Health of your pet begins at home. Your care and love is more important than any treatment. For those adopting the pup for the first time, essential instructions are mentioned below which may serve helpful in rearing the pup upon adoption. Besides referring to essentials mentioned here, never hesitate to consult your pet at the first sight of disease.

It is important to know the purpose for which you are wanting to keep a dog. It could be as a companion to children, a watch dog or a sporting dog. There are over 285 breeds of dogs to choose from so take your time before making a final decision out of the categories of Toy Dogs, Sporting Dogs, Non-Sporting Dogs, Working Dogs, Terriers and Hounds.

Size of your house and the money you can spare in raising your dog are also important considerations before choosing the breed of your new dog. As far as possible, buy a pedigree dog.

The dog is basically carnivore designed by nature to live on meat. If you are a vegetarian, meat has to be replaced by suitable proteinous diet. At first puppies normally feed from the mother (bitch) sucking milk within half an hour or so of being born. From 2.5 week to 3.5 week after the puppies are born, it becomes necessary to commence supplementary feeding.

Day old to 3 weeks	Mother’s Milk
4th week to 3 months	5 to 3 feeds a day
3 months to 6 months	3 feeds a day
6 months & above	2 feeds a day

Companion animal dog’s food has to have a balanced diet of Carbohydrate, Protein, Fat, Minerals and Vitamins.

Dry packed food from various reputed companies have been well accepted world wide. In European countries and USA, almost 95% of pet dogs are fed packed dry food. The food companies after thorough research and trials have brought food for different age groups, size and breeds of dogs. Our advice is to start feeding your dog the scientifically prepared dry packed food after verifying the reputation of the food and it’s manufacturer. Most of these manufacturers supply vegetarian food as well, for those homes where you would want to serve only vegetarian food. In case you have a reservation, stick to home made food following the guidelines that will help you.

• Cerelac, Milk, Bread, Dalia, ‘Suji’ shoudl be preferred for pups upto 3 months of age with small quantities to be gradually increased. After 2 months of age, cooked liver can be added as one meal.
• Too much dependence on animal protein like Mutton, Chicken is not good. Moreover, milk alone is not the only diet for a dog. It has to be a balanced diet of carbohydrates, Protein and Fat.
• Adult Dog can be fed Milk, Mutton, Chicken, Pulses, Soya Bean, Paneer(for protein requirement of the body) and Roti, bread, rice as carbohydrates. Green vegetables can also be boiled along with Mutton / Chicken.
• Feeding Timing should be as early as possible in the morning and as late as possible in the evening.
• The pup should not be fed during night after 10.00 P.M. Over feeding should be avoided.
• After three months of age, the pup requires more solid food and therefore, should be given more solid, and quantity should also be increased as per need of the pup.

It's important to pay attention to the health & nutrition in a dog, for they are sensitive and needs special care so as to what they should be fed.