Feeding a 5.5 month old (Dusty)

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penny

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I am trying to figure out how much to let Dusty eat!

She just ate nearly a cup of kibble for breakfast (a top quality brand), and I think she would have kept going! :eek2:

Yesterday she ate nearly 2 cups over 3 meals( I was watching her and took the food away each time when she started to lose interest.)

She is a very little girl, 11.5-12 inches, and weghed 7.5 lbs at the vets on Wednesday.
 
McKinley is 4 months old, is about 12" and weighs about 13 - 14 lbs. He is eating 2/3 C twice a day of good quality kibble and gets a scrambled egg most days, now that we are walking about 1.5 miles twice daily.

We kind of go by the rib test. As long as we can feel the little guys ribs, not too boney, not too fleshy and we can see his "waistline" from looking at him from above, we feel he is doing fine.

Could he eat more?........he would eat non stop I think if we let him. He is STILL complaining that we have cut out his lunch. He sits and stares at his food canister at Noon everyday:cry::cry:
 
Well, a couple of things.

At 5.5 months, you should consider cutting back to two meals a day. My breeder had Bacca weaned off 3 meals when I brought him home at 8 weeks.

It does depend on the food itself and you certainly don't want to put a pup on a "diet", but 2 cups per day sounds a little much, especially when supplemented with training treats (which my dogs don't get alot of).

Given her petite stature, you'll want to keep an eye on that.

My boys are 18 months old but oversize, not fat (yet). They get 1 1/3 cups per day with 1 tbsp of Merricks canned each meal. I introduced the Merricks to get Bacca eating again. But I'm slowly scaling that back trying to get them to 1 cup per day or less (I'm literally scaling it back a kibble or two at a time so that I don't get any grievance filed at the SUBU - I'm hoping they don't notice!).

Just like people, food is boredom-buster for dogs. Scaling back is not going to alleviate the boredom any more. More walks and play is a better subsitute!

Good luck!
 
Bailey is 5 months and gets 1/2 a cup in the morning and 1/2 a cup in the evening.

Check your food label and see what the recommended amount is.

I personally believe that as long as your puppy is not overweight, then let him eat as much as he want. They're growing and need lots of nutrients
 
I find as a puppy, and then as an adult they do fine on 2/3 cup twice a day. That is assuming the adult dog is in size, and will top out at no more then 20lbs.

I would adjust that just a smidge for a larger adult sheltie.

Unless the puppy is very petite, I think 1/2 cup twice a day is too little an amount.
 
One more thing. I think the dog food company's feeding amount recommendations on the bag are way off. They always suggest huge amounts of food.
 
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