Questions about my puppy maltese

[zoeylover]

Hello, I have a 16 week old tiny maltese. She is about 2.8 pounds and the sweetest thing ever. I have a few questions. What are some things that I need to make sure she is the healthiest dog. She is currently eating wellness soft food but I heard I need to get her on hard kibble. Do i? Also since she is so tiny she also takes nutri-cal puppy a dietary supp. Is there anything I can do to make sure she is as healthy as can be?

[cockermom93]

Has she been to the vet? If so great just make sure all her shots are done on time. If not then she needs to go and get started on puppy shots and heartworm preventative. Heartworm preventative is given once a month as is flea treatment, both you need to get from a veterinarian. I would recommend getting her spayed at 6months and getting her groomed for the first time as soon as her shots are all done and keep her in to the groomer every 4-6 weeks. I would get her to eat hard food because Maltese are really prone to having bad tarter build up on thier teeth that can lead to gum disease and hard kibble helps prevent that. You can and should brush her teeth and hair coat at least once a week yourself. Hope some of this helps and sorry if I left something out. :) Welcome to k9mania hope to hear some stories and see some pics of your little white baby! :D

[Jr_K9_Expert]

Welcome to K9mania!

Hmmm there many consideration that you must take to make certain that your pooch is healthy, then again that term is very general and unspecific. I think that Cockermom did a good job of outlining the vet part. Look into the vaccination and deworming times, this is the biggest part of keeping your pooch physically healthy.

Allow me to explain a bit about behavioral health.

First off, once the vaccination plan is complete make sure to expose her to as many expiriences as possible. Get her acquainted with many dogs so that she isn't fearful or aggressive towards them. Also allow her to meet different kinds of people. Your goal is to make all these expiriences as enjoyable as possible (through play, toys, or food), this way she makes a good connection between the reward and the current experience.

Even though she may be a cute puppy right now, beware of making too much fuss over her. You want to avoid giving too much attention right now because she will become too much owner-dependant and you'll end up with a dog with seperation anxiety. This doesn't mean to neglect her, just mean to keep moderation in mind. Don't give into every appeal for attention for this will also lead to possible seperation anxiety or dominance issues.

She may be young, but she isn't untrainable. I would suggest that you start training with simple exercises so that she takes to your commands more easily when you start more serious training.

As for food. Its really up to you to decide what kind of diet you want to feed her. For right now, it is essential to be feeding her some sort of puppy formula because she needs the extra nutrients and caloric content that only puppy feed can provide. Here is a link of a thread where a few links to nutritional websites were posted, read through them and you'll have a better idea of what you should be feeding your pooch.

http://www.k9mania.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10727

There's many more considerations but maybe some of the other members can emphasize them better :D

[Labman]

Don't let all the conflicting food recommendations get to you. Very few dogs suffer problems if they are eating almost any commercial chow. While I think the dry chows have some advantages, it may be best to stick to what you are feeding for now.

[Brutus]

Wellness is a great food! Wellness also makes a "Super 5 Mix" for Toy Dogs. My Toy Poodle Lilly ate that when she was a pup. She now eats strictly canned food. The major benefit that dry food gives you is working tarter off the teeth, and giving the pup's mouth a "mini work out". Lilly now suffers from severe gum disease, which is common in alot of Toy breeds. So even though canned food doesn't sound like the best choice for her, that is all she will eat because of how sensitive her gums are. Aside from a good diet, vaccines are a must! Always make sure your dog is vaccinated, clean & healthy! Good Luck!