How Much To Feed? And Other Questions

[Nathan Dorian]

Hullo!

If all goes well, I may be getting a 14-15 week old boy on the weekend, however I am rather at a loss for how much to feed him.

I will most likely feed him twice a day, as I have cats that are fed twice a day. What would you say roughly is a good amount of grams of food (wet or dry) per meal at his age, and also when to up the amount to an adult amount (and how much that would be)?

I would be very unlikely to feed only dry, but I'd definitely consider a wet/dry combination. Would it also be possible to feed only dry in the morning and only wet in the evening?

Do you tend to feed before or after walks? I was thinking that it might be a good idea to feed after, that way the cats can eat their food in peace whilst I walk him, and he can have his food when we get back.

Sorry for the hoard of questions! I just want to do as well as I can.

Thanks in advance!

[Duffer]

Hi

When i got my 2 as pups, i fed them 4 small meals of dry food a day. This is what was advised by the breeder. I would give them an eggcup / shotglass of food each time, building this up over the weeks to give them 3 meals a day ( no more food, just spread out ). I now give them 2 meals a day that consist of 3 shotglasses of food in morning and same in evening.

In relation to dry & wet food, i was always led to believe that dry food is better for them, helps keep teeth clean, and that wet food is quite sugary. I could be wrong on this so please correct me if I am.

I would feed after a walk, let them build up an appetite while out running / walking around.

your breeder should be able to help with any questions you might also have, i was given an info sheet when i got Cava and i referred to it about 100 times a day! My puppy bible!

hope this helps

[Nicki]

Puppies need four meals a day until 12 weeks, then 3 until 6 months - then you can go down to twice daily.


Have a read of the advice section of the forum - but your breeder should tell you what she has been feeding {and give you some to start you off}. Dry food is much better for their teeth and tends to be better quality - not sure where you are based but go for one of the higher quality foods. Like humans, you are what you eat!!

In the UK and Ireland, Markus Muehle {avaialable from http://www.markus-muehle.de/en/} James Wellbeloved, Fish4dogs and Burns are all good foods.


Don't feed immediately before or after a walk - usually best to wait approx an hour.

You will need to build up exercise anyway - generally 5 minutes for every month of age.

Do not let puppy run up and down stairs until at least 6 months old - a few steps are ok though.

[Nathan Dorian]

Thanks so much for the responses!

After lots of reading, it seems that 80-120g per meal seems about normal? Perhaps less for a younger dog?

Any idea at all about the difference in weight with wet food as opposed to dry? I would really rather feed a mix than purely dry food.