4 mth old.Feeding

[activeviii]

Reading the books it says that when your puppy is going off his food a bit you should drop him down to 3 meals a day, this is at about 4 mths.

 

my pup is 4 mths old and bolts his food down like there's no tomorrow. if you touch him or try to remove the bowl then he just bolts faster.

 

he isn't aggressive yet but not sure what we should be doing in this situation as it was no so long ago that he wouldn't hardly eat. hes making up for it now.hehe.

 

when is the right time and how should we go about it for dropping a feed and should i just leave him to get on with his feeding habits?

 

thanks in advance for any/all your help.

 

regards

Phil.

[lurcherboy]

Cant help you with the amount and when you should reduce it but it i would recommend that you get the pup used to you removing its food when you want to.

 

 

 

 

 

LB

[Mrs Sweepy]

Feeding time is the best time to teach him whos boss

When you feed him put your hand in his bowl play with his food.

When you give him his food make him sit and stay . Then put the bowl down and make him wait until you give the comand eat.The dog then knows that you are in charge of his mealtimes . I can take my dogs bowls away at anytime they are feeding and they let me . they will automatically go back to the sitting position.

I cant help you with how much you should be givin him.What breed is he.

By looking at him you should be able to tell if he is eating to much . If i remember right with my two it was about that aged i drop a meal . I did it the same way as weaning a baby .Got rid of the middle feed over the period of time . And added a bit more to the main meals.

xxxxSuzy

[Imperfection]

A good way of slowing down a dogs eating is to put a large rubber ball into their bowl.They continually have to push it out of the way with their nose and just takes them longer to eat.Bolting food isnt good for a dog anyway and especially so for deep chested breeds such as GSD's,Boxers,Rottweilers etc because gulping large amounts of air can cause bloat-which can be fatal if not gotten to a vet in time.

 

Get him used to the word 'no' as this along with his name are the most important things he will know for rest of his life! Regulary remove his bowl when he's eating to re-establish your authority and always tell him to sit beforehand.Only you can really determine how many meals and how much he should be getting as we cannot see,but a quick rule of thumb is-its better for a dog to be slightly lean than overweight and you should be able to just about feel the ribs (not see them though).If you have any doubts,ask your vet as they're often more than happy to advise.

[activeviii]

he is a cocker. we make him sit and wait, we have even split his food into two bowls and made him wait. either sit or down and wait up to 5 mins as we didn't want to go any longer as he just seams to get worse.

a can go pick his bowl up, put my hands in and hand feed him but as soon as you go within 20foot of him he just bolts faster.

 

i have tried to sit with him and stroke him whilst eating but he still bolts. we give him soaked feed as he just swallows it the same if fed dry. we even tried to add rice to fill him more but he bolted that down and then 20mins later brought it back up like owl pellets.

 

hes on burns puppy and it just doesn't seam to hold him as he all ways seams hungry even though we give him more than they say to. he looks about right, feel the ribs but cant see them. burns say 100-200g for 5-10kgs. he is about 6 kgs and he gets 158g over 4 meals so he is eating on the high side even though he looks fit. wormed and clean so nothing there. we will change the make at the end of this sack as we arnt happy with it. james wellbeloved and bakers just gave him a belly ache and runs.

 

 

i like the idea of the ball thing but i recon he will just push it out the way. ill try it in the morning and let you know.

 

 

thanks people

 

 

regards

Phil

[plinker]

if you are making a 4 month old cocker sit and look at his food for 5 mins what do you expect?

thats the root of your problem remember he is a puppy.

[al4x]

Personally I take aless adopted tack, mine has ad lib food available all the time. I've done it with the last few dogs and I've found they eat what they want and get far less excited about it. So far I've not had a dog with a weight problem but completely the opposite they seem to eat what they need and stop there and leave the bowl of food to snack on later.

[jasons gold]

Personally I take aless adopted tack, mine has ad lib food available all the time. I've done it with the last few dogs and I've found they eat what they want and get far less excited about it. So far I've not had a dog with a weight problem but completely the opposite they seem to eat what they need and stop there and leave the bowl of food to snack on later.

 

This may work with some types of dogs even individuals, but i certainly wouldn't advocate giving spaniels adlib feeds because they are so glutonous, at the end of the day he is a puppy.

And the feeding guidelines are just that GUIDELINES just remember every puppy is different try and rely on your onw instincts, and if it doesn't work then you can always change it.

[Greenhunter]

We have been breeding dogs for many years, although not cockers, and in my opinion you cannot feed a puppy too much.

Remember you are feeding to build bones and muscle. Fat shouldn't come into it untill he starts his training and therefore gets more excercise.

Any excess fat will be converted to muscle as he gets fitter. You'll get out what you put in ie a strong, healthy dog capable of a days work in the field.

 

At 4mths 3 meals should be enough but give same amount divided by 3 and not 4.

Also, do any change over of food type gradually, taking 4/5 days to change completely as a quick change will almost certianly result in an upset tummy.

 

Good luck

[al4x]

This may work with some types of dogs even individuals, but i certainly wouldn't advocate giving spaniels adlib feeds because they are so glutonous, at the end of the day he is a puppy.

And the feeding guidelines are just that GUIDELINES just remember every puppy is different try and rely on your onw instincts, and if it doesn't work then you can always change it.

 

believe it or not I've managed it with two Jack Russels and a GWP and a lab, but all have had ad lib food from 8 weeks old or so. It seems to take the urgency and excitement out of food so they do seem to eat whatthey need rather than bolt everything in their bowl as fast as possible. Obviously you need to keep an eye on it but generally I put a bowl down in the morning and she has what she wants then goes back a few times during the day and finishes it late on. As a pup as has been said they are growing fast so unlikely to put on too much weight but you just have to be sensible

[activeviii]

we are trying the ball thing as the moment and it is slowing him down but he is still going as it like there's no tomorrow. should we be stopping him as he's eating as the last thing i want is a dog that is food possessive and a possibility of a bite if one of the kids go near him as he's eating. both my kids are scared of dogs as we had a rescued dog that tried to bite them so the last thing i want now is dog to show any type of aggression to anyone. hence the reason i ask so many questions. hehe

[jasons gold]

believe it or not I've managed it with two Jack Russels and a GWP and a lab, but all have had ad lib food from 8 weeks old or so. It seems to take the urgency and excitement out of food so they do seem to eat whatthey need rather than bolt everything in their bowl as fast as possible. Obviously you need to keep an eye on it but generally I put a bowl down in the morning and she has what she wants then goes back a few times during the day and finishes it late on. As a pup as has been said they are growing fast so unlikely to put on too much weight but you just have to be sensible

 

if like my other half did one day (when our pup was ten weeks old), after buying some puppy food she put the unopened bag on the floor and went outside to get more shopping out of the car, then our neighbour stopped and had a chat litterally for five mins when she came back in, the bag was open and he had eaten about 1 kilo of food, and he's stomach was atleast twice the size it should have been, and then the subsequent trip to the vet. This is why i dont beleive spaniels should be given adlib feeds, also if you do adlib feeds and you need to take the dog to the vets and they ask you when he last fed you can"t be sure

of when they last fed accurately.

[activeviii]

i think we are getting there thanks to you lot.

 

my bad making him wait, need to leave that out for a bit me thinks.

 

ball in the bowl works as well.

 

he was on 37g four time aday. 07:30-12:30-17:00-20:00 these times where give or take 30-45mins as we dont want him regimented to times

too much. dont know if this is right or not but it worked ok.

 

now we are feeding 42g at 08:00. 42g at 13:00. 22g at 16:00 and 42g at 20:00. the 4pm feed he is a bit titchity but training is better as he seems more switched on and eager in the evening. he also seams more settled after the bigger meals. we will leave a a few days or weeks if its the right way to do it and then we will adjust it again.

 

the funny thing with the ball is that he eats around the ball we stop him every few seconds, it only takes him 30 secs to finished a feed if left to it, he has slowed down alot now and dosent seem to fixated on it on the food as the ball is in his way and so he is thinking about that on his face as well. when he has finished he takes the ball out the bowl and walks around with it.

 

thanks again people for putting me right.

 

kind regards

 

Phil