How much food and supplements.

Hi all!

I'm new to the forum and Samson is the first sbt I have owned although I had other dogs growing up.

Sam is nearly 5 months old and feeding well on wainwrights puppy salmon food. His stools are solid and he is putting weight on nice with a good coat etc.

I didn't weigh his food at first and so just fed what I thought was a suitable amount. He goes to the vets once a month for weighing and flea and wormer and the vet says he is perfect in terms of weight and shape. If you look at his fro above he curves in from the rib cage to the bag legs which she says is how he should look.

I got some scales to bake some cakes with my little one and weighed what I would normally give him...this was around 110g 3x daily. Now the bag says to feed a medium breed between 5-15 kg somewhere around 190g a day!

He isn't fat and looks in very good shape so my questions are:

Should I cut his middle meal out and continue on same weight of food twice daily?

Still feed him 3x daily with smaller portions?

Leave his feeds as it is? And if so when does he go down to 2 meals a day?

Also are there any additional foods I can give him occasionally? We don't really want to go down the raw diet but I wouldn't mind giving him say chicken or mince mixed with his dry food a few times a week? Or should I also be giving him bones too?

Apologies for all the questions I just want to get this right.

Thank you in advance

I would do 2 meals a day, but others differ. If your thinking of feeding raw many here can help

Maybe you could come say hi

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions

I keep my pups on 3 meals till about 10 months or until they stop eating their lunch time meal - which ever comes first.

I will also always give them a little extra food too as long as their tummies can handle it.

Welcome I am trying to learn more about RAW myself.

Hi there. I'll try & answer each point seperately.

Diplomat wrote:Should I cut his middle meal out and continue on same weight of food twice daily?

If he's in good shape, enjoying his meals & is lively & lean then leave things be! I would normally feed 4 meals a day up to 12 weeks, then 3 meals until 6 months & then 2 meals for life.

They're all different, and many pups will let you know when they need to go down to 2 meals - they'll just pick at one of the meals but be ravenous for the other two!

Diplomat wrote: Still feed him 3x daily with smaller portions?

Leave his feeds as it is? And if so when does he go down to 2 meals a day?

Sorry, I've answered those in the first one!

Diplomat wrote:Also are there any additional foods I can give him occasionally? We don't really want to go down the raw diet but I wouldn't mind giving him say chicken or mince mixed with his dry food a few times a week? Or should I also be giving him bones too?

If you just want to add some meat etc to his kibble to make it more interesting, then by all means add some cooked meat or half a tin of sardines in olive oil, or even an egg, but don't mix raw meat in with the dry. Raw meat takes about 4 - 5 hours to digest whereas commercial food (wet or dry) takes up to 15 hours, so the difference in digestion times could lead to an upset tum.

If you want to give him a bone as a treat go ahead as long as it's raw (never cooked!), but if it's large or has a lot of meat on it I'd give it to him instead of a meal, preferably breakfast.

Diplomat wrote:Apologies for all the questions I just want to get this right.

Thank you in advance

Never apologise for asking questions - and no question is silly if you need to know the answer!

Caryll wrote:Hi there. I'll try & answer each point seperately.

Diplomat wrote:Should I cut his middle meal out and continue on same weight of food twice daily?

If he's in good shape, enjoying his meals & is lively & lean then leave things be! I would normally feed 4 meals a day up to 12 weeks, then 3 meals until 6 months & then 2 meals for life.

They're all different, and many pups will let you know when they need to go down to 2 meals - they'll just pick at one of the meals but be ravenous for the other two!

Diplomat wrote: Still feed him 3x daily with smaller portions?

Leave his feeds as it is? And if so when does he go down to 2 meals a day?

Sorry, I've answered those in the first one!

Diplomat wrote:Also are there any additional foods I can give him occasionally? We don't really want to go down the raw diet but I wouldn't mind giving him say chicken or mince mixed with his dry food a few times a week? Or should I also be giving him bones too?

If you just want to add some meat etc to his kibble to make it more interesting, then by all means add some cooked meat or half a tin of sardines in olive oil, or even an egg, but don't mix raw meat in with the dry. Raw meat takes about 4 - 5 hours to digest whereas commercial food (wet or dry) takes up to 15 hours, so the difference in digestion times could lead to an upset tum.

If you want to give him a bone as a treat go ahead as long as it's raw (never cooked!), but if it's large or has a lot of meat on it I'd give it to him instead of a meal, preferably breakfast.

Diplomat wrote:Apologies for all the questions I just want to get this right.

Thank you in advance

Never apologise for asking questions - and no question is silly if you need to know the answer!

Many thanks for that pal!

That has made things much clearer! I will do as you say and possibly miss a dry meal some days maybe morning and give Him fleshy bone or light meaty meal then.

That's really helped loads thanks again.