Feeding Guidlines for

Queen Elizabeth Pocket Beagles and Bears

This page is to help educate you on proper nutrition for a Queen Elizabeth Pocket Beagle or Queen Elizabeth Pocket Bear puppy and adult.   Remember that the care of your puppy has so much to do with the overall health and lifespan of your dog.  Don't be fooled by commercials and advertising, there are a lot of very poor quality foods with exceptional advertising!  No company is going to warn you that their dog food is bad your dog.

First and foremost importance is NO CORN.   We do not approve of feeding foods with corn in any form in the ingredient list.  Dogs cannot digest corn and often have allergies to it.  If you feed corn, you are feeding a food that your dog primarily cannot digest.   It is very important to not put corn in your dogs diet as it means his/her immune system is having to fight out a percentage of everything he/she eats.

Second importance is MODERATE TO LOW PROTEIN.  Though these are very small dogs, most of them DO NOT require a high protein diet.  Most small breed dog foods contain very high protein levels which are not needed for these dogs.   The higher protein foods are intended for small breeds which have lesser appetites and need help to keep their weight on.  This is not the case with most Queen Elizabeth puppies and too much protein is a bad thing for a growing puppy.  It can cause digestive problems and even increase the overall growth of your dog.  Unless your puppy is having a hard time keeping up to his property body weight, he/she should get a diet between 22%-28% protein.    Closer to 23% is preferred.

Third is OVERALL QUALITY.  You will see a link below for a dog food rating chart, this give you an idea of how breeders rate the overall quality of commercial dog foods.  We DO NOT automatically endorse any food which is not on our "approved foods" list.  If you prefer a brand which is not listed, you may send us a link to the full ingredient chart for the exact food you are wanting to feed and ask us to review it.   The foods listed are ones that our breeders and some of our owners have used with our dogs with great success. 

Remember that proper feeding is part of the health guarantee on your puppy so if you cannot find these brands, make sure you communicate with us so we can help you find a food that is right for your dog.