This post may contain affiliate links. We may earn money or products from the companies mentioned in this post. There are so many questions when it comes to puppy food. A question I just received the other day was “How often should you feed a puppy?” Here’s a short list of some of the other common questions I receive from friends, family, and comments on this blog: The list could go on and on and that’s just the what, why, how’s of feeding your puppy. In fact here’s another question I received from a commenter on this very blog a few days ago: My boyfriend and I think he wakes up hungry but know we should not feed him. What is the latest time we should feed him so he won’t wake up hungry. We feed him really good during the day. -Megan Lucky for us Guide Dogs of America sends us home with some very helpful guidelines answering several of the above questions including how often should you feed a puppy. Puppy Feeding ScheduleAs a guide dog puppy raiser we get to bring home a new puppy when he is approximately 7 weeks of age. That same day we receive a packet of information and one of the flyers in that packed contains a puppy feeding schedule. We actually wrote about puppy feeding schedules about 4 years ago, but thought it might be a nice time to update with the latest GDA information. In fact, I didn’t even realize the schedule had changed until a couple months before I turned in Dublin. So here’s the latest and greatest puppy feeding schedule for our puppies in training: PUPPY FEEDING SCHEDULE
Those are the guidelines set forth by Guide Dogs of America. So far the school has changed our puppy food 3 times since I’ve been a raiser. When I raised Stetson I fed him Canidae. Derby got to eat Natural Balance. Dublin was eating Purina Pro Plan and Apache is eating the same. A Few Things I’ve Learned About Feeding Your PuppyOf course I’ve learned a lot over the years as a puppy raiser. Every puppy is different and will require a different amount of food based on many different things like amount of exercise, metabolism, the size of your puppy, the age of your puppy. One thing I’ve learned is that puppies require more food then adult dogs. I scaled back on the amount of food I feed both Linus and Stetson to 1 cup twice a day. Both Stetson and Linus started gaining a little too much weight. On the other hand Apache eats more food then any of my past puppies. He’s currently eating 2 1/2 cups in the morning and 2 cups in the evening for a total of 4 1/2 cups. I may even need to add to that as he’s looking a little thinner then when he first got here. By the way, if you’re wondering about how often you should feed your puppy and what is the best food for your puppy the best thing to do is consult your veterinarian. Another great resource is to check out the Dog Food Advisor website. They have a ton of reviews, but I really like looking through their comment section to see what the regular users like you and I think of different dog and puppy foods. What’s your answer to the question how often should you feed a puppy? Tell us about it in the comment section below. Top Picks For Our Puppies
Check out more of our favorites on our New Puppy Checklist. Colby Morita has been raising and training guide and service dog puppies for over 13 years. He has puppy graduates from Guide Dogs of America, Tender Loving Canine Assistance Dogs, Cascade Service Dogs, and Canine Support Teams. Colby has been writing to the PuppyInTraining.com blog and sharing his puppy training tips from his experiences since 2007. Follow his puppy adventures at Facebook | YouTube | Twitter | Pinterest Post navigationHow much should 8 week puppy eat?PUPPY FEEDING CHART. How much and how often should an 8 week old puppy eat?By 6 to 8 weeks of age, most puppies do well eating 4 meals of puppy food a day (maybe 5 for the tiniest of pups). By 12 to 16 weeks of age, puppies can usually eat three times a day.
What is a good feeding schedule for an 8 week old puppy?The best time for your puppy's first meal is around 7 a.m., noontime for lunch, and 5 p.m. for dinner. The last meal should always be around 5 p.m. so that he will have ample time to digest his food and eliminate one last time before bedtime.
Can you overfeed an 8 week old puppy?Absolutely. Puppies are designed to grow at a specific rate. If you increase their caloric intake too much, parts of their body will start growing faster, while others will be unaffected. This is most obvious in a dog's hips, where overfeeding can lead to hip dysplasia.
|