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How much to feed my pup?

TokyoKuri

Member
I have an 11 week old pup who eats all of her meals absolutely ravenously, so our vet has recently suggested that she is ready to go to two meals a day (from three). If she is eating with a healthy appetite, digesting well and staying energetic, is there any reason not to make the switch?

Thanks!
 
At this age she needs to be on three meals a day as a minimum - ideally 4. They only have a very small stomach so can't take in that much at one go.

If they are only on two meals, the blood sugar levels drop too much between meals and you could end up with problems - perhaps your vet isn't used to small breeds, especially Cavaliers.

We go down to three meals at 12 weeks, and then 2 meals at 6 MONTHS. Ideally two meals for the rest of their life, or maybe one big meal and one snack once they are 12 MONTHS.

Has Sophie been wormed regularly? if she has worms, that might be why she is so hungry.

Hope this helps and that you are enjoying her.
 
As long as she is eating all her meals I would leave her as she is.

I agree with Nicki, puppies have small stomachs, and overloading them with two larger meals too early will probably give her 'the runs' I like to keep a puppy on 4 meals till approz 12 wks, then three meals a day - slowly making the midday meal a little smaller and the morning and evening meals a bit larger, until I cut out the midday one at about 5+ months. All dogs are different though, so you have to be flexible!:biggrin::biggrin: Hope this helps.

ps - Your puppy looks really sweet - and healthy - so you must be doing it right.
 
I'll just echo what Yorkysue and Nicki have said - feed her three meals a day until around 6 months. I'd stay on the schedule you're on for now. By the way, all of my dogs ate ravenously as puppies - and they still do!
 
haha, I was going to say the same thing----every dog eats at different speeds. Winston eats so fast that I wonder if he even chews...

You didn't mention how much you're feeding at a time, but it sounds like you're doing the right thing- keep it up!
 
Thank you for all the advice!
I'm feeding her about 120g of Royal Canin Mini Babydog (recommended by my breeder to ~ 4mos.). She's a little thing, at just 2.5kg at 11 weeks, but the breeder's line runs about 7-10kg on average. I think she may have developed a bit of a complex during feeding times, where she needs to eat all of her food as quickly as possible before her bigger sisters can get to it - she literally trembles with anticipation when we put on her snood and set down her food.
Is there anything I can do to help calm her down or is it nothing to worry about at this stage?
 
I would say ther's nothing to worry about. It's much better to have a really good eater who gets excited when you put food down, than a 'picky' eater who as decided that 'Heroin chic' is the order of the day - and will only eat a mouthful or so before turning 'green' A poor eater is everbody's nightmare, it doesn't matter what you try to feed them, they just aren't interested.
 
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