Goldendoodle is at high risk of having a heart condition where their aorta is too narrow, causing the heart to work harder to pump blood. While you can’t cure this issue, you can strengthen your dog’s heart with amino acids and omega-3. Look out for these ingredients when you’re considering which dog food to buy your Goldendoodle puppy.

Healthy eyes

Goldendoodle puppies are at risk of developing eye problems, like cataracts, so it’s important to set them up for success with a healthy diet. Vitamin A and omega fatty acids will improve your dog’s eye health, so buy dog food that contains these nutrients in healthy doses.

 

FAQs

When can I switch my Goldendoodle puppy to adult food?

Once your puppy is 12 months old, you can start to transition it from Goldendoodle puppy food to Goldendoodle adult dog food. Puppy food is designed to support a puppy’s growth, but as they grow older, their needs change.

How often should I feed my Goldendoodle?

You should feed your Goldendoodle puppy several meals a day, because it does a lot of growing in the first year and will be very hungry! Smaller, more frequent meals are better for digestion. As Goldendoodle puppies get older, you can slowly ease it down to two meals a day.

How much should I feed my Goldendoodle puppy?

How much to feed your Goldendoodle puppy depends on what’s recommended on the bag – every brand is different. You can then adjust it to suit your puppy’s needs to ensure that they reach their ideal weight and don’t exceed it. Puppy food has ingredients to make sure your pup grows properly, but letting it become overweight is not healthy.

Should I feed my dog a grain-free diet?

While a grain-free diet is often not strictly necessary, it may be the way to go if your puppy has allergies or sensitivities. Many of the Goldendoodle puppy food options we’ve recommended above are grain-free, but a wet food is also a good choice if you’re looking for food without grains.