# Am I feeding enough?



## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

Good Morning Everyone,

I am currently feeding Solid Gold Lil Boss to my almost 9 week old (one day shy) puppy and the bag states from 2-15 lbs should be fed anywhere from 1/4 cup to 1 cup per day. I am currently feeding 1 cup spread out between three meals. My concern is that he feels kinda skinny, I can feel his washboard ribs and feel his hips however they aren't necessarily visible because he's a long coat. He's currently 8 lbs on the dot and seems to be always hungry. I know you want to grow these puppies slow so I am not sure if I am being a little too patient or starving the little guy. Per the breeder recommendation I am keeping him on this food for another 2 weeks before I slowly transition him to see how he does on Fromm LBP. Any help is always appreciated. Much love.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

That food is formulated for small breed dogs. I cannot find the calcium and phosphorus levels, but I imagine they are not appropriate for a large breed puppy. One cup a day is likely not enough food for a 9 week old puppy, no matter their current weight. That’s only 400 calories for the entire day. I would do a slow switch to a more appropriate food for a large breed puppy, starting now. And I would be feeding more than one cup. Just my opinion, I’m not a vet, breeder or nutritionist.


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## tc68 (May 31, 2006)

"1 cup spread out between 3 meals?" So 1 cup a day? Or 1/3 cup, 3 times a day? I don't know but that is way too little, I think. At 9 weeks, I was giving mine 1 cup, 3 times a day....so 3 cups a day (different brand of food). At 13 weeks now, I'm giving him 4.5 cups a day and he's still hungry. I think you're starving him. 8 lbs at 9 weeks old?! Good grief, please, feed the pup. Mine was twice the weight of yours at 9 weeks old. I gotta ask, is your dog even a pure GSD?


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## tim_s_adams (Aug 9, 2017)

My puppy weighed 20lbs at 9 wks...I fed her a different brand of kibble, but she never ate less than 3 cups per day, and that went all the way up to 7-8 cups per day when she was growing fast (4-7 months of age). Go by the puppy's appearance, you should not be able to see ribs at 9 wks!


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## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

GypsyGhost said:


> That food is formulated for small breed dogs. I cannot find the calcium and phosphorus levels, but I imagine they are not appropriate for a large breed puppy. One cup a day is likely not enough food for a 9 week old puppy, no matter their current weight. That’s only 400 calories for the entire day. I would do a slow switch to a more appropriate food for a large breed puppy, starting now. And I would be feeding more than one cup. Just my opinion, I’m not a vet, breeder or nutritionist.


I took to the forum a couple of weeks ago prior to picking him up and some recommended I keep him on it for at least a couple of weeks, while the little one gets situated. I will look into feeding him a little more. I still have a large quantity left but will pick up some LBP for him today and slowly introduce it to him next week. So I think I may have came up with a solution but not sure if I am wrong. I think I will feed him a 1/2 cup in the morning, 3/4 cup in the afternoon, and then 1/2 cup in the evening of his current food. This way he will get roughly 700 calories per day. According to the feeding recommendation for fromm pups his age should get aproximately ~680 calories per day so I just applied that rule to the food he is currently on.


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## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

tc68 said:


> "1 cup spread out between 3 meals?" So 1 cup a day? Or 1/3 cup, 3 times a day? I don't know but that is way too little, I think. At 9 weeks, I was giving mine 1 cup, 3 times a day....so 3 cups a day (different brand of food). At 13 weeks now, I'm giving him 4.5 cups a day and he's still hungry. I think you're starving him. 8 lbs at 9 weeks old?! Good grief, please, feed the pup. Mine was twice the weight of yours at 9 weeks old. I gotta ask, is your dog even a pure GSD?


I am feeding him 1 cup a day or 1/3 cup 3 times a day, however you like to see it but its the same thing. At his vet check after I got him the vet said he was perfectly healthy. So i dont know it just made me question if I was feeding enough. He is purebred and definitely wasnt the runt of the litter. There was one other male and he looked to be a good 10-15 lbs but he was bigger than some of his sisters. Dam is 70-75 lbs and sire sits at 90-100lbs but when they were surveyed they were within breeding standard.


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## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

tim_s_adams said:


> My puppy weighed 20lbs at 9 wks...I fed her a different brand of kibble, but she never ate less than 3 cups per day, and that went all the way up to 7-8 cups per day when she was growing fast (4-7 months of age). Go by the puppy's appearance, you should not be able to see ribs at 9 wks!


Thank you and I will keep this in mind. I cant see his ribs since he is a long coat but I can definitely feel them when he doesn't have some food in him.


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## GypsyGhost (Dec 29, 2014)

My current puppy, at 13 weeks, is eating 2.5 cups of kibble plus a half pound of raw per day (roughly 1200 calories). My last puppy was eating 3 cups per day from 8 weeks until 12 weeks, then 4 cups per day until I switched him to raw at 5 months (he’s a lean 70 pound, 3.5 yo adult now). I’ve not found the feeding guidelines on the bag of kibble to be terribly accurate based on age or weight, unfortunately. I would say your puppy is likely to need more than 700 calories per day. I would up it a bit more than that and then feed based on body condition. It’s a bit of a guessing game at first, that’s for sure!


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## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

GypsyGhost said:


> My current puppy, at 13 weeks, is eating 2.5 cups of kibble plus a half pound of raw per day (roughly 1200 calories). My last puppy was eating 3 cups per day from 8 weeks until 12 weeks, then 4 cups per day until I switched him to raw at 5 months (he’s a lean 70 pound, 3.5 yo adult now). I’ve not found the feeding guidelines on the bag of kibble to be terribly accurate based on age or weight, unfortunately. I would say your puppy is likely to need more than 700 calories per day. I would up it a bit more than that and then feed based on body condition. It’s a bit of a guessing game at first, that’s for sure!


Okay thank you for your advice, ill closely monitor him and i will get him on the LBP.


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## slackoff01 (Apr 11, 2018)

That sounds way too little.

My pup just passed the 10 week mark on Wed. He was at the vet the tues prior after an ant incident with a reaction. He was 15.3lbs @~12.25 inches at the shoulders. Our first vet check was just about 8.5 weeks at that time he was 10.9 and the vet noted he was too lean. Since then I bumped the feeding schedule up and added in moist food as well.

My feeding schedule is something like 4 feedings a day, I have very flexible work schedule as does the wife. 
Each feeding consists of:

-3/4 cup Diamond Naturals Large Puppy - Lamb
-~1/8th or less cup Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete (this is my adult dogs food, high protein and fat, he loves it and encourages him to eat more kibble, he is allowed very little however since it lacks the calcium and phosphorus his puppy kibble has.
-3-4 Tbps of Diamond Naturals moist - I sort through all the flavors to keep it interesting
-1-2 tsp organic plain yogurt

I will also for a change mix in some Evangers chicken, essentially just chicken / chicken liver / chicken broth in a loaf form to the moist mix, or give that in place of his normal moist mix.

His weight is rising with no fatness, still a little lean looking from the ribs to his hips IMO but he is growing much quicker than I expected.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

Way too little food. Your puppy should be eating about 3 cups a day.


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## Trix (Jun 22, 2017)

We followed this religiously and it worked perfect for our pup. At 10 months we added in an extra half cup more than our breeder (who is also a vet) recommended. Our pup gets a ton of walks/fetch so it was needed. 

FEEDING SCHEDULE:
8-12 wks. feed ¾-1 cup 3x a day
12-15 wks. feed 1 ½-2 cups 2x a day
16-20 wks. 2-3 cups 2x a day
5-6 mts 2 ½ -3 cups 2x a day (AFTER 6 MTS DECREASE TO 2 CUPS 2X A DAY)

His weight - starting at 8 wks:

7/24/2017- 19.5 lbs 
8/1 - 24 lbs
8/9 - 28.2 lbs 
9/14 - 38.4lbs
11/23 - 60 lbs
1/30/2018 - 71.4 lbs
2/5 - 72.8 lbs
3/9 - 71.4
3/25 - 71.4
4/7 - 75.6 

Here’s our guy at 3.5 months, 7.5 months, and 10 months. No one would ever say he’s been overweight. This was also with a Purina pro plan. Recently switched to a grain free tho. 










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## DarylG23 (Apr 2, 2018)

Okay thank you all for the suggestions, Ill bump up his feedings and I am sure that he will do even better. Thanks!


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