How much food and how often?
- Thread starter Lahree
- Start date
I brought Spencer home at 7-1/2 weeks and his breeder gave me the following feeding schedule:
"Until 12 weeks of Age
Morning - 1/4 to 1/2 cup kibble moistened w/warm water
Noon - 1/4 cup dry kibble
Evening - 1/4 to 1/2 cup kibble moistened w/warm water, add 1 tsp canned dog food
12 weeks to 8 months of age
Morning- 1/2 to 3/4 cup kibble moistened w/warm water
Evening - 1/2 to 3/4 cup kibble moistened w/warm water, add 1 tbsp canned dog food
Keep plenty of fresh water available daily"
Maybe some of this will be helpful for you.
If you plan to feed raw, there are folks on this Forum who can give you lots of info.
"Until 12 weeks of Age
Morning - 1/4 to 1/2 cup kibble moistened w/warm water
Noon - 1/4 cup dry kibble
Evening - 1/4 to 1/2 cup kibble moistened w/warm water, add 1 tsp canned dog food
12 weeks to 8 months of age
Morning- 1/2 to 3/4 cup kibble moistened w/warm water
Evening - 1/2 to 3/4 cup kibble moistened w/warm water, add 1 tbsp canned dog food
Keep plenty of fresh water available daily"
Maybe some of this will be helpful for you.
If you plan to feed raw, there are folks on this Forum who can give you lots of info.
You may also consider adding 1-2 teaspoons of pumpkin to the diet. Pumpkin is great fiber for doggies and will help prevent both diarrhea and constipation! In weaning our puppies we start adding baby rice cereal (mixed exactly like you would make it for a baby) at week 3 for the first 1-2 days, then add canned puppy food and pumpkin to the cereal for the remainder of week 3 of age. We add puppy kibble in week 4 and then gradually take the baby rice cereal out of the mix but continue adding water for the during week 5. The goal is to have them on kibble alone by week 6, but some puppies need more help in developing their GI skills and so need the pumpkin and water additions to the kibble for a while.
How interesting! Do you mean just regular canned pumpkin? Do I keep the remainder of the can in-between feeding refrigerated? (I know not to leave the remainder in the can btw). She is on Diamond Food puppy chow. She has no problem getting it down, she is a big chow hound! I was thinking about maybe adding a teaspoon of chicken broth to the hard food. I wonder if that is even necessary.
Regular canned pumpkin. Yes, refrigerate the unused portion in a snap-top container.
I wouldn't add broth to soften the kibble unless you plan to keep doing it the rest of your life. If you want to soften the kibble, add water. Sounds like your pup is eating the hard kibble just fine though.
Green beans and pumpkin are two veggies that you can add to your dog's diet without worrying that you will cause doggie obesity. I have a garden, and I always freeze a few packages of unsnapped green beans. My doggies think that this frozen treat is the best "doggie popsicle" and I don't have to worry about giving Indy too many and causing him to have a weight gain problem. (my other three adult shelties are so active that weight gain is not a problem, but Indy is old and has slowed down a lot. When he gains to over 25 lbs, he limps)
I wouldn't add broth to soften the kibble unless you plan to keep doing it the rest of your life. If you want to soften the kibble, add water. Sounds like your pup is eating the hard kibble just fine though.
Green beans and pumpkin are two veggies that you can add to your dog's diet without worrying that you will cause doggie obesity. I have a garden, and I always freeze a few packages of unsnapped green beans. My doggies think that this frozen treat is the best "doggie popsicle" and I don't have to worry about giving Indy too many and causing him to have a weight gain problem. (my other three adult shelties are so active that weight gain is not a problem, but Indy is old and has slowed down a lot. When he gains to over 25 lbs, he limps)
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Ah, Good point on the chicken broth! So, you do the canned pumpkin for the life of the dog?
BarbV
Forums Celebrity
Like the instructions you received, I stopped moistening the kibble at about 9 months. But I don't add the canned food. (I used to for Timber, my forever pup, but he was a finicky eater and really did not get treats any other time.).
Both my 10 month old pups get dry kibble twice a day - about 2/3 cup each feeding.
It's fairly consistent with the instructions on the package. However, the problem with the instructions is that amount of food to feed is given by weight of the dog. If your dog is already fat, if you follow the instructions, he'll just keep getting fatter as you match to the food to his weight! Vicious cycle!
Both my 10 month old pups get dry kibble twice a day - about 2/3 cup each feeding.
It's fairly consistent with the instructions on the package. However, the problem with the instructions is that amount of food to feed is given by weight of the dog. If your dog is already fat, if you follow the instructions, he'll just keep getting fatter as you match to the food to his weight! Vicious cycle!