Puppy feeding questions

Sharon7

Sharon7

Moderator
When Meadow comes home Thursday we'd like to begin feeding 3 distinct meals a day, up till now she has been free-feeding with her littermates. I'm guessing she might weigh 5 pounds. If I feed her 1/3 cup of puppy food three times daily, will that be enough? She will be on Purina Pro Plan puppy food to start, then we'd like to switch her to Fromm puppy - the Purina puppy food has corn in 3 different formats, gluten, meal and something else which I find dumb. The Fromm has no peas, lentils, potatoes, nothing suspect in the ingredient list. When she is onto adult I will switch her to what the other dogs are eating.

Anyway, should her meals be spaced 8 hours apart as one book recommended? :confused2: Like 7 AM 3 PM and 10PM? That seems awfully late to feed her supper and then not have a BM overnight.

Sheesh I'm realizing how much I don't know! I do know to restrict water after about 8 PM though.

I'm hoping she will eat without a fuss and not scare me by refusing food because she is in a new place. Elijah barely ate the first two days but he was a year old then, not a wee pup.
 
Kip is only my second puppy, so I'm no expert, but I can tell you what I did with him.

I got Kip at 10 weeks (probably older than Meadow will be when you get her?), and the breeder was already feeding him 3 separate meals, and I continued with her schedule as best as I could. Kip was about 7 lbs when I got him.

The breeder said Kip should get 1/4 to 1/3 cup at each meal (about one cup total). I fed him at 6AM, noon, and about 9PM. But Kip would not eat as much as the breeder recommended. He was such a light eater, and ate less than 2/3rds cup a day. It kind of stressed me out, but he was perfectly healthy. It wasn't just because he was in a new place either, because he was a very light eater for months. He still isn't as food crazy as my first Sheltie, but he eats all his food.
 
With Finnie (and Piper too I think) I fed 3 times a day but I don't recall if I fed 8 hours apart. Do whatever works for you. I think because of my work schedule (I'm evenings) he did get his last meal quite late so I'd be taking him outside for a poop close to midnight so maybe feeding his last meal at 8 or so would be better.
I love the name by the way!
 
Sharon7 said:
When Meadow comes home Thursday we'd like to begin feeding 3 distinct meals a day, up till now she has been free-feeding with her littermates. I'm guessing she might weigh 5 pounds. If I feed her 1/3 cup of puppy food three times daily, will that be enough? She will be on Purina Pro Plan puppy food to start, then we'd like to switch her to Fromm puppy - the Purina puppy food has corn in 3 different formats, gluten, meal and something else which I find dumb. The Fromm has no peas, lentils, potatoes, nothing suspect in the ingredient list. When she is onto adult I will switch her to what the other dogs are eating.

Anyway, should her meals be spaced 8 hours apart as one book recommended? :confused2: Like 7 AM 3 PM and 10PM? That seems awfully late to feed her supper and then not have a BM overnight.

Sheesh I'm realizing how much I don't know! I do know to restrict water after about 8 PM though.

I'm hoping she will eat without a fuss and not scare me by refusing food because she is in a new place. Elijah barely ate the first two days but he was a year old then, not a wee pup.
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I fed Minnie twice daily because I was working. My niece came in at noon and gave her a snack. I fed her at 6 am and at 4:30, if I remember correctly about a 1/2 cup at each feeding. She adjusted fine. I kept her on the pro plan as I didn't want to change what the breeder was feeding. But of course that is your choice, Minnie does really well on it.
 
I've always fed puppies 1/2 cup three times daily and I don't really look at the clock. They get breakfast at 7 with everyone else, lunch between noon and 1, dinner around 6. It's not 8-hour intervals but that's never been a problem.

If you're feeding ProPlan I would give 1/2 cup, since there are more fillers (aka corn) in that than Fromm, which is also what I fed my puppies. I fed 1/2 cup three times a day until 5 or 6 months old, unless puppy seems to be gaining too much weight. When you get close to eliminating that feeding, reduce the lunch amount until you phase it out.

Don't worry if she doesn't eat well her first or second day at home. That's not unusual. Her appetite should pick up quickly as she adjusts. If that happens, try feeding her kibble as treats. That usually works!
 
Ann said:
I've always fed puppies 1/2 cup three times daily and I don't really look at the clock. They get breakfast at 7 with everyone else, lunch between noon and 1, dinner around 6. It's not 8-hour intervals but that's never been a problem.

If you're feeding ProPlan I would give 1/2 cup, since there are more fillers (aka corn) in that than Fromm, which is also what I fed my puppies. I fed 1/2 cup three times a day until 5 or 6 months old, unless puppy seems to be gaining too much weight. When you get close to eliminating that feeding, reduce the lunch amount until you phase it out.

Don't worry if she doesn't eat well her first or second day at home. That's not unusual. Her appetite should pick up quickly as she adjusts. If that happens, try feeding her kibble as treats. That usually works!
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Oh! I should have mentioned in my how much to feed comment that I got my puppy when she was 3 months old, so the feeding routine I had for her was easier than if the puppy was 8 weeks old.Also, I can't stress enough that giving a kibble filled kong really helps them settle down, I gave about two a day, frozen
 
I also did 3 meals a day with Liam. I gave breakfast at 6 lunch at 11 and dinner at 5. The amount was 1/3 cup.

I ended up changing the feeding time later as Liam started throwing up bile in the morning as too much stomach acid was produced. I changed the time to 7 and that helped. He was 10 weeks old when I got him.

Good luck! Love the name too!!!
 
Cran and Jocu as puppies got breakfast around 6ish, lunch around 11-12 and dinner around 6ish. not sure how much I gave them back in those days.
Destin was 3 months when he came home so he didn't get lunch for too long- well about 3 weeks after he came home.
 
Thanks everybody. Just got back from a small local pet supply store that actually had the Fromm Gold puppy food in stock - there is now a run on dog food as well apparently, Chewy is back-ordered. Got a Whimzee chew and another rolled up chew that looks like rawhide but is made out of rice instead. Supposed to be long-lasting, we'll see. I have tons of toys so I think we are good there.

I'm pretty sure we started Skye and Asta off with regular meals 3 times daily but that was so long ago. I will try it out and see how she does. She's already had one round of vaccines and with the lockdown I don't know what my vet will want to do - examine her now and then go back for shots in 3 weeks, or just drop off a fecal and wait to see her when the shots are due. Luckily I can text her directly and see. Wow, she will be home in 3 days!!! :eek2: :love:
 
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