Feeding a Puppy

[Jay06]

I have a few questions!....

Bailey will be 5 months old tomorrow. He is still being fed 4 x a day ( vet recommended this til 6 months?) on Arden Grange.
He is fed around:
                       7:30
                       11:30
                       16:30
                       20:00

However, he doesn't seem to be enjoying his food as much. I have decided to take him down to three meals a day, so am looking for some advice. How much food in grams should he be getting a day? (he currently gets around 40ish of dry Arden Grange for each meal with a couple of spoonfuls of something - fish/chicken etc mixed in) And i know i have to divide his 4th meal between the 3 other ones, but do I have to alter his feeding times or will he just get used to not having his last meal?

Sorry about all the questions although having my first cocker pupster is a rather steep learning curve!!! 

[Rhona W]

I would adjust his feeding times slightly so that he has breakfast, dinner and tea. For example, 7.30, 12.30 and 6.30 ish. I think puppies usually have three meals a day from around 3/4 months and then two meals a day from 6 months.
How much food Bailey should have depends on how much he weighs.  Arden Grange has a guide on the packaging and comes with a measuring cup so you can work out how much your dog should be having. I assume since you are adding things to it, then he should have slightly less than they recommend.   

[MaxG]

Yep - I agree - just reduce him to 3 meals then eventually when he's older, if needs be, to 2 - all dogs are different really.

Max went off 3 meals quite early & we reduced him to 2 with a light snack for brekky instead of a meal - he now wolfs the lot down & is thriving & not looking for food inbetween.

 

[Jay06]

Thanks!

We added some more to his dinner last night around 7ish, but he never touched it - eventually flung it away!!

He only had 2 meals yesterday - do you think this will affect him? Sometimes he doesn't eat his lunch though usually eats all his dinner!! 

[OscarsMum]

Oscar has just turned 6 months and has been on 2 meals for the past 3 weeks as he too went off his midday meal. I give him a slightly smaller meal in the morning but he often doesn't finish it until after his pm walk at about 4pm. At 5 pm he is asking for his tea! I always thought it was a bit unkind to only feed dogs once a day but can see that for some dogs this is what they prefer. Our problem is that although Oscar has his tea between 5pm and 6pm he doesn't poo until about 1-30am!! Anyone got any ideas on how to hurry him up a bit!!?? I'm really getting fed up having to get up to him during the night!

[AnnieM]

My girls have been on two meals a day since they were 5 months old.  They just refused the mid-day meal so we eventually dropped it, they quite often don't eat all their tea now either, so we will soon be switching to one meal a day I think.

[Krisdt]

I had Loki on three meals a day from bringing him home as the breeder had got them down to three for peeps picking them up we are slowly fazing lunch now as doesnt tend to eat much at lunch (if at all) I am just taking what would be in his lunch and dividng it up between brecky and dinner but I am still putting down a half portion at lunch. His meals are 7.30 and 5.30 (ish). Loki is on Burns but we usually mix something like fish or meat of some kind into his dinner.

[clairep4]

Zorro's 5 months and we'll be putting him on 2 meals a day from this weekend. He went down to 3 meals when he was about 12 weeks. Once he starts to reach full size we'll be reducing his food (currently on about 400g of raw food and will end up on around 250g eventually).

[maximus]

Charlie too is just coming up to 5 months and doesn't always have 3 meals- depends what we are doing    if we are out on a walk at lunchtime i just take a portion of Burns kibble in my pocket and give it as treats.