Choosing the best puppy food for Rottweilers will make a difference for the rest of the life of your dog,
In this article, we will tell you everything you need to know about 11 brands of the best puppy food for Rottweilers. Each of these 11 brands of puppy food is both expert-tested and consumer-approved for your Rottweiler’s first year of life, beginning before your dog is even weaned until your Rottweiler stops needing puppy food—which may be later than you might think.
Every Rottweiler doesn’t need every product we list here, but making your choices of the best puppy food for Rottweilers we list here can keep your dog healthier, happier, and more active for years to come. At the end of this article we will give you our buyer’s guide to what’s special about the best puppy food for Rottweilers. Now let’s take a look at the 11 best brands of puppy food for Rottweilers and when you should use them.
1. Best Wet Food for Weaning Rottweiler Puppies: Solid Gold Grain-Free Canned Puppy Food
Rottweiler puppies are completely dependent on their mothers for the first three or four weeks of their lives. At first, their eyes aren’t open. If they move around at all, it is to find a different place to nurse, and their locomotion is closer to a waddle than a walk.
About the third week of your Rottweiler puppy’s life, the nutritional content of mother’s milk changes. The mother starts producing milk that is much richer in an omega-3 essential fatty acid called docosahexaenoic acid, or DHA. This fatty acid is a building block for the protective membranes surrounding the nerves that connect the puppy’s newly-forming nerve connections between eye and brain. It also shields neurons in the brain that are involved in movement and balance.
As all this is going on, your Rottweiler puppy starts teething. Teeth and nipples are not compatible, so the mother Rottweiler uses teething as an opportunity to start weaning your puppy, while giving her first lessons in not to bite. Puppies will soon be capable of finding their food bowl. This is a good thing, because now they need more nutrition than ever before.
The wet food we commend for weaning Rottweiler puppies is Solid Gold Grain-Free Canned Puppy Food. It contains the DHA, fat, and protein Rottweiler puppies need without the grains that they don’t. It also provides a plant-based antioxidant called beta-carotene from apple and pumpkin that your young Rottweiler can use to make vitamin A for healthy skin, healthy eyes, and a healthy coat.
Why is it important that you wean your Rottweiler on a product that is grain-free?
Dogs can use grains to make energy, but they don’t ever need grains in their diet. The problem with giving a Rottweiler puppy grains when its body is using lots of DHA in its eyes and brain is that grains contain a kind of “anti-DHA.”
DHA is an omega-3 essential fatty acid, which can be used in nerve tissue or as the precursor for making eicosapentaenoic acid, also known as EPA. Eicosapentaenoic acid becomes the hormones that regulate the immune system and keep inflammation in check.
Grains are relatively abundant sources of omega-6 essential fatty acids that become the hormones that increase inflammation.
Dogs, like humans, need both kinds of essential fatty acids, but grains contain too many of the omega-6s and also very little of the omega-3s. Solid Gold Grain-Free Canned Puppy Food gives your dog the omega-3 essential fatty acids he needs without the omega-6 essential fatty acids he doesn’t need yet.
2. Best Dry Food for Weaning Rottweiler Puppies: NuLo FreeStyle Grain-Free Dry Puppy Food
There are lots of advantages, from the owner’s point of view, to giving Rottweiler puppies dry dog food.
Dry dog food doesn’t spoil quickly after the bag is opened. It is easy to buy and store in bulk. It costs less than wet dog food. Rottweiler puppies who are just getting their teeth enjoy the crunch of dry dog food, and they learn some important eating skills as they get it into their mouths.
The problem with most dry dog foods is that they contain more grain than anything else. NuLo Freestyle puppy food doesn’t contain any grains at all. It also contains DHA for healthy eyes and brain and beta-carotene that your dog’s metabolism will convert into vitamin A needed for a healthy coat and skin. But it doesn’t contain the excessive fat that could cause your puppy to put on too much weight.
3. Best Meal Replacement Food for Rottweiler Puppies: PetAg Esbilac Liquid Milk Supplement for Puppies
Female Rottweilers frequently give birth to 6 to 12 puppies. Some Rottweilers will have just two puppies at a time, but it’s not unheard of for a mother Rottweiler to give birth to 18 puppies.
Newborn puppies are completely dependent on their mother’s milk for nourishment. Female Rottweilers generally have just 10 teats, only 5 of which are exposed when she is nursing her puppies while she is lying on her side.
Probably you see the problem. When Rottweilers have large litters, some puppies may not get fed, or may not get fed enough. And when a mother Rottweiler rejects her puppies, can’t produce milk, or dies, all of her puppies must be hand fed to survive.
When very young Rottweiler puppies need supplemental nourishment, the best milk substitute is PetAg Esbilac Liquid Milk Supplement for Puppies.
PetAg milk substitutes contain all the amino acids growing Rottweiler puppies need for healthy muscles. They contain enough, but not too much, carbohydrate and fat, along with calcium and phosphorus in the right ration for strong, well-formed bones. They have almost all of the nutrients newborn Rottweilers need when they can’t get from their mother’s milk.
PetAg milk substitutes don’t contain the antibodies for protection against infection that Rottweiler puppies get from their mother’s milk. Ideally, every Rottweiler puppy should nurse at its mother’s teat for at least two days. However, canine antibodies are also available in Manna Pro Colostrum Supplement.
Feeding orphaned puppies is a full-time job. They need frequent feedings to thrive in the absence of maternal care, and they will also have many training issues. But PetAg milk substitutes and Marina Pro Colostrum Supplement will sustain life until they can eat from a bowl.
You can also bottle feed PetAg products to Rottweiler puppies when they are three to four weeks old, even if their mother is producing enough milk. You can mix liquid or rehydrated PetAg milk substitutes with NuLo dry dog food to make the dry dog food easier for a newly weaned puppy to eat..
People Who Use PetAg Goat’s Milk Products Often Ask:
Are goat’s milk products better than cow’s milk products for Rottweiler puppies?
Both kinds of milk contain all the protein, fat, and carbohydrates Rottweiler puppies need for fast growth. If one of your puppy’s parents has a known allergy to cow’s milk, then using goat’s milk may prevent allergies in the puppy. But early exposure to goat’s milk can provoke a goat’s milk allergy later in your dog’s life.
4. Best Wet Food for Active Rottweiler Puppies: EUKANUBA Puppy With Lamb & Rice Canned Dog Food
EUKANUBA Puppy With Lamb & Rice Canned Dog Food provides your Rottweiler puppy with a tasty meal with two different flavors most dogs love; lamb and liver. Neither the two kinds of liver nor the lamb used in this product leads the list of ingredients, but they are in the product in amounts large enough to get your Rottweiler puppy used to their flavors.
EUKANUBA Puppy With Lamb & Rice Canned Dog Food also includes two different fiber-rich sources of beta-carotene, tomato and carrot instead of the usual pumpkin. This product is formulated with extra attention to mineral nutrition. Because it uses rice as a source of fiber and carbohydrate, it minimizes the risk of developing common canine food allergies.
This product provides Rottweiler puppies with the DHA they need for normal eye and brain growth. It could easily become your Rottweiler’s lifetime favorite food, and you could use it for cat food, too.
5. Best Dry Food for Active Rottweiler Puppies: EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food
Rottweilers are sometimes classified as large dogs, and sometimes classified as medium-sized dogs. For purposes of choosing the best puppy food, it is best to treat them as one of the larger medium-sized dogs, giving them more food, but not higher-calorie food.
Veterinarians recommend EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food for Rottweiler puppies for two reasons. Like the other products we have mentioned, EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food contains the DHA puppies need for the eye and brain development that enables them to run and play and learn to fetch and retrieve objects on command.
EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food also provides calcium and phosphorus in the optimum ratio for these fast-growing dogs. It is a good source of both the plant compounds that become vitamin A and the antioxidant vitamin E. Both of these vitamins work together to give your Rottweiler puppy a lustrous, shiny, beautiful coat. And because the main ingredient in EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food is chicken, even picky eaters will eat this product.
There is some corn meal and some sorghum in EUKANUBA Medium Breed Dry Puppy Food to give it a crunch. Rottweiler puppies enjoy the textures and the sounds of eating it. But the main reason to give this product to your Rottweiler puppies soon after they are weaned is to make sure they are familiar with and accept a variety of flavors, textures, and smells in their food.
6. Best Treat for Active Rottweiler Puppies: EUKANUBA Healthy Extras Puppy Dog Treats
Just about every Rottweiler receives obedience training. And just about every obedience training session involves the use of puppy dog treats.
The truth is, Rottweilers are a misunderstood breed. They are loyal and lovable, but they are also intimidating. Careful training is necessary to socialize them so they attract affection instead of fear.
This means that training your Rottweiler is about more than persuading them to sit, fetch, stay, roll over, or come on your command. Training with treats is essential for happy lives with your family and your neighbors.
EUKANUBA Healthy Extras Puppy Dog Treats use a familiar flavor, chicken, to give your puppy a food tre4at for doing the right thing. What makes them a treat for your dog isn’t the familiar flavor of chicken, but their unusually crunchy texture. Their crunchy texture also makes them useful as a way to help remove plaque from your Rottweiler puppy’s teeth before it becomes tartar and causes tooth decay and tooth loss when your dog gets older.
You should keep a bag of EUKANUBA Healthy Extras Puppy Dog Treats on hand for every time you train. Keep them close at hand just in case you need to reward spontaneous good behavior. These treats can’t become a big part of your dog’s diet, but they can be useful for training your dog as a puppy and for the rest of her life.
Now let’s look at the best alternatives for our top-rated products when your dog’s favorites aren’t in stock at the pet store or online.
7. Best Alternative Wet Dog Food for Rottweiler Puppies: Purina Pro Plan Development Classic Turkey Entree Grain-Free Canned Dog Food
Purina Pro Plan Development Classic Turkey Entree Grain-Free Canned Dog Food provides complete protein for your young Rottweiler. It’s fortified with DHA for eye and brain health. And it introduces your Rottweiler puppy to a different flavor that he can learn to love and enjoy the rest of his life. That flavor is turkey.
The more flavors your Rottweiler learns to accept as a puppy, the easier she will be to feed the rest of her life.
When your Rottweiler reaches the age of about six months, his brain starts putting down a different kind of connections. Younger puppies form associations with all the fun things in their world. Older puppies form associations with all the safe things in their world.
Older puppies are more cautious. It’s a natural part of their development to react more carefully to the world around them. If you give this food to your Rottweiler puppy early on, you will have one more food they will accept throughout the rest of their puppy years and beyond.
8. Best Alternative Dry Dog Food for Rottweiler Puppies: Wellness Large Breed Complete Health Puppy Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Salmon Meal Recipe Dry Dog Food
Wellness Large Breed Complete Health Puppy Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Salmon Meal Recipe Dry Dog Food is a “just in case” food that can feed your dog when you can’t order online because of power disruptions or you can’t get deliveries because of a storm.
Wellness Large Breed Complete Health Puppy Deboned Chicken, Brown Rice & Salmon Meal Recipe Dry Dog Foodcomes in a big bag that you can keep on hand for those times you just can’t get dog food delivered because of weather or supply disruptions. It ensures your Rottweiler puppy gets complete protein from chicken without any potentially dangerous cooked bones, and introduces your Rottweiler puppy to new flavors like salmon. The brown rice in this product will help your puppy stay regular.
Now let’s look at some alternative puppy treats.
9. Best Alternative Soft Rottweiler Puppy Treats: Wellness Soft Puppy Bites Lamb & Salmon Recipe Grain-Free Dog Treats
10. Best Alternative Crunchy Rottweiler Puppy Treats: Wellness Crunchy Puppy Bites Chicken & Carrots Recipe Grain-Free Dog Treats
We recommend keeping both Wellness Soft Puppy Bites Lamb & Salmon Recipe Grain-Free Dog Treats and Wellness Crunchy Puppy Bites Chicken & Carrots Recipe Grain-Free Dog Treats on hand for training your Rottweiler puppy. With two more tastes and textures of puppy treats, you can reward your Rottweiler for good behavior with a variety of flavors and two different textures.
Having additional kinds of treats on hand enables you to train your Rottweiler with the help of a principle called intermittent reinforcement. Your Rottweiler prefers one kind of treat over all the others, but she won’t know which one she is going to get until she performs the correct behavior. Your Rottweiler will make a special effort to perform well in hopes of getting the treat she wants. Just be sure not to give her that treat every time.
11. Best Treat for Older, Larger Rottweiler Puppies: Milk Bone Original Puppy Biscuit Dog Treats
There is one more reason to keep a variety of puppy treats on hand for training your Rottweiler puppy: Bigger puppies want bigger treats.
Milk Bone Original Puppy Biscuit Dog Treats aren’t just a tasty morsel. They reward good training with several seconds of chomping down on a tasty treat with a flavor that Rottweiler puppies know really well, milk.
Milk Bone adds vitamin D and calcium to encourage healthy bones, and has a gritty texture that removes plaque below your Rottweiler’s gum line.
Our Buyer Guide to the Best Puppy Food for Rottweilers: What’s Special About the Best Puppy Food for Rottweilers?
There is no brand of puppy food that is best for all puppies of all breeds. Different breeds of dogs need different dog foods throughout their lives, but especially at the beginning of life, when their bodies change rapidly. Rottweilers, in particular, need the right combination of nutrients to keep up with the demands of medium- to large-breed dogs.
Your Rottweiler puppy comes from a long line of dogs that were bred to herd cows and pull carts. They had to grow strong bones, flexible joints, and powerful muscles. Modern Rottweilers work in search and rescue and as guard dogs, police dogs, and in the military. Rottweilers have nutritional needs that other breeds do not.
Next: The best puppy food for large breeds (our list of picks)
The best puppy food for Rottweilers supports their proper growth rate
Pups grow up at their own rate. Bones, tendons, and muscles have to develop in synchrony to provide the right framework for the body of the future adult dog. When they don’t, problems like hip dysplasia may develop. Permanent issues with joints can begin in puppies that did not receive the right nutrients in the right amounts at the right time.
Growing too fast can be just as big a problem as growing too slowly. Bones that grow too quickly don’t achieve the mineral density that makes them resistant to fractures. Gaining too much weight too fast, becoming too muscular too early in life, result in increased muscle mass that puts excessive load on joints. It’s important that your Rottweiler puppy does not get fat!
Hip dysplasia isn’t the only problem that can occur when your Rottweiler puppy grows too fast. Rottweiler puppies that grow too fast are susceptible to a condition called developmental orthopedic disease, also known as DOD. Like other large-breed dogs, they can develop another condition known as OCD or osteochondritis dessecans, which depletes the cartilage that cushions the joint in the knee.
How fast your Rottweiler puppy grows has to be carefully regulated.
Just like little people, little Rottweilers need a balanced diet with the right amounts of carbohydrate, protein, and fat, along with minerals and vitamins (which aren’t quite the same in dogs as for people). Unlike human children, dogs vary tremendously in how much carbohydrate, protein, fat, and micronutrients they need. The nutritional requirements of a Great Dane puppy are much greater than those of a Chihuahua puppy. Rottweilers have nutritional needs closer to those of a Great Dane than those of a Chihuahua.
Regardless of their breed, puppies need lots of high-energy foods during their first year of life. That is because they are constantly moving around, interacting with other dogs, their humans, and other animals, and exploring their world. For a Rottweiler, “high-energy” is fat, not carbohydrate, and certainly not sugar. Dogs have the ability to digest carbohydrates to make glucose for energy, but their metabolisms are designed to rely primarily on protein foods, not carbohydrate foods, to make the glucose they need. For slow, steady, all-day energy, Rottweiler puppies need healthy fats.
That doesn’t mean that more fat is always better. Rottweiler puppies spend about half their daily calories on growing, but feeding your Rottweiler puppy too many high-fat foods can cause weight gain that runs ahead of bone development.
Similarly, too much protein is not a good thing, either. Too much protein in your Rottweiler puppy’s diet can cause an imbalance between calcium and phosphorus that interferes with the use of calcium to strengthen bones.
But too much calcium is also a problem. Unlike adult dogs, puppies cannot carefully regulate the amount of calcium they absorb from digested food. Too much calcium can cause bone deformities. In extreme cases, it can cause weakness, listlessness, loss of appetite, excessive urination, and bladder and kidney stones.
Calcium and phosphorus work together to form healthy bones. Your puppy’s diet should provide between one and three times as much phosphorus as calcium, not more, and not less.
Bone growth also requires vitamin D. Humans make this vitamin when their skin is exposed to sunshine. Your dog’s body is covered with fur, so vitamin D has to come from supplements or, more naturally, high-fat foods. But there is a balance between getting enough vitamin D and not getting too much fat.
Rottweiler puppies need food that provides about 30 percent protein and about 9 percent fat. They need about 3 grams of calcium but no more than 9 grams of phosphorus for every 1000 calories they eat.
Puppy treats also count toward your dog’s nutritional requirements, but in most cases, fruit and vegetables do not. In fact, certain favorite plant foods of people are toxic to dogs.
We choose the right puppy foods for your Rottweiler for you
We have considered all of these requirements in recommending the 11 best brands of puppy food for Rottweilers.
There are hundreds of brands of dog food on store shelves and available online. The best brands are marked with the AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) seal of approval, but even with that, you need to make sure your [puppy food has been formulated for large-breed dogs.
When you use these 11 brands of the best puppy food for Rottweilers, you can focus on what you need to do day to day to keep your Rottweiler puppy growing and healthy:
- Exercise portion control. When it comes to food, puppies, and especially Rottweiler puppies, always want more. You must measure the amount of food your puppy needs every day for its weight and stage of growth. Your veterinarian can give you specific guidelines for your dog.
- Monitor your puppy’s growth rate. Veterinarians use a tool called the canine body condition score (BCS) to assess whether a dog is too thin, overweight, or at just the right body weight. A score of 1 is too thin, and a score of 9 is obese. You want your Rottweiler puppy to stay at 4 or 5. You can find pictures of the 1 to 9 BCS ratings on the American Kennel Club site.
- Consider your puppy’s genetics. Dogs aren’t doomed to have certain conditions like hip dysplasia just because their parents had them. You can use the best puppy food for Rottweilers as part of your routine for helping your dog avoid growth problems like hip dysplasia to lead the healthiest life possible.
Couldn’t you do all of this on a home-made dog food diet? In theory you could, but veterinarians report that homemade dog food diets without enough calcium and vitamin D can cause serious bone deformities in Rottweilers.
There is just one more thing we need to cover before we get into the specifics of the best brands of puppy food for Rottweilers. It’s how long a Rottweiler is a “puppy.” Dogs are usually considered puppies until the growth plates at the ends of their bones close. That usually occurs about the same time as they become sexually mature, or they are spayed or neutered. However, if your vet advises you that you should wait to spay or neuter your Rottweiler so they are less likely to get cancer later in life, you should also ask about continuing puppy food as long as to age two.
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