Is he eating enough?

[JackieT]

We have had Ziggy 5 weeks. When he came to us he was on a mix of raw and dry food. We have swapped to all dry (happy we made an educated decision on that, I know the whole raw/dry debate is controversial etc). I weigh food out each morning and most of it gets fed by hand for training. I struggle to get him to eat the whole day's allowance.

In reply to another post, I weighed Ziggy. Because he's grown, I checked the food and he's moved up a band, meaning he's now not eating even the minimum recommended amount for his weight and age. He's on Skinners Field and Trial puppy food. The recommendation is between 220 and 410g and he's barely eating 200g. That said, he also gets some treats -  a mixture of kong biscuits when he eats from a kong, tiny bits of cheese, carrot or apple and the odd bits of cooked chicken etc.

He was 4.6 kg on the 8th October when he had his jabs and he's 6.6 now, so he's gained 2kg in a month. He's really active and he seems very happy. Should I be worried? Am I overusing the treats? (For puppy classes, we were recommended to use high value treats for training and he seems to find the dry food boring).

Thanks for your help.
Jackie and Ziggy

[Mandy and Teddy]

Teddy weighed in at 4.8 at 13 weeks three days so Ziggy sounds perfectly healthy to me. I think Ted is a tad on the small side but certainly not skinny or underfed.
My vet said not to worry about what the side of the packet said just to feed what he seems to need.

Sorry just saw in your intro that Ziggy is a worker so the weight comparison us probably pretty meaningless but I wouldn't worry if he isn't eating what the packet said he should if he seems happy healthy and energetic.

[elaine.e]

I think the fact that Ziggy has gained 2kg in a month says that he's getting enough nutrition

Food guidelines are just that, and they often have very broad bandings in terms of the weight of dog and the amount of kibble. Some dogs will be at the lower end and some at the top when it comes to the amount to feed.

If you're confident that Ziggy doesn't look skinny and that he's fit and lively I wouldn't worry too much

[JackieT]

Thanks for the replies. I think my gut feeling is that he is eating as much as he needs. He certainly seems to be happy and thriving. It's a bit like babies, isn't it, the guidelines are stressful and its hard to trust your instincts, but they are usually right.