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Feeding my Cav

Mooch

Member
We have two puppies one is 17 weeks and the other is 20 weeks. We are feeding them Natural Balance dry food twice a day now. How much do you feed your dogs, is a 1/2 a cup twice a day to much? I don't want to over feed them but then again I want to make sure they are getting enough. What is the general rule for Cavs?

Thank you all, Mooch
 
I feed my puppy Natural Balance too. Sonny loves the potato and duck :) Sonny is almost 6 months old and we feed him 3/4 cup twice a day. I believe the recommended on Natural Balance is 1-1 1/2 cups a day, but then it says for puppies you can feed up to two times per pound of body weight. So Sonny is 15 pounds and in the 10-20 pound range at 1- 1 1/2 cups a day, but since we can double it he moves to the 20-30 pound range at 1 1/2 -2 cups a day. So far following their recommended portion has worked for us. Sonny is very lean and has the indention at his waist, so I think the amount has worked for him! He gobbles his food up and eats it in about 30 seconds. To slow down his eating we have been feeding him with the busy buddy magic mushroom which is a treat dispenser and makes him work for his food and slows down his eating time. :)

https://www.premier.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/toys/busybuddy/magicmushroomtoys/description
 
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That's may be a bit young for them to only be on two meals a day unless they had themselves stopped eating most of one of their previous three meals a day. I've had young dogs switch to two meals at around 4 months but most would be closer to 6 months and many breeders feel it is better to keep them on three til about 6 months. But pups often just decide for themselves before then that they don;t want the third meal :lol:. If still eating it, I'd leave them on three til they start ignoring the midday meal (which they will gradually tend to do).

Puppies all vary so there is no real rule. Most puppies will eat about a cup of food a day, some eat less. Maybe this food has a lot of filler/fibre but 1.5-2 cups sounds an enormous amount for a cavalier puppy! Has he been checked for worms recently? Most foods tend to seriously overdo it when giving estimated amounts -- that's certainly what vets and breeders tend to say and has also been my own experience. Dogs all have different metabolisms and vary but wow -- I have very active dogs and none eats more than a cup a day of anything; Jaspar is the most active and largest at 17lbs and gets about 3/4th a cup daily, just for comparison.

Just a caution :) -- if these two puppies are different sexes you will need to start keeping them apart soon as they will begin to be able to be sexually active and that can start as young as 4-5 months. Your vet can advise -- even if neutered males can still impregnate for many weeks afterwards so it is important to get good guidance. (y)
 
PS I was going to link you to breeder Laura Lang's great cavalier care page on feeding, but see she is changing the site and that page is not there at the moment. :(
 
That's may be a bit young for them to only be on two meals a day unless they had themselves stopped eating most of one of their previous three meals a day. I've had young dogs switch to two meals at around 4 months but most would be closer to 6 months and many breeders feel it is better to keep them on three til about 6 months. But pups often just decide for themselves before then that they don;t want the third meal :lol:. If still eating it, I'd leave them on three til they start ignoring the midday meal (which they will gradually tend to do).
Puppies all vary so there is no real rule. Most puppies will eat about a cup of food a day, some eat less. Maybe this food has a lot of filler/fibre but 1.5-2 cups sounds an enormous amount for a cavalier puppy! Has he been checked for worms recently? Most foods tend to seriously overdo it when giving estimated amounts -- that's certainly what vets and breeders tend to say and has also been my own experience. Dogs all have different metabolisms and vary but wow -- I have very active dogs and none eats more than a cup a day of anything; Jaspar is the most active and largest at 17lbs and gets about 3/4th a cup daily, just for comparison.

Just a caution :) -- if these two puppies are different sexes you will need to start keeping them apart soon as they will begin to be able to be sexually active and that can start as young as 4-5 months. Your vet can advise -- even if neutered males can still impregnate for many weeks afterwards so it is important to get good guidance. (y)

Thanks Karlin for the advice! I will definitely talk to my vet about Sonny's food intake. I definitely don't want to be overfeeding him!
 
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