Hello All,

Gia is 7 weeks old now. Im wondering about food portions. We feed her Purina puppy chow for large breeds, as this is what the breeder was feeding her before we brought her home.

The back of the food bag says for a puppy who will be up to 70lbs at maturity to feed her 3/4 cup to 1-1/4 cup of food a day. We split this into 3 servings, each a bit more than 1/3 cup. This just does not seem like its enough food.

She eats it all in a matter of 10 seconds, not sure she even chews it. Came from a big litter which may explain the fast eating, but, the portion seems so small. After she is done eating she scavages around looking for more. She knows where the food is kept so she will go directly to the laundry room door and whine for more.

We have an appointment at Banfield (PetsMart) to sign her up for a wellness plan and we plan to ask the vet as well, but though ya'll might have some suggestions or advice?

Thanks

Hello and welcome to the board....your new puppy is just adorable.

May I start by saying that Purina puppy chow for large breeds is not the healthiest choice of foods. ( not the best ingredients) You want to stay away from corn, corn-gluten, wheat, by-products, brewers rice and unsafe preservatives. You always want to see a "protein" as the first ingredient such as chicken or lamb, never corn.

Nutrition plays such an important role in the overall health of your puppy. You want to start by feeding them a healthy diet right from the start.

Try to stay away from dog foods sold in a grocery store and visit your local pet center. This is where you will find the healthy, premium brands.

When you feed a better food, more of the food is utilized by the dog, there is less waste and you actually will feed less.

When my Toby was a puppy, he was fed 3/4 cup, three times a day and we increased it as he got older. When your pup turns about 5-6 months old, you can then take the total daily amount and divide it into 2 meals per day and feed this way for the life of your dog.

Some of my favorite brands are:

California Natural www.naturapet.com
Eagle Pack Holistic www.eaglepack.com
Innova www.naturapet.com
Solid Gold www.solidgoldhealth.com

Hopefully, others will chime in for you too.

My first suggestion would be to ask around and find a different vet in your area. I am not a fan of Banfield vets. Having been involved in rescue and not having a good experience with them and having a good friend who could have lost her Boxer due to the very poor advice she received from a Banfield vet has done that to me. But I digress. To answer your question, I think that amount is slightly low. At that age, my puppies are eating approximately 1-1/2 cups of food per day. I tell my puppy buyers to start with that, giving 3/4 cup in the morning and 3/4 cup at night. If the pup is looking skinny, increase it, if looking fat, decrease a bit. You have to gauge it by how she looks, not by her wanting more when she's done. The fast eating is likely due to her being used to competing with her littermates and it should subside within a few weeks once she realizes there is no competition anymore. You can spread her food out on a cookie sheet or put full unopened cans of whatever you have in your pantry in her bowl to slow her down.

Thanks for the replies.

I have seen a couple of posts about not changing thier food once you start them on a certain brand.

Of course we want Gia to be as healthy as possible. Can I switch to a better brand of food now?

Here are the list of ingredients for Purina Puppy Chow Large Breed:

Whole grain corn, chicken by-product meal, corn gluten meal, brewers rice, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), barley, dried beet pulp, animal digest, calcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, fish oil, salt, potassium chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, choline chloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese sulfate, DL-Methionine, manganese proteinate, niacin, Vitamin A supplement, copper sulfate, copper proteinate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite.
N-4035

As you can see, mostly fillers (and very little meat)

While Puppy Chow is not the best food out there, I would strongly advise you to keep the pup on this food for at least a few weeks before you attempt to switch to something better (if you decide to do that). Switching her food while she's adjusting to her new home is not wise. It can cause stomach upset and diarrhea.

Thanks for the replies.

I have seen a couple of posts about not changing thier food once you start them on a certain brand.

Of course we want Gia to be as healthy as possible. Can I switch to a better brand of food now?

If this is what the breeder fed her, I would stay with it for a little while until she adjusts, then I would begin by switching her slowly to a new food. Just keep adding some of the new food to the old, until she is completely on her new food.

I just wanted to let you know that there are much better brands available for your puppy.

hmmm.. now I feel bad that we are feeding her crappy food! :(

Thanks for the ingredients post... I guess we are a bit nieve about the food situation. I will pay more attention when I go shopping this weekend, assuming it is ok to switch foods..

hmmm.. now I feel bad that we are feeding her crappy food! :(

Thanks for the ingredients post... I guess we are a bit nieve about the food situation. I will pay more attention when I go shopping this weekend, assuming it is ok to switch foods..


Please don't feel bad...it is always good to educate yourself and sometimes you really don't know until you ask questions and compare. It is perfectly fine!

You will be amazed a the difference in quality when you look at a premium food!

Good luck to you and your sweet Gia!

Portions on the bag are a guideline, and frankly one that I find not very helpful. The best way is to watch your dog. If your dog looks a little thin, increase amount, or if they look a little heavy, cut back. Be careful to not let her get overwieght, this is a very detrimental to their joints. A little thin is better than a little heavy.

Good luck researching her new foods and finding whats available in your area.

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
http://www.woodhavenlabs.com/dogfoods.html
http://www.thepetcenter.com/imtop/nutritioncomments.html
http://www.dogfoodproject.com/

Here's a few sights to get you started. As stated in previous posts, I would recommend not changing their food until they get used to the new suroundings.

Great! Thanks for the links tkpaul. Interesting.

I will do more research and as numerous people have said, "Give her a week or 2 to adjust before making the gradual switch to a better food".:thumb4:

I think we started our 7 week old pups on 1/2 cup, 3 times a day and slowly worked on upping that as they got older.

What we did with Grace is buy a 10# bag of the food the breeder was feeding and when that was near done, switched to a food I liked better. By 4 months, she was on adult food, same as the other dogs. Getting 4 cups a day.

You're welcome. Trust me, we've all been there. Good luck with the pup.

Looks like you have been given great advice. There is a place in Garner (I think) which has lots of the premium brands, I know for a fact they sell Eagle Pack & Innova. I will find the name & post for you ...Carolina Pet Supply maybe???

Here it is:

Carolina Pet Supply
322 McCormick Street
Garner , NC 27529
(919) 773-0014


My mom lives in Raleigh, when the girls were still on kibble only, they ate Eagle Pack, which is hard to find here. She would get it there & bring down when she came for a visit.

but when you say that she's 7 weeks old now, do you mean that you got her before 7 weeks? :(

I was actually coming online to ask a very similar question tonight! Thanks for all the answers I've gotten already from reading the replies. My puppy is 13 weeks old. We've had her for 5 weeks now. When we got her, she was fed Purina Puppy Chow also. We read a lot of information that this wasn't the best food but we read that after buying a big big bag of the stuff. We figured that would get her through her 'adjustment' period with us and then once this is gone we plan on switching to Canidae I think. Our biggest issue is that my son has severe anaphylactic allergies to milk & egg so we need a food that doesn't include those ingredients. I think I read several bags and Canidae seems to be healthier and not include them.

Anyway, so I came here tonight to find out if we were feeding her enough but it seems as though we might be feeding her too much? We started out at about 3/4 a cup 3 times a day, so a little over 2 cups a day total. We've upped it this week to about a cup 3 times a day, or 3 cups total. She still walks away seeming hungry which is why I thought it might not be enough. But would you think that's too much or about right for a 13 week old puppy?

Thanks & sorry to butt into your topic with my own questions!

(Lovemylabby - I'm in upstate NY also... just outside Albany. How close are you to Albany?)

You're not butting in. This is a thread on food and amount to feed so your question is pertinent.

Its hard to say if 3 cups a day is too much. How does your pup look? If not thin or too fat you should be fine. You should see a slight waist line just behind the rib cage and be able to feel ribs but not see ribs.

Keep in mind that most Labs will always act hungry. You must judge by their weight and how they look, not by how much they beg for more food.

OP - my pups go to their new homes at 8 weeks on 1/2 cup 3x/day and then get increased as they grow. Usually up to 3/4 cup per feeding by about age 12 weeks - maybe younger - each pup is different.

I had one come back for boarding that was so thin I was horrified. Another is now way over weight at 16 months. I have to keep up on buyers and ask to see pics if the dogs don't live close enough to me to come for boarding.