How Much To Feed a Puppy

First Two Weeks To One Month

Across dog breeds puppies have different weight. At birth puppies can be as light as 120 grams and larger breed puppies can be heavy at around 550 grams.

During the first two weeks of a puppies life the puppy spend its time adapting. Life at the first two weeks is more about eating, seeking warmth and sleeping.

Puppies are fed milk by their mother. The energy needs of the puppy at this early stage is satisfied by the milk from a mother dog.

The milk from the mother dog also contains nutrients that will help the puppy grow well at this stage.

There are times that a puppy cannot get milk naturally. This happens if the mother dog cannot produce milk.

Sometimes the puppy is separated from its mother. If a puppy cannot be fed with milk naturally you should give the milk yourself.

During the first week of a puppies life you can feed your puppy every 2 to 3 hours. During the second week you can feed your puppy milk every 4 hours.

And after that you can feed your puppy every 6 hours until it is one month old. At one month old they should be able to eat puppy dog food.

One Month To Six Months

Puppies grow rapidly during the first six months of their life. Puppies need a lot of energy during this time. Nutrient should be also sufficient to support their growth. To support the growth of your puppies during this time they need to eat a lot of dog food. Before it becomes four months old your puppy may need around 900 calories if it weight around 4.5 kilograms or around 10 pounds. You can compute how much your dog needs by computing the resting energy requirement.

The Resting Energy Requirement (RER) is:

RER = 30 x body weight + 70

Puppies less than four months needs three times the Resting Energy Requirement. Your puppy needs more than the resting energy requirement because it need more energy.

Your puppy has a small stomach. It cannot accommodate a lot of food at a time. You need to divide its daily intake to smaller meals per day.

In general you can feed your puppies three times a day or every eight hours. Also, you have to ensure that your puppy gets a fresh portion each time it eats. You should allow enough time for your puppy to finish its meal. Thirty minutes is enough for your puppy to finish its meal.

Read more: More Tips For A New Puppy

Six To Eight Months

At around five months the rapid growth stops. Your puppy does not need as much energy as it needs before. Since its growth slowed it may not also need as much nutrients as before. It would be idea to control how much your puppy eats per day. Depending in your puppies weight you can feed the puppy the suggested amount of dog food. Your dog may need around 900 calories. This amount is enough for your dog. Until 12 months Puppies could be fed twice daily. Your dog needs around twice the resting energy requirement.

Small & Medium Breed – Eight To Twelve Months

This is the stage that a small breed dog or a medium breed dog become and adult. Your puppy is now an adult. It is an adult because it has reach physical maturity. Your dog may not need the energy intensive puppy food anymore. It is time for your dog to eat adult food. If your dog is around ten pounds it needs around 296-404 calories, 674-922 calories for a thirty pound dog and 989-1,353 calories for a fifty pound dog.

HOW MUCH YOUR DOG SMALL AND MEDIUM BREED DOG NEEDS AT EIGHT TO TWELVE MONTHS
Dog’s Weight	Maintenance(Energy Needed Daily)	Active Dogs(Energy Needed Daily)
10 Pounds	296 Calories	404 Calories
30 Pounds	674 Calories	922 Calories
50 Pounds	989 Calories	1353 Calories

Large Breed – Tenth To Sixteenth Months

For Large breed of dogs this the time they reach physical maturity. They stop growing already around this time. Their bone and muscle stops growing including their organs. Since your puppy is now an adult you can stop feeding your dog puppy food. Large breed puppy food is designed for large breed puppy to control their growth. Your large breed dog does not need the special formulation a large breed puppy dog food. Large breed puppy food will not be enough for an adult large breed dog. Large puppy food has less amount of nutrients to control the growth of the bones. You can feed your large breed adult around 1,272-1,740 calories if your large breed dog is around seventy pounds. If your large breed dog is around 90 pounds you can feed it 1,540-2,100 calories.

HOW MUCH YOUR LARGE BREED DOGS AT TEN TO SIXTEEN MONTHS
Dog’s Weight	Maintenance(Energy Needed Daily)	Active Dogs(Energy Needed Daily)
70 Pounds	1,272 Calories	1,740 Calories
90 Pounds	1,540 Calories	2,100 Calories

Conclusion

The most important stage in a dog’s life is when it is growing. At the first two weeks your dog should get all its needs from a dog’s milk. In the first six months your dog should be fed many calories because your puppy is growing fast. Your puppy needs less calories after it is six months old. Adulthood in small and medium breed dogs start at eight to twelve months. Large breed dogs becomes adult from ten to sixteen months.