From 3 meals to 2?

I've always fed 1/2 cup of good quality food three times a day until they're 6 months old. Around 5 months, if they're gaining weight well, I decrease the lunch feeding to 1/3 and then 1/4 cup before eliminating it. Around 6 months I make the switch to adult food and depending on weight, and start decreasing the amount depending on activity and conditioning. My adults eat 1/4 cup of Fromm twice daily.

If Callan isn't wolfing his food down and has a belly, you can probably decrease his food a bit or start feeding him less at lunch.
 
Ann, I think that's the plan....he eats every meal. Entirely. So I think I will start loading more on breakfast And start weaning him off lunch over the next few weeks.
I'm still concerned though that he is getting porky even though I'm way under recommended feedings
 
Pudgy puppy???

So I've starting increasing his morning and evening feeds, and reducing his lunch time. He's getting a total of 1 1/3 per day of TOTW Puppy Hi Prairie. He is now 5.5 months old. According to the package, that would be the minimum amount.

He also gets less than a tbsp of Weurva wet food (low fat), and I still moisten with water (but I noticed today that I think most of his baby teeth are gone) so I will be decreasing the water as well.

It does not seem like a lot of food for a puppy, and he gets sufficient exercise, I think, albeit some days more than others. He's at 14.6 lbs and somewhere between 12.5 and 13 inches in height. He feels pudgy to me, but I can't imagine cutting him back yet. And when I look at the Sheltie growth chart he seems to be in range of average (and height and weight seem to be balanced)

Thoughts????
 
I have Cubby on 2/3 cup TOTW Prairie pup / Acana Ranchlands mixed x2 a day. He's rather thin but not excessively so. We had a belly full of worms and are only 2 weeks out from a good worming so we are increasing by leaps and bounds. Somewhere around 10 ish pounds now. He won't eat more. Too much and there's the purge. Eat lunch and he won't eat dinner. Looks like you and I are feeding the same.

That's where I am right now. 2/3 cups twice a day.

Melli is on the same thing but 1/2 + 1/8 cup twice a day and her weight is slowly creeping down and she is feeling so much better from 39 when she came to me to about 32 now. This is not a lot less than 2/3 twice a day, but it is a bit less. Maybe try that for a bit?
 
So we are feeding about the same amount, except I'm still on 3 meals.

I really have to get him off 3 meals. I think I'm going to go cold turkey here. And maybe just feed him a handful of carrots going forward. And than gradually take those away too.

Any other feedback from folks on weaning off 3 meals?

Thanks guys! He really likes his noon meal, but I expect more from boredom than anything....
 
I do the move from 3 meals to 2 at about 6 months, give or take. If his weight is good and he's growing as he should, he'll be fine. You can give him a few baby carrots at lunchtime or a spoon of cottage cheese if you think he needs something to ease the transition. It shouldn't take more than a few days, especially since Indy only eats twice a day.
 
you really dont need to "load" him on breakfast, or dinner, keep his normal amount, If it was Callan I remember you posted his weight and he seemed heavy. I feed mine 1/3c each meal when I cut out that lunch I do what Ann does either carrot, or a pinch of chicken, etc...but I keep the other meals the same. Within a few days they dont even seem to notice they've lost a meal. Remember you dont want a "Chubby" or heavy puppy as it puts increase strain on their developing joints which will cause issues later on in life.
 
Can't help on the number of meals as I did 2 right from the get go, with a treat -dried liver, greenie, or chicken jerky at lunch time.

I started out feeding about what you are 3/4 cup in the morning and 1/2 at supper time. No wet food though. I only do kibble and I don't wet it either. Hanna has gorgeous white teeth - not a hint of tartar at 14 months and nice breath.

Like Shelli, I don't put any faith in the package recommendations. With a good quality food they don't need a lot of kibble. Another sign of too much food is if the stool is not nice and firm and easy to pick up. Left over food at meal times is another indication. If they are too fat, then you need to feed less, gradually cut down until you start to see a loss. The exception being if they have a thyroid problem, in which case you need the pills along with a diet to get them back in weight.

I can't recall at what stage I cut back, but we went to 1/2 cup twice a day and then down to 1/3 cup twice day. She was still looking pretty broad in the rear end so I switched her to lower calorie/cup Fromm Adult from Blue Buffalo puppy food at about 8 months but kept it at the 1/3 cup twice a day. She maintained on that but did not lose and so I cut it back to 1/4 cup twice a day, and restricted treats to just one a day no dried sweet potato. That did the trick, in a couple of months she got back to what I think is a really good weight for her 16 pounds at 14.25 inches tall and about 16" long. So she is a little bigger than Ember but getting the same amount of food. We don't do agility, so I would put her activity level at low - one daily 3 km walk ( less if it's freezing) and I throw the ball for her until she won't run anymore once a day.

My last suggestion is to premeasure the food - with my low thyroid Kali I actually weighed a whole weeks' worth in portions down to the single kibble, and prepackaged treats too.

As you can see from the photos, under that coat she isn't very wide at all. There's a definite waist and she doesn't feel heavy when I pick her up. She also has more energy, so this is where I plan to keep her. She doesn't inhale her food but it takes her only a couple of minutes to finish it off.
 

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Please don't get me wrong.....I never feed to the package recommendations. I want to be clear on that

Someone mentioned not loading up on breakfast and dinner to offset the lost lunchtime meals. Seems to me you need to spread the calories out???

He only gets 1/3 cup at lunch. We are going to cottage for three days, so I think I'll try cold turkey and carrots only. Change of scenery and all that.

Weight food actually has less calorie than dry, btw. And I find both my dogs chew their food better with a little wet food

As for teeth. Shelties are not known for great teeth. Some lines better than others. At 6 years, Indy's teeth are plaque free (even if he does have bad breath). Vet was really pleased at last visit.
 
I've been a bit curious about the meal switch, too. My sister's farmdog Bobby cut it out all by himself - he just ate less, and my mother's Junior was nearly a year old when we got him.
The brand I feed Sparta (Specific, her breeder's choice) says to switch from puppy to adult food when the dog is at about 80% of it's adult weight - whatever that would be for your Sheltie. I assumed I'd change the mealtimes somewhere along with that, mixed with a little guesswork and/or common sense, and start cutting back when she was done with the main growth spurts. About 5 or 6 months for a Sheltie, depending on the individual?

That being said, if I suspected my dog was getting too chubby, I'd consider cutting back earlier. Some just gain weight easier - when I was visiting Sparta's breeder, she helpfully introduced me to the problem by pointing to one of her males and saying "This is Teddy, he suffers from a common syndrome among Shelties. He's fat."

So, yeah. Common sense and gut feeling, that's what I'm going for.
 
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