How much food does a 9 week old Puppy need ?
by Pam O'Shea
(Minneapolis)
2 of my eight puppies
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I have 8 nine-week-old Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppies, who are just weening from their mom.
I am feeding them Wellness canned puppy formula, and also Halo salmon puppy formula kibble. I am using Halo, because I am so impressed with the ingredients --- the first being wild caught salmon, and it goes on from there with an impressive list of ingredients. I wonder why Halo is not on any of your lists of recommended foods?
Frankly I have no idea how much to be feeding these little bowsers, until they go to their forever homes.
Normally this toy breed only has 3-4 maybe 5 pups. I believe my girl had 8 because of the very healthy diet I feed her, which is a conglomeration of several very healthy brands, including Sojos, but also others.
The puppies are going to be for sale, and I want to make sure I am feeding them properly. They act like they are starving when I put down the food.
Answer From the Editors at Dog-Spoiling
Hello Pam,
Your puppies look adorable.
As to how much food puppies need when they transition to solid food, there is no exact formula because all breeds are unique.
More importantly is the quality of the food they receive which for the toy breeds should contain in the range of 22-25 percent high quality protein and between 8-15 percent fat. If you are satisfied with the quality of the food you have selected, then you can start by following the directions on the label as a guide to the amounts to feed.
I do believe, however, that the food should be split between dry and moist because small dogs have a tendency to become dehydrated more easily than larger dogs.
Another thing to note about small breeds is that they generally have a higher metabolism and need to be fed more frequently for this reason and also due the fact that their tiny tummies can't hold much at one time.
Dr. Pitcairn in his wonderful guide on natural health for dogs and cats, indicates that the energy requirements of a growing puppy are twice that of an adult dog of the same breed.
When a puppy reaches forty percent of his adult weight, his needs will be 1.6 times the adult requirement, and at 80 percent adult weight it drops to 1.2 times the adult needs and so on until he is full grown.
In this book he also gives some average caloric needs for adult dogs. For example, an adult dog weighing 10 pounds, would require approx 410/kcal a day.
When you take these beautiful puppies in for their wellness check with the vet, have him give you some feeding guidelines that you can pass along to their new owners. This breed does tend to easily become overweight so it's important not to overfeed them for health reasons as they mature.
Hope this information will help you send these Cavalier King Charles puppies off to a good start.
Natural Health
For Dogs And Cats
