Different food or is my puppy just greedy?

[LauraS]

Hi,

I need some food advice please... Hamish is 5.5months old and is being fed royal canin dog food as that is what the breeder recommended.
I am starting to think I should change it.... he is always hungry an hour to an hour and a half before his meal. It is very predictable, but what I don't know is if he is genuinely hungry or just anticipating routine? When given food he would demolish it so we give it in kongs to slow him down.

I wondered if we should try him on something else because every morning he wakes us up wanting to be fed. He is more interested in that than needing the toilet. We want to feed him no earlier than 7.30am and would like it if he would sleep to then instead of 6.30am. It's not just in the morning, from midday he hangs around the kitchen, usually feed him small lunch 1pm. (That is going soon, food recommends 3 meals up to 6 months and then 2 meals a day after that) And again in the evening he is looking for food at least an hour before we are aiming to feed him.

With the pending change to 2 meals it will now be a bigger breakfast but thinking he is now maybe going to be looking for dinner earlier than before and noticing lack of lunch.
Should I try him on a sensitive or light food? But I assume light food is not advisable whislt a puppy and needing to grow?

To keep his weight ok we are only feeding him about 75% of what the manufacturer recommends for him. When we feed him any more he does not have a waist. He was at the vets for a little check up 3 weeks ago and she said he is a good size/ weight. He has not got thinner/ larger since then and does not lack energy, ever.

So this is the dilemma, is he just being greedy/ hopeful when he looks for food? We never feed him early and stick to routine. We are also not fooling ourselves as any treats for training come out his daily meal allowance so we are really only feeding him the dog food and nothing more. He loves it so much to him it is a treat and we did this from the beginning because almost all of the treats in shop even for puppy training said from 4 months.
I just wondered if he got the full amount if he would be more satisfied should I try a different brand? Any recommendations?

He currently weighs 10kg and gets lots of exercise as we are active and love the outdoors also shift workers so plenty of time to take him out.

[HBP]

I would start by feeding him the recommended amount. Puppies need an incredible amount of calories for growth and development. My own puppy ate twice the recommended amount of royal canin before we swapped his food over. He was never overweight. Its easier for them to lose weight later than gain ccondition.

[elaine.e]

Suggest you have a look at http://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/ if you're thinking about changing his food. It's a very useful site and explains how to tell a good quality food from one with poor quality ingredients and gives star ratings to many brands of food.

If he is a good size and weight on the current amount of food but loses his waistline when you feed him the recommended amount then I wouldn't increase. The feeding guidelines produced by manufacturers tend to be quite broad and all puppies are different and will have varying requirements.

Have you tried giving him a snack such as a tripe stick or a couple of biscuits before bedtime? I know that might mean you cutting his meal portions down a bit more but if he has a fairly full tummy at bedtime he may not wake up so early. Or you could try feeding him his last meal later in the evening than you do now. You could also try feeding a raw carrot as a treat through the day. Most dogs love them and they are low calorie.

[LauraS]

HBP
Thanks for replying.
Wow, that was a hungry puppy, how did you decide to feed that much? Did you let them eat to appetite or was it just enough to make them grow and gain weight.
Unfortunately for Hamish he has only got the slightest of waists at the moment and any extra food does show on him immediately and his waist is gone in 2 days. The vet did caution that he was only just on the normal side of weight so to watch him. I guess all dogs need different amounts.

[LauraS]

Thanks Elaine.
I'll have a good look through the website before I decide if a different brand would be any better for Hamish.
I like the idea of a carrot. I guess good for chewing as hard and will take time to crunch through. Might give him one with his lunch from tomorrow to bulk that out and then can try and push his dinner back a bit.

[Archie bean]

At 5.5 months I'm guessing he has quite a lot of puppy fluff which can disguise their actual shape. I would go more by feel. Are his ribs feel able? Very easily, not easily? It can be tricky when they are young. I am often surprised at the shape Archie actually is when he comes back from the groomer. He can look quite round going in and quite skinny comming out.

[Emilyoliver]

All puppies are different, but it’s usually adult dogs that put on excess weight.  As HBP has said – puppies need a lot of calories for growing – so it may be that your puppy appears fatter than he is due to coat (as Archie bean has suggested)?  I can understand him being ravenous as my worker has always demolished his food in seconds (despite having well over twice the recommended quantity).  He still gets lunch at 14 months, and wakes me on weekend mornings at 6am for his breakfast.  Food is good quality grain free, and he’s very well muscled but not overweight, so I put his ‘starvation’ down to him a) needing the calories, and b) being greedy!

[HBP]

HBP
Thanks for replying.
Wow, that was a hungry puppy, how did you decide to feed that much? Did you let them eat to appetite or was it just enough to make them grow and gain weight.
Unfortunately for Hamish he has only got the slightest of waists at the moment and any extra food does show on him immediately and his waist is gone in 2 days. The vet did caution that he was only just on the normal side of weight so to watch him. I guess all dogs need different amounts.

I suppose it was different for us really, we used royal canin gastrointestinal for a while as Hudson had colitis. I don't think that food is really designed for puppies and the recommended amount was a bit piddling really! He needed a lot more. Probably also reflected the not so great ingredients.

Carrots and dried chews are good to keep them occupied and low fat too 

[LauraS]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Hamish is not looking for food so much in the morning now he is getting more of a dinner and less of a lunch. Also, giving him a carrot has been really good because really takes his time with it. He is now more looking for games in the morning! Sleeping a little later than before still not as late as I'd like but I've read lots of other posts now on the puppy thread so feel happier about it all. Hoping with time he settles into a routine of sleeping in a bit. Definitely satisfied that he is not going hungry, he feels fine (he is a massive ball of puppy fluff) definitely not too skinny, ribs only just feelable if you try.