The importance of good nutrition in growing puppies and kittens

Forty-odd years ago, growing up with a Great Dane, the only factor considered was the cost of the food. In the 1970s very little was known about canine nutritional requirements. In fact, it was 1991 before a paper citing nutritional requirements for different sizes of dogs was published (Burger and Johnson, 1991) and a further 6 years before the first commercially prepared large-breed diet was launched by Royal Canin®. Since then, nutritional knowledge has continually deepened, with thousands of publications available on PubMed for those who are interested.

By the time most puppies and kittens reach adulthood, they will have increased their birth weight by 40–50 times (Case et al, 2011). However, owing to the great variation in dogs’ sizes, from tiny Chihuahuas at around 2 kg to Irish Wolfhounds at about 70 kg bodyweight, canine growth periods vary significantly (Figure 1). Cats and small-breed dogs usually reach physical maturity at 9–12 months of age; large and giant breeds, not until they are 18–24 months old (Case et al, 2011). If one considers that an adult giant-breed dog may weigh the same as an adult human, who would take 18 years to reach maturity, this is a remarkably rapid growth period.