how much food do you give your puppy?

Fredo

Hello,
1st time poster and thanks for all the info i read so far on this forum.
Our golden retriever has joined our house a week ago and he is settling ok. With the breeder he was eating Gain we have switched him to Redmills leader. He likes it and we are happy to support an Irish company.
Peanut is 3 months now and weight 14,5 kg, he is quite lean but has big bones. He will be very big. The pack of redmills says to give a pup 40grams per 1kg of the weight of the dog. that would be 40 x 14.5 that 580 grams of dry food, almost 6 cups a day, it sounds a lot to me. Peamut would only eat at most 3 cups when he is really hungry plus some buckweat or pasta or rice.
Are 3 cups enough? he does not seem to want more despite been very active in the garden. Endless running machine and I lost weight myself with all the playing. great!
Thanks for your replies

ISDW

Fredo wrote: »

Hello,
1st time poster and thanks for all the info i read so far on this forum.
Our golden retriever has joined our house a week ago and he is settling ok. With the breeder he was eating Gain we have switched him to Redmills leader. He likes it and we are happy to support an Irish company.
Peanut is 3 months now and weight 14,5 kg, he is quite lean but has big bones. He will be very big. The pack of redmills says to give a pup 40grams per 1kg of the weight of the dog. that would be 40 x 14.5 that 580 grams of dry food, almost 6 cups a day, it sounds a lot to me. Peamut would only eat at most 3 cups when he is really hungry plus some buckweat or pasta or rice.
Are 3 cups enough? he does not seem to want more despite been very active in the garden. Endless running machine and I lost weight myself with all the playing. great!
Thanks for your replies

Congrats on the puppy.

Why did you change the food? Is Gain not an Irish brand as well?

How many times a day are you feeding him?

Shanao

I've always found that you have to feed more of red mills than any other food. My four month old 25kg akita is on 600g a day of Real Nature which is 2cups of food a day, and he's going to be a 60kg dog. If he was on leader I would have to feed him 1000g a day!!
A retriever, on the same food, would be on about 400g a day which would be a cup and a third for the whole day.

Fredo

<Why did you change the food? Is Gain not an Irish brand as well?>
Because gain is not available in my local pet shop / agri shop.
We are feed him 3 times a day

Shanao

Leader is a lot better quality than Gain anyway so he'd be better off on it. Is it just the puppy food, or puppy large breed food that you're giving him? He should really be on the large breed specific food, I think you would probably feed him less of it as well.

Fredo

Shanao wrote: »

Leader is a lot better quality than Gain anyway so he'd be better off on it. Is it just the puppy food, or puppy large breed food that you're giving him? He should really be on the large breed specific food, I think you would probably feed him less of it as well.

I will go to the shop tomorrow and buy the puppy large breed food.
Anyway this furry ball bring a lot of joy, fun and love in our house. I'm not in the best of health but since he has arrived i have a new lease of life! We love him to bits.

tk123

My GR is 18months now - he started on royal canin and I remember at one stage he was getting about 500g maybe more. He gets 200-250g of Luath now and his few bonios etc and he's quite lean - 27kgs. Aim to keep the pup lean as it'll benefit him in the long run as it's better for his joints. With the puppy foods they usually tell you to increase the amount eg every few months and then once they hit around 9 months/a year you decrease it. They go thru a stage where they get bigger overnight lol so you increase their food then and cut it back as the growth slows down. Your guy is still quite young OP - he'll get greedy in time and eat everything he can get his paws on! I was cutting up broccoli earlier and dropped a piece - our guy ate it and asked for more 3 times lol!! :pac: Also if he's teething he mightn't take as much food if it's hurting him so maybe soak the food in water for him.

luvdogs

The feeding guide on dog food is just that..a guide!!
use it as that, and ajust it by eye...if your pup needs more, feed more or vice versa!!
id aim to have a well covered puppy so they have something to grow into, restrict the exercise a bit as well....puppies dont always know when they`ve over done it!!!
sounds like a bundle of fun. best of luck, nothing like a pup to make you smile!

Chris_Heilong

My 10 week Malamute pup is 8.5kg and eats 1 and a half cups of Eukanuba for large breeds, make sure your feeding your pup Large breed puppy food because growing too fast is bad for their joints.

andreac

Chris_Heilong wrote: »

My 10 week Malamute pup is 8.5kg and eats 1 and a half cups of Eukanuba for large breeds, make sure your feeding your pup Large breed puppy food because growing too fast is bad for their joints.

Chris, sometimes the large breed can actually cause this, if there is a high protein content.
Im very wary of these large breed specific foods and have heard of several people with joint problems in puppies from feeding these large breed specific foods.
I would be careful not to go over 28% protein.

daenerysstormborn3

I agree with andrea. More often than not puppy foods aimed at large/giant breeds have far too much protein in them and this leads to joint problems. For a pup I would aim for 23%-25% max. This is usually on the pack in pretty large print.

Chris_Heilong

Thanks for letting me know, the food I am giving him is 25% protein and I feed him 4 times a day. It is also probiotic.

andreac

25% is fine. Ive seen some large/giant breed foods with protein over 30%, even 32%, far too much as this def causes the bones to grow at a very fast rate and can cause Pano (growing pains) in some of the larger breeds.