Goldendoodle Diet – How To Pick The Best Food

When selecting your Goldendoodle diet, you must take into consideration if it has the necessary nutrients to keep them happy and energetic. On the other hand, when choosing a diet, you must also be aware of the possible Goldendoodle food allergies.

If your dog develops a food allergy, it can cause daily discomfort and pain.

What Factors Affect Goldendoodle Diet

The Goldendoodle is a designer breed dog. They are a cross between a Golden Retriever and a Poodle. Overall, the Goldendoodle personality is active, energetic and friendly.

Furthermore, the right Goldendoodle diet should provide your dog with enough fuel to keep them active and healthy.

In order to know what is the right Goldendoodle diet, you must know how many calories your dog needs. The Goldendoodle can grow into three sizes depending on the parents in the cross:

• Mini (15-30 pounds/6.8kg-29.9kg)
• Medium (30-45 pounds/29.9kg-20.4kg)
• Standard (45-100 pounds/20.4kg-45.3kg)

Best Food For Goldendoodle Puppy

Before having to feed a full-sized dog, you should know what is the right Goldendoodle diet for a puppy. Furthermore, providing your Goldendoodle puppy with all the nutrients they need, it sets them for a healthy and happy doggy life.

Follow these steps when it comes to your puppy’s diet:

• To start with, your puppy should wean off their mother’s milk by 8 weeks of age
• However, it’s recommended to introduce them to hard food at around 4 weeks of age
• In the case, they are teething, you can add wet food to their diet

How Often Should I Feed My Goldendoodle Puppy

• Feed your puppy 3-4 small meals per day
• By the age of 6 months old, feed your Goldendoodle puppy twice per day

A good options for puppy dry food is Nulo Freestyle, Turkey recipe. In addition to being grain free, this food is also good for sensitive stomach and to avoid and possible Goldendoodle Food Allergies.

Best Food For Adult Goldendoodle

What is the best Goldendoodle diet? Does it need to be different than any other dog’s diet?

Most Goldendoodle owners would ask themselves these questions. However, what is the best Goldendoodle diet, depends on variety of factors. Some of those factors include:

• The size of your Goldendoodle
• Are there any Goldendoodle food allergies present
• Are Goldendoodles prone to any digestive problems

In most cases, a dry kibble food that is rich in protein and fats, can be a great diet for your Goldendoodle. However, there are many options on the market.

It’s your job as a responsible dog owner to do the necessary research into which foods provides your dog with the most health benefits.

When it comes to putting together the perfect Goldendoodle diet, there are many factors to be considered. Some of them are the following:

• What are the key ingredients in my Goldendoodle diet?
• Can I feed my Goldendoodle Homemade food?
• Grains vs grains free Goldendoodle diet?
• Wet vs Dry Goldendoodle diet?
• How often should I feed my Goldendoodle
• How much should I feed my Goldendoodle
• What foods is my Goldendoodle prohibited
• What treats are safe for my Goldendoodle
• What are Goldendoodle food allergies

You should feed your Goldendoodle a well-balanced and nutritious diet.

As we have already mentioned, dry kibble food is the way to go for reasons such as:

• It’s easy to get a hold of
• Easy to store big quantities of it
• Usually contains all the nutrients your dog needs
• When crunching on the hard food, it helps clean your dog’s teeth off plaque and tartar

When choosing your Goldendoodle’s hard kibble food, there are a certain ingredients that it should contain.

Key Ingredients In Kibble Food

A well-balanced Goldendoodle diet is essential for your dog’s happiness and long-term health. To achieve that, when selecting your Goldendoodle’s kibble food you should ensure that it contains the following:

• Protein from high-quality meat or meat meal
• Fats and fatty acids
• Carbs
• Vitamins and minerals

Protein

The first and main ingredient that you should look for in your Goldendoodle’s food is – protein. Usually, this appears on the packaging as fish, poultry, chicken, turkey, beef, etc. It can also, appear in the form of a meat meal on the packaging.

Look for the following when reading the ingredients list:

• It should contain 2 to 3 proteins
• The ratio should be meat proteins > plant proteins

When it comes to plant protein, you must be careful as dog won’t digest large quantities of it aswell as meat proteins. Balance is key.

Fibre

For your Goldendoodle to digest their food, it needs fibre in its diet. Look for the following:

• Meat and meat meal will contain fibre
• Rice and veggies also provides fibre

Dietary fibres when added to your dog’s food in small amounts can be very beneficial. Some of those fibres include the following:

• Inulin
• Chicory
• Oats
  Barley
• Beet pulp

Although, fibres are good for your dog in small amounts, you should avoid ingredients such as cereal as they have no actual nutritional value.

Fat

It’s important for your dog to get the energy it needs, especially if you have a Goldendoodle that loves to be active and playful. Much of that energy comes from the fats in their diet.

You should avoid putting your dog on a low fat diet as fats are a natural source of energy and a necessity for your Goldendoodle.

Furthermore, sources of fat  in your Goldendoodle’s diet include the following:

• Canola oil
• Chicken fat
• Flaxseed

In addition to the mentioned fats, you should provide your Goldendoodle with omega-3 fatty acids as they essential for your dog’s skin and coat health.

When reading the food packaging and ingredient list avoid the following:

• Spelling such as “animal fat”
• Plant oils

Carbs

Another important ingredient in your Goldendoodle’s diet is carbs. This is important for your dog’s blood sugar levels. For that reason, your Goldendoodle’s food should be low in carbs.

However, it can include carbs that are low-glycemic such as sweet potatoes.

Although, dogs can digest carbs, also known as starches, it shouldn’t be a large percentage of their diet.

Furthermore, if your dog’s diet consists of 40% or more carbs, you should think about changing it up. The reason for that is, higher percentages of carbs mean lower in protein and other nutrients.

You’ll be surprised to find out that wet food compared to dry food, contains low or no carbs. This makes it a good alternative, if you want to put your dog on low carb diet.

Keep reading to find out what’s better wet food or dry food.

How Often Should I Feed My Goldendoodle

How often you feed your Goldendoodle would manly depend on what age they are at and how much they weight.

As a puppy, your Goldendoodle should be fed between 2 to 3 times a day.

On the other hand, as an adult, you should feed it once per day. However, most owners feed their Goldendoodle twice per day – one time in the morning and the other later in the day.

The Goldendoodle is a very active and energetic dog. Therefore, if your Goldendoodle is using all that energy, it would require to be fed twice a day rather than the recommended – once a day.

How Much Should A Goldendoodle Eat

How much you should feed your dog is an important part of your Goldendoodle’s diet. Similar to what was discussed above, how much you should feed your dog depends on the following factors:

• How much they weigh? The usual recommendation is 1 cup of food per 15 pounds/6.8kg of body weight. For instance, if the dog weighs 35 pounds, it should be fed 2 cups of food twice a day.
  However, if you are still unsure, there will be information on the food packaging on the recommended doses.
  
  
• Are they active throughout the way? Another important factor is how active your Goldendoodle is throughout the day. As Goldendoodles are known to be very energetic, they would need more food.
  However, if your Goldendoodle is not using up that energy and spending the day laying around, it wouldn’t need as much food.

Maintaining your Goldendoodle’s healthy weight is essential to their well-being. With that said, you should be wary of your Goldendoodle becoming overweight as that can results in joints and bone health problems.

In addition to kibble food, there are a few other alternatives for your Goldendoodle. Especially, if your dog is suffetring with any food allergies or sensitive stomach.

Read more aboud Goldendoodle food allergies here Goldendoodle Food Allergies – How To Help Your Doodle

Goldendoodle Diet – Homemade Food

Another option for a Goldendoodle diet is homemade food. Following is a list of suggested foods that you can cook for your dog:

• Chicken, Beef, Lamb, etc
• Bell peppers, Broccoli, Brussels sprouts, Cabbage, Carrots, Cauliflower
• Apples can be a great snack for your Goldendoodle. In addition to apples, your Goldendoodle might enjoy pears, watermelon and more.
• Rice to go with the protein and vegetables

By feeding your Goldendoodle homemade food, you would be avoiding any artificial flavours, sweeteners and preservatives. These ingredients can be harmful to your dog and lead to health problems.

Homemade food can be a great choice for your Goldendoodle diet. However, if your Goldendoodle has a sensitive stomach, adding people’s food can result in an upset stomach.

Therefore, choosing commercial dog food may be a better option in some cases.

Goldendoodle Diet – Grains or Grain-Free

As mentioned above, your Goldendoodle can suffer from a sensitive stomach. If that is the case, switching your Goldendoodle diet to grain free can help.

Furthermore, you must ensure you do the following:

Grain free diet can improve sensitive stomach in dogs. However, Golden Retrievers are prone to taurine deficiency whilst on grain free diet. As a result, they can develop heart failure at some point.

This is a predisposition, the Goldendoodle inherits from the Golden Retriever.

Goldendoodle Dog Food – Wet or Dry

Usually, dry kibble food is the recommended Goldendoodle diet. Furthermore, most kibble foods would contain all the nutrients that your dog requires to lead a healthy and happy life.

In addition to that, crunching on the kibble would help remove any plaque or tartar you’re your dog’s teeth.

On the other hand, wet food is usually recommended for older dogs and puppies as their teeth are not in a condition to be able to crunch on the hard food.

However, feeding your Goldendoodle a mix of dry and wet food is also a good option. Especially, as some dogs can be fussy and get bored from just eating dry food.

What Goldendoodles Cannot Eat

The following is a list of foods your Goldendoodle can’t eat as they can lead to health problems:

• Dairy, especially in large quantities
• Cherries
• Raw eggs as it can contain salmonella
• Raw meats can also contain salmonella
• Any fizzy drinks
• Chocolate is toxic to dogs
• Coffee
• Avocado
• Salty foods
• Foods with high sugar contents
• Onions
• Garlic
• Citrus fruits as they can lead to an upset stomach
• Grapes/Raisins

By feeding your Goldendoodle a high-quality diet, you’ll be providing them with all the nutrients they need to grow into a healthy and happy dog.

What Treats Can My Goldendoodle Eat

Aswell as knowing what your Goldendoodle shouldn’t eat, you should also know you’re your Doodle can eat.

As there are plenty of delicious treats on the market, you must always feed them to your pup in moderation. The reason for that is, if you feed treats to your Goldendoodle too often, it can lead to weight problems.

It’s recommended that treats should make up only 10% of your Goldendoodle diet.

However, treats can also be beneficial to your Goldendoodle’s health. There are treats that can help with skin, joints and dental health conditions. 

Final Thoughts

What you feed your Goldendoodle is key to their health and happiness. Your Goldendoodle diet must consist of all the nutrients needed for your pup to thrive.

Overall, Goldendoodle diet should consist of the following:

• Protein should be the first ingredient
• Carbs – your Goldendoodle diet should be low in carbs as it’s unlikely to have much of a nutritional value. Furthermore, if your dog’s diet consists of 40% or more carbs, you should think about changing it up.
• Fats – This is where your Goldendoodle would be getting their energy from
• Fibre – For your Goldendoodle to digest their food, it needs fibre in its diet

Another important part of your Goldendoodle diet is treats. However, this should only make up 10% of their diet. The reason for that is, if you overfeed them it can result in obesity.

Finally, your Goldendoodle diet is essential part of their health. If you pick the right food for them, you will have a happy and energetic pup.