What’s the Best Food for Your Poodle? A Complete Feeding Guide

Despite their aristocratic reputation, Poodles are intelligent and athletic dogs with a sporting origin story. They were originally bred in Germany to be a duck hunter, and they remain a beautiful retrieving breed today. Poodles can come in toy, miniature, and standard sizes and are able to adapt to many living situations, so the answer to the question “What do Poodle dogs eat?” can be quite variable. They are very affectionate, great with young children, and trainable, making them attractive family pets. Learn how to choose the right diet for your noble Poodle.

Poodle Puppy Feeding

When feeding Poodle puppies, focus on high-quality foods that supply essential nutrients in the right amounts and proportions, especially food that supports their growth and development. To know what to feed a Poodle puppy, look for a statement on the pet food label that says the diet meets “the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO [Association of American Feed Control Officials] Dog Food Nutrient Profiles for growth of puppies” or “all life stages” or that the diet has undergone feeding tests using AAFCO procedures to substantiate that the diet provided is complete and balanced nutrition for the growth of puppies or all life stages. This ensures the food contains all the essential nutrients in the right proportions for optimal growth. Beyond their initial puppy diet, it’s important to be aware of when puppies can eat adult dog food as they mature. Choose dry food made for small breeds if you have a toy or miniature Poodle, as the smaller kibble size will be more appropriate for them. Standard Poodle puppies can enjoy larger kibbles more easily. Also, puppy food with a higher protein content, such as Pro Plan® Sport Development 30/20 Chicken & Rice Formula Dry Puppy Food, can better support active puppies undergoing training and/or who burn through more calories regularly. When looking for the best food for Poodle puppies, you can also look for puppy food that contains fiber and probiotics to promote gut health, antioxidants to support the immune system, and DHA, a type of omega-3 fatty acids, to help with vision and brain development and improve trainability.

Offering your Poodle puppy a variety of foods, including dry and wet food, can help to reduce picky behaviors by exposing them to different tastes, flavors, and textures. However, make sure to establish a regular feeding schedule by offering meals for only a limited amount of time and not changing the food just because your puppy is being stubborn. Following these rules will help encourage the development of good eating behavior early on.

A Poodle puppy’s feeding schedule changes as they grow. For puppies under four months of age, they should be fed 3–4 times per day. This can be reduced to two meals per day when your puppy is around 5–6 months of age. Another important consideration is how much to feed your puppy. Too little will stunt their growth, but overfeeding will cause them to be overweight, which can set them up to be overweight and obese adults. So, monitoring growth rates and feeding to maintain a good body condition during puppyhood is essential. Consulting a puppy feeding chart as well as asking a veterinarian any questions about how much to feed them can be very handy to keep your puppy on track.  

Poodle puppies finish growing between 10–15 months of age, with toy Poodles maturing earlier and standard Poodles maturing later. Once they have finished growing, Poodles can be transitioned onto an adult diet.

Adult Poodle Feeding

When feeding a Poodle, choose a diet suitable for your dog’s size and activity level. Consider the size of the kibbles for dry food and use wet foods to provide variety and textures to your dog’s meals. If you have an active or sporting Poodle, feeding them a dog food for active dogs, such as a higher fat and protein diet, can be beneficial. However, if your Poodle lives a less active, more sedentary lifestyle, these diets are easy to overfeed and could cause your dog to become overweight. In these cases, a standard adult diet or even a lower-calorie diet may be the best dog food for Poodles. Other features to look for in an adult Poodle diet include ingredients to support a healthy skin and coat and gut health.

To work out how much to feed a Poodle, a good place to start is by following the feeding guides on pet food labels or using a dog feeding calculator. You can also use the food manufacturer’s instructions on the package or website to figure out how much food to start with. Remember though, you will likely need to adjust the amount of food up or down from that starting point to individualize the amount for your dog. Do this by checking your dog’s body weight weekly or once every two weeks and adjusting their food as needed up or down to maintain a healthy weight. Your dog’s veterinary clinic or local pet store is a great place to do regular weight checks.

Senior Poodle Feeding

The life expectancy for Poodles of all sizes is 10–18 years, with small-size Poodles tending to live longer. Therefore, Poodles are considered seniors from 7–12 years of age. When deciding what to feed a Poodle at this age and whether to transition your Poodle to a senior diet, be mindful that older dogs may need fewer calories because of a slowing metabolism and activity level, but this varies depending on the individual. To find the best senior dog foods for your older Poodle, seek out options that are rich in EPA and DHA (types of omega-3 fatty acids) to help support joint function and improve mobility as dogs age. Canine cognitive dysfunction, also known as dog dementia, is common in senior dogs, and early intervention with senior diets enriched with antioxidants and nutrients, such as medium-chain triglycerides, can help maintain cognitive function in your Poodle. Wet food can help increase hydration in senior dogs and can be easier to eat if your dog has dental disease or worn teeth.

General Health Considerations

Coat Health Through Proper Nutrition

Poodles have curly coats that are low shedding and often require regular maintenance. A dull coat or thin and brittle fur can be one of the first signs of poor Poodle nutrition or a problem with the digestive tract. Ensuring your Poodle’s dog food is properly formulated for their life stage is important to help prevent nutrient deficiencies that can affect coat quality. Also, feeding a higher-fat diet and diets that are enriched in nutrients, such as vitamin A and linoleic acid, a type of omega-6 fatty acids, can improve skin quality and help to maintain a shiny coat.

Healthy Digestion Through Proper Nutrition

Diet plays a big role in how well a dog digests and absorbs nutrients. Feeding a poorly digestible diet not only means fewer nutrients are absorbed, but more food enters the large intestine to be fermented by the gut bacteria. This can lead to increased flatulence, in addition to larger and softer feces. The best food for Poodles promotes good nutrient absorption and gut health.

Weight Management and Obesity Prevention Strategies

Poodles can live a variety of different lifestyles with varying levels of activity, but maintaining a healthy weight for Poodles of any size and lifestyle throughout life is important for their overall health. Body condition scoring (BCS) is a really simple way to monitor their weight at home without needing a scale. Most pet parents keep their Poodle’s coat trimmed short, making it easier to body condition score them compared to dogs with thick coats. Adjust how much you’re feeding so they maintain a lean and healthy condition. You can also switch them to foods that aid with weight management, such as Pro Plan® Weight Management Shredded Blend Chicken & Rice Dry Dog Food.

Adequate Hydration for Overall Well-Being

When deciding whether to feed your Poodle dry food or wet food, take hydration into account. Maintaining hydration is important, particularly in senior dogs, active dogs, and all dogs during hot weather. Water is needed for many bodily functions, including temperature regulation, digestion, and toxin excretion. Always ensure there is fresh, clean water around to encourage drinking, especially if you choose dry dog food for your Poodle. Also, feeding a high-moisture wet food can be helpful to increase water intake.

Veterinary Allies

If you have a Poodle who is gaining weight or losing significant weight, or who has digestive signs (vomiting and/or diarrhea), it’s worth bringing your dog to their veterinarian for a checkup. Your dog’s veterinarian can make sure there are no medical causes for their clinical signs and advise on the best food for your Poodle.

Feeding Schedules and Techniques

Here are some tips when it comes to feeding adult Poodle dogs:

• Feeding two meals per day is most common, but you can feed less or more often. Establishing a feeding regimen that works best for your dog and your schedule will help your dog develop good eating habits.
• Use a cup that is clearly marked at the right level or a kitchen scale to correctly portion your dog’s diet. Eyeballing amounts can be wildly inaccurate and can lead to overfeeding your Poodle. Feeding charts can be useful in determining the right portion size.
• Some people have recommended elevated feeding bowls for poodles; however, Standard Poodles can be at risk of developing bloat and gastric torsion. The evidence is mixed with some studies suggesting there is no benefit, whereas others suggest a greater risk of gastric dilation and volvulus (GDV) with elevated feeding.^1,2 Other possible risk factors for GDV include feeding large meals and eating too quickly, but this too hasn’t been shown consistently between studies.^1-5 As there is insufficient evidence to know what is best, feeding with the bowl on the floor and reducing food volume and eating speed is generally recommended. Consult with your veterinarian to help determine the best feeding practice for your individual dog.
• Use puzzle feeders, snuffle mats, and other feeding toys to provide enrichment for your Poodle. Slow feeders are also a great way to reduce the speed of eating of particularly voracious Poodles.
• Treats should make up no more than 10% of a dog’s daily calories to avoid unbalancing their main diet and to avoid overfeeding by giving too many calories. For training, you can use higher-reward treats, such as lean pieces of dried meat, but be careful not to overdo these.
• It’s always recommended to transition your Poodle’s food to any new diet gradually to reduce the risk of causing digestive upset. Do this over a 7– to 10–day period by gradually increasing the proportion of new food to the old food.

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For more expert tips on feeding your dog, explore our other dog feeding guides.

References

1. Pipan M, Dorothy CB, Battaglia CL, et al. An internet-based survey of risk factors for surgical gastric dilatation-volvulus in dogs. JAVMA. 2012;240(12):1456-1462. doi:10.2460/javma.240.12.1456

2. Glickman LT, Glickman NW, Schellenberg DB, et al. Non-dietary risk factors for gastric dilatation-volvulus in large and giant breed dogs. JAVMA. 2000;217(10):1492-1499. doi:10.2460/javma.2000.217.1492

3. Raghavan M, Glickman N, McCabe G, et al. Diet-related risk factors for gastric dilatation-volvulus in dogs of high-risk breeds. JAAHA. 2004;40(3):192-203. doi:10.5326/0400192

4. Elwood CM. Risk factors for gastric dilatation in Irish setter dogs. J Small Anim Pract. 1998;39(4):185-190. doi:10.1111/j.1748-5827.1998.tb03627.x

5. Theyse LF, van de Brom WE, van Sluijs FJ. Small size of food particles and age as risk factors for gastric dilatation volvulus in great Danes. Vet Rec. 1998;143(2):48-50. doi:10.1136/vr.143.2.48