How much do I feed my puppy?

[barn206]

I have a chocolate lab puppy who is 13 pounds. How many cups of food does she get? I feed her a cup a day but I'm not sure if that's enough. She is almost 4 months old

Hi chickenfarmer4life
First off we love your posts! Can you call a local vet and explain your dogs situation over the phone? We are concerned about your dog and we want to help! Can you post an update of how much your puppy ate today?
George

 

[OkieChickenGal]

I hate to sound harsh, but that is extremely underweight for a 4 month old (pure bred?) Chocolate Lab. At 4 months, that dog should be in the 40-45 pound plus range. I suggest you do a fecal ASAP and if worms are found (they can severely stunt growth), get her on a proper worming protocol. She should be getting 3-4 cups of food per day minimum. More if a poor quality (cheap) food, perhaps a LITTLE less if a high concentrated nutrient dense food (Blue Buffalo comes to mind).

As a puppy, I always fed twice, morning and evening with the eventual ability to feed free choice. I would NOT recommend free choice at this point with your pup as she is probably starving and will over eat to compensate.

Has she had her puppy shots? If no, I suggest a vet "wellness" visit for shots and overall evaluation as well as the worm/fecal check.

Thanks for the helpful info! She was the runt of the litter. I think that's why she's 13 lbs. I gave her 2 cups of purina puppy chow today. I'm going to start giving her 3/4 cup in the morning, another 3/4 cup in the afternoon, and than another in the evening

 

[OkieChickenGal]

And yes, she's had her shots and deworming. She's also a purebred

 

[Latestarter]

Thank you for responding! I'm SO glad to hear that she has had her shots. <whew!> As a purebred Chocolate Lab, even as a runt, she should be 3-4 times her present size. If you have really been feeding her 1 cup (like as in 1 cup measured) of food per day, she has a LOT of catching up to do and it's NOT too late for a more or less "full recovery" and growth to at least close to proper size.

3/4 of a cup of food is NOT enough... not even if fed 3 time a day. You must have misread my earlier post... What you are saying is you will be increasing her intake by 1 & 1//4 cup per day to 2 1/4 cups total. That is NOT enough food! That is ONE HALF what she should be getting.

I am NOT trying to be mean, and there's no real way to say this in a nice way. You are starving that puppy. She is NOT 13 pounds because she was the "runt of the litter" She is 13 pounds, because you are feeding her like she's a chihuahua puppy.

Based on your food choice, right now, you should be feeding her 2 cups, THREE times a day! If you upgrade to a better quality of puppy food for her, you could probably drop to 2 1/2 cups twice a day.

You are feeding her Purina Puppy Chow... I'm sorry, but that is actually a very poor nutrition food. it is mostly grain, garbage, and chemicals. Here are the ingredients. I highlighted in red the items that are NOT chemicals: "Ingredients Whole grain corn, corn gluten meal, chicken by-product meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols (form of Vitamin E), soybean meal, egg and chicken flavor, brewers rice, barley, animal digest, calcium phosphate, fish oil, calcium carbonate, dried yeast, salt, potassium chloride, choline chloride, L-Lysine monohydrochloride, L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), zinc sulfate, Vitamin E supplement, ferrous sulfate, Yellow 6, DL-Methionine, Yellow 5, manganese sulfate, niacin, Red 40, Vitamin A supplement, Blue 2, copper sulfate, calcium pantothenate, garlic oil, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B-12 supplement, thiamine mononitrate, Vitamin D-3 supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium iodate, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), folic acid, biotin, sodium selenite"

https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petcostore/product/purina-puppy-chow-complete-nutrition-formula It's "flavored" with chicken and egg "flavor" so the pup will even eat it.

Here's some info for your reading pleasure:

https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/best-dog-foods/
https://mysweetpuppy.net/best-large-breed-puppy-foods/
http://bigdogshugepaws.com/nutrition

 

[OkieChickenGal]

I will feed her a lot more like you said so she catches up, I didn't know puppies got that much food, I read that a 13 pound pup should only get a cup a day, So I guess I read wrong. Thanks for all your help!

 

[Latestarter]

Just one more thing... as the pup grows, you will need to increase the food amount. You don't feed an adult the same amount that a baby eats... same with your dog. As it grows, it will need more food to stay healthy. An adult chocolate lab female should weigh anywhere from ~ 65-80 pounds, depending on her lineage (big parents, big offspring). an adult of 70 pounds would typically need 5-6 cups of food per day. That's figuring a HIGH quality feed. Cheap feed, the dog would need more, and it still would not promote good health. If the dog starts getting fat, cut back on the food. If you can see ribs when the dog is standing naturally, it needs more food.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Wow do people really feed their large dogs that much? I guess it's based on activity level. I have a (formerly) 95 lb husky/akita that gets 2 1/4 cups of food a day. That's what it takes to maintain her weight at a healthy level, about 88 lbs.

To OP: definitely consult with your vet about how much the pup should be getting and how often, as well as getting recommendations on what food would be best for pup. I agree puppies do better on multiple small feedings rather than just one meal a day. Every dog is different so it's hard to say definitively how much yours should be eating at this point.

 

[Latestarter]

The body structure of a husky is substantially different than a chocolate lab.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I don't mean to imply that all dogs of the same weight class should get identical amounts of food. As noted different breeds have different builds, different needs, working dogs obviously require more, etc. I've just never had to feed any dog near as much as the directions on the back of the bags say.

 

[barn206]

I’m glad everything is ok!
I feed my dogs all they can eat in 15 minutes or so. That’s in the morning. I then take the food away til the afternoon 4 o’clock , then I feed them a second time. They eat what they want and leave the rest. If there is food left over, I remove it at 630 pm or so. This is what works for me and my dogs look beautiful!
I had trouble figuring out how to feed my rescue in the beginning as well. I finally got it..
One last thing, my dogs take turns eating out of the same bowl. Sometimes they eat together but often my poodle will eat first. At no time are the dogs rushing to their food. Good luck with your new puppy!!!