How Much Should I Feed My Puppy?

When a cute little puppy arrives at your doorstep, you can’t help but provide them with some good food and a bowl of milk.

You get so overwhelmed by looking at that face that you want to feed him time and again.

When you bring a puppy home, it becomes your responsibility to feed them and provide them with the required nourishment.

Whatever they need, you will get them and make sure that they are safe and do not face any problems in their new home with their new parents. 

Having a puppy around is so overwhelming that we want to take care of it all the time.

You don’t feel like going to college or school and want to be around that little guy and watch out for them.

However, access to anything can be dangerous for the puppy. There is a limit to which you should feed them out of love.

If you overfeed the puppy, they might overeat, and their stomach might start to hurt. They could start puking and get feverish after a while.

If you feed them less than the required amount, they wouldn’t get the required nourishment and develop a deficiency for nutrients. 

To avoid such situations, it is always better to follow a schedule or a guide that could help you in knowing how much should I feed my puppy?

What should be fed to the puppy?

First and foremost, the puppy should always be fed with food that’s appropriate for a puppy. Such foods contain a balanced diet that would provide all the required nourishment to your dog.

The kind of food you should feed also depends on the breed of the puppy you have. Some nutrients are needed by some breeds more than the other breeds.

Some health experts suggest that the puppy should be kept on a diet that increases every day, as the pup grows every day.

However, that’s not in most cases. A puppy should be fed on a constant diet from when it is four months old to 12 months old. 

To make sure you are feeding in the right amounts according to your puppy, you should visit the doctor and get the required measurement according to which you will be feeding the pup. 

Schedule for feeding your puppy if it is three months old:

When a pup is born, the initial days are the most important days to provide him a good amount of nourishment so that it can grow into a healthy dog.

The pup in this phase is very weak and requires constant attention from you. If you have the pup’s mother around, try providing it her milk as it is the best nourishment you could give it.

Otherwise, you can switch from a liquid diet to semi-solids depending on how much your dog likes it.

They might like it too much and try to gobble on the food for most of the day. Make sure they don’t overeat as you wouldn’t want them to get chubby.

Chubbiness makes them lazy and puts their heart at risk. Try feeding them just four times a day, including the treats.

Schedule for feeding if the puppy is four to six months old:

Once a pup is four months old, you may notice their diet reducing.

If you were feeding them four times a day, they now would require three or maybe just two times a day of feeding.

This is a tricky phase where the dog wouldn’t eat a lot but may still gain weight and become overweight.

As has been already mentioned, overweight dogs develop weak bones and get slower day by day.

However, you also need to make sure they get all the necessary nourishment as they are growing and soon would turn into an adult dog.

They should be fit and properly fed. To make sure everything is going in the right direction, you can also follow a chart provided by the doctor. 

Schedule for feeding if the puppy is six to twelve months old:

This is the time when your dog starts to become an adult. The eating habits change, and the nourishment requirement decreases gradually.

When a dog is 6-12 months old, you need to feed them for just two times a day, and that should do it. A healthy dog wouldn’t require more than this amount.

You can switch to adult dog food, and the nutrients to be provided to the dog change when the dog becomes an adult.

Make sure not to overfeed them, especially at this age. Additionally, try not to provide them with a lot of calcium at this point. 

Schedule for feeding if the puppy is 12 to 18 months old:

Once your pup’s first birthday arrives, you should start to limit the amount of food you give them.

Make sure that the dog hasn’t turned into a pillow that keeps resting on the couch. It should be fun and energetic.

If this is not the case, reduce the food that you give the pup, and it might get a little active. 

When you feed a puppy that belongs to a large breed, there are some things that you should take care of.

It is very important to monitor their diet and keep checking if they are gaining more than the required weight.

In order to check if the dog isn’t overweight, try to feel its ribs with a little pressure. If you are able to, the dog is in the right weight.

However, if you aren’t able to, this could be a signal of your dog being overweight. 

One of the most important things to take care of is not to over-treat your dog. You might get overwhelmed and want to feed your dog more and more.

But make sure you don’t. It isn’t good for your pup’s health and will make your dog weaker.

Refer to the pointers mentioned above to know how much should I feed my puppy?