how should I feed my puppy??

I was wondering if some of you can help. Lucky just went to the vet and weighs 31.4 pounds. He is 11 weeks old. I was feeding him 3 times per day. Usually he ate 1 cup in the am, then 1 1/2 lunch and finally 1 1/2 - 2 dinner. My vet said to switch him to twice per day...2 cups each time. Well I tried this and he only likes to eat 1 cup in the am, so should I give him more than the 2 cups for dinner so he is getting 4 cups? I'm a bit confused.
Thanks for any advice you may have.
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it really depends on what you are feeding him - you need to make sure he gets the right nutrients as well as calories. That said, one of mine was a real picky eated and only ever picked at her breakfast and mostly ate her dinner, but I didn't add extra at night - unless we had a very active day.
He may balance it out himself. Monitor his intake and weight to be sure he's gaining at a decent rate... not too thin, not too chunky. If he continually does not eat the full meal and isn't gaining appropriately or is super hungry between meals or throwing up, talk with the vet again.

I pick up what they don't eat after about 15 minutes. I'm not a fan of keeping unfinished meals so I throw any remaining out if it's going to be 12 hours 'til the next meal. We prefer to feed 3 meals per day until pups reach 6 months of age or if there's a health concern that requires more frequent meals but there are different views on this.
Thanks for the help. 3 meals till 6 months seems to make sense to me. He is active and I would imagine burns up the food quickly.
Remember that this is just one opinion.
Wait for more opinions and then discuss it further with your vet.
We've raised 7 puppies and they all did well but your vet may
have a valid reason to feed just 2 meals.
I always took the recommendation of the bag of food and divided it by three. When the pups turned about a year old or was lnot eating most of food in the mid day meal I would cut that meal out.
I asked the Vet why I needed to switch to 2 meals and she said it was easier and kept him more scheduled. Not sure if I agree with that though. I'm home all day with him so it isn't a big deal to take him out. Well anyway, there weren't any medical reasons, just that she seems to think it is easier.
I'll see what others have to say too. Thanks for your replies.
His only 11 weeks old and growing rapidly he needs 3 meals a day. By about 6 months + you can cut back to 2 then. :wink:

They sort of let you know when as if food is left especially the mid-day meal then you can increase the morning and evening amount and cut out the meal in the middle of the day.

Mine were on 3 meals till nearly one as we had problems putting weight on one over active sheepie girl. :roll:
I'm with Jaci and Lisa on this. Three meals a day till roughly six months. Longer if they're able to con me into it :lol: :lol:

That's not a hard and fast rule, but just what makes sense to me. At ten weeks old they're still eating four meals a day.

Can you ask the breeder what s/he recommends?

Kristine
Thanks everyone. I have a 12 year old Bichon and with him we have always left the food out all day. They both eat dry food. Anyway I asked the breeder if I should leave Luckys food out all day for him and he said that was fine. Well that seemed to be a bit of a problem with trying to keep the Bichon out of Luckys food, so someone told me to give him 3 meals per day. When I went to the vet she said that was fine, but it would be easeir to just give him 2 meals per day. Guess we will just go back to the 3 meals and leave it for now. He was 18.4 pounds when we got him at 8 weeks and was 32.4 pounds at 11 weeks. So he gained 14 pounds in 3 weeks. the vet said 4 pounds per week is good and right now his wieght is good...not too thin not to chunky :D
His dad is 110 pounds and apparently weighed 13 pounds at 8 weeks. The breeder and the vet said Lucky could be about 110-120. His paws are huge!
lisaoes wrote:
:
They sort of let you know when as if food is left especially the mid-day meal then you can increase the morning and evening amount and cut out the meal in the middle of the day.

Mine were on 3 meals till nearly one as we had problems putting weight on one over active sheepie girl. :roll:


ha, ha, ha, hee, hee, are you joshing Lisa?? :lol: :lol: Tiggy would be still on 4 meals a day if I left it to her to let me know when to cut down and she'd be a big fat barrel on legs too. :lol:

My rule of thumb is puppies grow into their feet, so the bigger the feet the bigger the dog will be. So my prediction is you'll have a lovely BIG boy. :D 8)
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