Hi guys, after some advice, Our boy is 12 weeks tomorrow. We have had a issue with runny poos at the start, we put him on a bland diet which sorted it out and introduced a new kibble (wainwrights salmon and potato) over 7 days Its all been fine for the first 5 days, formed brown poos, weight gain and coat has improved a lot. Yesterday and today though his poos have gone a bit looser and more yellow to it. We had 1 or 2 yesterday and then another few this morning. Thinking it was to much food, we dropped his last day of his bland food and stuck to kibble. My query is how much we should be feeding him. Hes a bit underweight at only 5.3kg at about 11 weeks. We are feeding him currently at 4 meals x 48 grams (192g total) but did plan to bring it up to the minimum for his expected adult weight on the feeding guide of the wainwrights. We class him as a large breed (maybe wrongly?) which shows a minimum of 275g, maybe he is a medium breed?. If hes softer poos at 192g per day, should we lower it even tho its quite low as it is? or is 192g ok. Thanks guys Feeding Guide (approx/day Medium: (12 - 25kg) 2 - 6mths 100-390g 6 - 12mths 260 - 370g. Large: (25 - 45kg) 2-6months 275-470g 6 - 12mths 445 - 555g 12 - 18 mths 410 - 500g.
Hi @Crumbs feeding our puppies causes us so much worry about what is too little or too much, what is the right food/best food etc etc. First off I wouldn't worry about your boy's weight unduly - each and every puppy is an individual and weighs differently or measures differently to other puppies - even within the same litter . My girl was only 4.5 kgs at 10 weeks old so only heading towards 5.5kg at 12 weeks and gained weight at a steady rate around 0.5kg per week - the main thing is that they are healthy and active and interested in life around them. Regarding the amount to feed if poos are runny, and there is no other reason for a runny poo, then it is quite likely to be due to overfeeding - one of the most causes of runny poo in our puppies and dogs. I always calculated daily intake based upon an adult weight of 25kg as a general rule of thumb and not worried about whether it was for a large breed or medium as manufacturers classify differently. So based upon a 25kg adult your boy at 12 weeks should be on a daily intake of around 165g. Taking a 290g coverage for a 12 week age period allows for an increase of 16g per day for each week upto 26 weeks so add 4 x 16g (64g) to the base of 100g produces 164/5g . As his poos are softer I would decrease the amount of food to the 'medium size adult' and see how he goes. Good luck
Hi Jojo, thanks alot for the replies. It just seems a puny amount to give him even on 192g especially when hes under weight but guess he cant handle much more. He pooed in his crate last night, first time in 1-2 weeks, normally goes all night so i do think its to much food. He was sick last night too but i think that was unrelated to his diet, something he eat that he shouldn't off but i did notice his kibble expanded quite a bit, its little rice crispy size in the bowl and expands 3 x its size maybe x 4 I dont think hes going to be a chunky lab when hes older, his mum was quite lean (more working look) and his dad was chunkier with that more show bred look so on the bottom end of large sounds right as hes looking more like his mum so far. How did you come to the 165g calculation JoJo ? Reducing to a medium dog then is just the un helpful guidance on the package of 100-390g, guess we go by the poos and work it up slowly, thanks again
We're moving him to 3 meals a day of 50g today, reduction of 42gs. First meal will be 40g though else his system would be in effect getting a increase initially. Think we are going to move him onto a raw diet shortly.
Hi @Crumbs the way I calculated was that there is a 290g difference for feeding amounts that covers an 18 week age gap, so a rough rule of thumb to calculate amounts is to divide 290 by 18 which gives an allowance of an additional 16g for each week of age to be added to the badeline 100g. So a 9 week puppy gets around 116g per day. At 10 weeks an adfitional 16g so 132g si 12 weeks gives 164g. The expansion capabilities for kibble is a major reason to feed over 3 or 4 smaller meals.
