When Casey and I finally decided to move forward in getting a dog, one of the hardest things to figure out was what to do to make sure Polly would have a long and healthy life. Giving dogs enough love and cuddles is the easy part and making sure they get the right amount of exercise is pretty straightforward, but their diet is where it can start to get tricky. With all the information out there (similar to human health and nutrition), it’s hard to decide what’s best for your pup. I consult our vet whenever I have questions, but for the most part I just try to keep Polly’s diet as clean and natural as possible, while keeping it yummy of course! Read ahead to see what Polly eats in a day. Is it similar to your dog’s diet or different? Let me know, I’m curious to hear!
As always, this is just what works for us, and there’s not just one right way to go about taking care of your pup. If you have questions or need a professional opinion, I would always recommend asking your vet first!
Special thanks to NuVet Labs for sponsoring this post. As always, all thoughts and opinions expressed in this article are my own.
½ Cup Kibble, Twice a Day
We always give Polly her first serving first thing in the morning and her second sometime in the evening, around 6 or so. We just leave her food out in her food bowl and let her graze throughout the day. We tried to train her so she would eat all of her food within a 30 minute window, but it didn’t work. She prefers grazing and it seems to work well for her. If you’re unsure on how much food to give them, you can either check on the food bag to see how much you should give them, or of course you can always ask your vet! (I did.) We started off with a different brand, but moved to Purina Pro Plan because Polly liked the taste better and we heard great things. It’s worked wonders for us ever since!
We considered giving her a mix of wet and dry food, but our vet recommended against that for a couple reasons. Switching their food up or mixing with wet food can be hard on their stomach/digestive system, which we found to be true with Polly. Second, dry kibble is the best for their teeth! As I’ve talked about before, I think oral health is super important for dogs, so this is a key point for me. Kibble keeps their jaws and teeth working and in use, and in addition, the kibble helps to remove plaque.
1 NuVet Plus K-9 Wafer
We love these supplements! Polly starts her day with one every morning after her morning potty break and thinks of them as a treat, so the health benefits are just a bonus for us parents. I actually love this brand so much that I reached out to them about to them about becoming a partner with NuVet, and I’m so happy that they said yes! I love giving Polly these supplements because I know that I’m giving her top-of-the-line nutritional support that boosts her health and immune system every day.
If I could give one takeaway, it would be to use a supplement. This was one of the main pieces of advice that our groomer gave us and the number one thing that has stuck with us to this day. With everything that’s on the market, it was very important to me to pick the right brand. Polly came from a very reputable breeder who has been in the business for years and is constantly doing research to raise her puppies as healthy as possible, so I felt really good about trusting her brand recommendation. She recommended NuVet, and after having our vet sign off on it as well, it is what we have used ever since.
We try to keep toxins in our apartment to a minimum, but it’s so hard to completely get rid of chemicals - I just can’t give up candles. And living in a city, I’m always worried about what Polly could step on, breathe in, or lets be honest, eat. Giving her this daily immune system support eases my anxiety so much. It gives me the peace of mind that I’m doing what’s best to give Polly a long and healthy life, with minimal trips to the vet. The NuVet Plus supplement incorporates amino acids, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and herbs to keep dogs healthy long term. Most importantly, they are made using all natural ingredients that are formulated in an FDA Registered Facility using CGPM standards. No matter what changes in Polly’s lifestyle or diet over the years, giving her this supplement will be a constant that I can feel good about.
If you're interested in trying NuVet, they only sell to customers on a referral basis so you will need an order code to purchase (we got our code from our breeder). Luckily they have given me a code for our readers, so use order code 79228 at checkout to place an order! Also, I highly recommend signing up for their AutoShip program to save 15% off - that's what we do and it's so worth it. Read more about their AutoShip program here.
1 NuJoint DS K-9 Wafer
We didn’t start giving Polly these until a couple months ago after her first yearly checkup at the vet. After her examination, we were told that Polly is in perfect health except for a double joint she has on one of her back legs. Apparently this is a health issue very common in poodles and poodle mixes. As long as she has no problem running around and it’s not bothering her they said it’s not an issue. However, they did recommend we start giving her a joint supplement with Glucosamine to help her joints. I had our vet check the NuVet brand formula, and they said that the NuVet joint supplement actually has a higher Glucosamine level than most, so they ended up highly recommending it! Similar to the other supplement, Polly loves this one and sees it as a treat, so it’s a win-win for everyone.
The NuJoint supplement has high levels of the active ingredients Glucosamine, MSM, and Chondroitin to help lubricate joints, synthesize new cartilage and tissue, and increase mobility. I’m happy I started her on these at a young age to prevent issues down the road. Check with your vet first, but if your dog is a poodle mix, it might be worth getting your pup started with a joint supplement. With the high-quality ingredients and their FDA Registered Lab, I feel great about giving Polly NuVet.
1 Spoonful 100% Canned Pumpkin
This is another trick we originally learned from our breeder! Polly has a very sensitive stomach, so if she has too many treats or anything out of her regular diet, she can get the runs. But if you give them a spoonful of pumpkin, it gives them a boost of fiber and makes them regular again in no time. She also LOVES pumpkin, so sometimes we mix a little bit in with her food just for fun.
Make sure you get 100% Pure Canned Pumpkin! The only ingredient listed on the back should be pumpkin, and it should not have any added sugars or other ingredients. I prefer to get it from the grocery store since they mark the price up a lot at pet stores.
My big tip with this is to freeze the pumpkin! If you keep it in your fridge, it will go bad before you can use all of it. I just take a cookie sheet, spoonful a bunch of dollops of pumpkin right onto the sheet, and pop it in my freezer. Once they’re frozen you can store them in tupperware in your freezer and use as needed.
Treats
Of course we love to give Polly lots of treats throughout the day! We don’t give her one every time after she goes potty, but she does get them all the time in exchange for eye contact, tricks, good behavior, or just for being sooo cute. We love to get the Natural Balance dog food roll, cut them up into little cubes, and store them in the freezer. So much cheaper than always buying bags of treats, and super healthy too! For her non-frozen treats, we keep a cute canister full of them right on our living room coffee table for easy access. Priorities, right?
Fruits & Veggies
Lastly, we love to give her fruits and veggies when we have them on hand! We don’t give her any human food that’s not healthy for her, but we love giving her human food that’s vet-approved. I always do a Google search if I’m not sure, because some foods can be poisonous to dogs like grapes, avocados and onions. Once again utilizing the handy-dandy freezer, I also sometimes keep frozen fruits or veggies in the freezer to use as treats for Polly. I currently have a bag of frozen carrots in there that she loves. I like to put one or two in a kong with peanut butter and she loves that! Other human food she loves includes peanut butter, chicken, and steak. We have given her eggs on occasion but it does upset her stomach, so we try to keep that to a minimum.
I hope you enjoyed reading about everything Polly eats in a day! Is it similar to your dog’s diet? I’d also love to hear if you have any good tips or tricks because I’m always looking for more. Thanks for reading! Xo
What is polly mixed with very like my dog but we rescued her so not sure what my wee dogs breed is ?
Hi Allie, besides Life's Abundance and lean people protein, I feed my doodle (Boo) butternut squash nibbles for fiber. I cube up some squash and cook it till it's just fork tender then freeze it in little baggies enough to last a few days. I defrost then dice each cube into tiny bits and add to it his food. It's much less messy than the pumpkin and because Boo also grazes on his food during the day, it doesn't get soggy as it can with the pumpkin. And in the summer, I dice it still frozen and give it to him that way and he loves it!
Hi mjohns429! We actually did have Polly on Life's Abundance when she was a puppy, but we had to switch brands because she literally refused to eat it. We are looking to switch to a higher quality brand though! Thanks for your comment xx
We love NuVet supplements! 🙌We feed our doodle Life's Abundance dry kibble, the ingredient list is amazing! I would encourage you to do a brand comparison on their website and compare Life's Abundance kibble nutrition and ingredients to Purina's. I think you'll be surprised what Purina is missing! We also love the Life's Abundance is made in small batches so it doesn't sit around on the shelf getting gross. Purina and other big dog food brands let their food sit in warehouses for up to a year before it ever hits store shelves! Let me know what you think!!! Lifesabundance.com/michellebainbridge