DogFeeding Schedule: How Much and How Often?
The best way to keep your dog in good healthis feeding them the right amount of dog food daily. But many owners are leftwondering “How much should I feed my dog?” Feeding your dog toolittle can lead to lack of nutrition while over feeding can lead to obesity. Sohow much is the right amount to feed your dog?
Feeding Guidelines
The basic guidelines are normally on the backof your dog food bag. The feeding guide looks something like this:
This is a general feeding guide that you willsee on most dog food bags. These feeding guides should not be the only thingthat you base your dog’s food intake. Owners should take into consideration ontheir individual dog. There is no such thing as an universal feeding guide.Your dog’s age, weight and his activity levels also influences how much and howoften you should feed your dog.
Daily Feeding Frequently and Amount
-Puppies are growing and need all the nutrientsthey can get to grow healthy and strong. Because of this, it is normallyrecommended for them to eat twice as much as the serving size for adult dogs.
– Puppies should be fed three to five times aday. This is because puppies have an abundance amount of energy—they will burnoff a lot of calories throughout the day requiring them to need more fuel.
-Adult dogs should be fed depending on theirweight and level of activity. Assuming your dog has a typical activity level,toy breeds should have about ¼ cups to 1 cup, small breeds should have about 1cup to 1 2/5 cup, medium breeds should have about 2 cups to 2 2/3 cups, andlarge breeds should have about 2 4/5 cups to 3 cups.
-Senior dogs should be fed a little less thanadult dogs. Because they have lower energy levels, lessening the amount of foodshould be taken into consideration to keep your dog at a healthy weight.
-Adult dogs and senior dogs should be fed twotimes daily.
-For pregnant dogs, it is a little different.For the first 6 weeks of pregnancy, you should increase your dog’s intakeminimally. You should start to increase the food by 20% during week 7 to 9.
-Lactating dogs are a special case as well.Immediately after giving birth, you should feed your dog up to 50% more dogfood than her normal amount. During the peak lactation, which is around 4 to 5weeks, you can feed your dog up to 30% more food than her normal amount.
-Lactating dogs should be fed three equalmeals a day.
Best Way to Starting a Feeding Schedule
It could be a little daunting for new doggieparents to create a solid feeding schedule that best optimizes your dog’shealth and well-being. The best way to start a routine is begin loosely basing yourdog food amount from the feeding guide.
Take into consideration your dog’s activitylevels–if he is more active, feed the dog more. Combine all the information ofthe feeding guide and your dog’s lifestyle and create the amount and time youwould like to feed your dog.
Having a set time schedule for your dog doesn’tonly establish a feeding routine but it is also easiest way to monitor your dog’seating. If your dog is given the option to pick at his food throughout the day,you might not be able to easily notice how well your new feeding schedule isworking. This also ties into learning your dog’s food habits and manners whichcan help you track down his health. For example, if you dog is normallygobbling down his food right when it is given, wouldn’t it be strange if thenext day he isn’t too excited or thrilled about the food that he normally goeswild for? You can immediately sense there is a problem with your dog’s lack ofappetite, which normally mean he is not feeling well. Addressing the problemsooner than later is always best for your dog—who wants to be sick longer thanthey have to? Tracking this is important for your dog’s health and earlyprevention is important to avoid potential health problems. We recommend for adult dogs to have a feedingtime once in the morning and once in the evening.
Make sure you are monitoring your dog for thenext 2-3 weeks and track down if his weight is dramatically fluctuating. If heis, adjust how much you are feeding your dog according and keep track of whichamount of dog food is the perfect for your pooch.
Tips and Tools
There are a couple of tools online to help youcreate a solid feeding routine. One in particular is a dog food calculator:
https://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/ (hyper link “dog food calculator)
This, like the feeding guide on your dog foodbag, can be used as a starting point. But, like the feeding guild, make sure tobe mindful of your individual dog’s lifestyle as well.
Another tool to help you monitor your dog’sweight is the body condition chart. Here is a visual guide of the ideal weightfor your dog:
