How often to feed new puppy

[emma1325]

Hi,

We recently got a six week mixed breed pup; looks like pit and american bulldog. We have him on blue buffalo puppy food, which says a pup of his age/weight should be eating 1/4 - 1 cup per day total. He eats at least twice that! I feed him a fourth of a cup at a time, and he often eats it all up quickly and looks for more. So usually I give him another fourth cup.

Should I keep feeding him on demand? Or should I worry about overfeeding him?

Thanks!

[Ldavis24]

the feeding guidelines are just that, guidelines. We use Blue Buffalo too, well actually the wilderness brand but same company.

It is very possible to overfeed but if your puppy is still acting very hungry I would up it just a little bit more. Puppies need the nutrition where if it was an older dog and you were overfeeding you would notice fairly quickly when your dog turned into a chub. I'm guessing he has been checked for worms and all that? If not, maybe a trip to the vet is warranted, if a puppy is eating twice the suggested amount and still acting famished worms are always a possibility and extremely common in puppies...

Are you going by the weight guidelines? I imagine so, either way just do a little bit more but keep in mind some dogs will eat as much as you give them no matter what...

Congrats on your new puppy btw!!

[emma1325]

Thanks for the advice! We still need to visit the vet; we've only had him for 3 days and I'm still researching what shots I want to do. I gave him some de-worming meds last night just in case...he does have a bit of diarrhea, but I suspect it could be from changing his food abruptly. The previous owners were feeding him cheap puppy chow, and I didn't have the heart to buy him that stuff.

[Ldavis24]

just a heads up on the dewormer, I have used the OTC stuff for my cats before, but it is not specific to all types of worms...Also the easiest way to see if he has worms is just to check his poop out. They are pretty easy to stop and most puppies have them...Goodluck, I totally get the cheap dog food deal, so gross and bad for them. It is hard to shell out the money for the good stuff but I just can't give our dog the crappo food....

Also if hte diarrhea persists then get puppy to the vet right away...has your pup been tested for parvo? Depending on where you got him from, it could be a risk factor,this is a deadly deadly disease. I'm not trying to scare but it is very hard for puppies to recover from and it is something that can cause diarrhea.

[emma1325]

Thanks on the heads up...I did notice that it only covered 2 worms, but the orc stuff was my only option. We're taking him to the vet soon; I'm hoping the loose stools are just food related.

[Ldavis24]

Originally Posted by emma1325 

Thanks on the heads up...I did notice that it only covered 2 worms, but the orc stuff was my only option. We're taking him to the vet soon; I'm hoping the loose stools are just food related.

goodluck! It is more likely just stress/new food/worms than anything else. 

Parvo tends to strike back yard breeding operations where sanitation is poor and there are no vaccines.

the OTC de-wormer we used for my cats worked really well. Only 1 dose was needed for each cat and it completely fixed the problem...Now trying to get a big round tablet down a cats throat, that was a whole other story!

[litanyagainstfear]

You might try googling around a bit to see if you can find feeding guidelines for pups of your breed(s)/sizes to give you a better idea of what the pup might need. I don't recommend free feeding, though.

[Arduinna]

We don't feed on demand, but we feed our puppy 3x a day.