Pup feeding schedule advice

Hi there.  

Took Pebbles (9 weeks old) to the vet's today for her second injections. Vet weighed her and she is 3.5 kilos.
Vet discussed feeding with me and i said we feed her 4 times a day (RC dry 50 grs/meal) as advised on diet sheet given by breeder.

Vet seemed to disapprove   and she said we ought to feed her a minimum of six times a day very small portions no bigger than her foot so that her stomach doesn't get distended.

WHAAAAT???   At nearly 10 weeks that really seems a bit excessive.

What do you guys think? How often do you feed your pups?

Thank you.

That is far too much for a dog her size. 4 times a day is more than enough, i would go to threee in a few weeks even. Vets are dumb as * lol

Definitely too much! At nine weeks, four times a day is ideal! As long as you aren't feeding too much at once, the digestive system won't suffer - that's the whole point of dividing the meals into four portions. Not sure where your vet is getting their information, but I'd take their advice with a pinch of salt in future!

I agree with above darcy was fed 4 times per day at this age, then we dropped it down to 3 meals a day about 3/4 months, we found she naturally just stopped the 4th meal herself

Thanks for the replies. I am pleased to read that my reaction to the vet's advice wasn't wrong after all.

I have no idea where she got this 'at least 6 times a day' feeding pattern from  
She did seem a bit pushy though with the flea treatment too like the only one worth having was the one they have at the surgery...  

Oh well I guess if I am not happy with the vet I can always go somewhere else.

Tip gers fed three times a day and I agree that if you are not happy with your vet then going somewhere else. You should feel confident taking your dog to your vet. Its a bit like going to your GP. We trust them with our animals health.

I generally find that most vets don't know anything about animals other than where the bones go.

Does your vet think that she's underweight, or younger than she actually is? That's the only explanation I can think of. 

As a general rule the following is about right...

8 - 12 weeks 4 meals a day
12 weeks - 6 months 3 meals a day
6 months onwards 2 meals a day, or 2 meals a day until a year old & then one meal a day.

My pup is 11 weeks and I feed him 4-5 times a day, but he is 6 kilo.

The vet didn't mention anything suggesting that the pup could be younger or underweight. She cannot be younger as she is registered and her d.o.b is on the papers.
She doesn't appear underweight to me anyway, she has a nice little layer of puppy fat under her skin.
The thing is I did tell the vet that Pebbles had thrown up a little bit of her food the previous day after eating some grass.  
So I assume she may have thought that we are feeding her too much per meal.
But we give her the amount recommended on the back of the RC dry food she is on. That's 181 grs/day divided in 4 meals so about 45-50 grs per meal but she does gobble the whole meal very fast. Maybe that is why she was a little sick or maybe it was because of the grass.  

If you are concerned about how quickly the meal is being eaten, you could try a 'no gobble' bowl or putting the food into a kong ... the same amount of food is given, both just slow the eating of it down

So long as your pup is putting on weight at a healthy rate, I personally would not be concerned. I do admit that I never weighed any of Chiquito's meals (still don't!), I just worked to what he wanted and watched his waist line and fed more/less as needed.

Over the few days she has started to eat a little slower instead of the previous 10 seconds it now takes her about... 40-50 seconds to finish her meals.   Her general manner seems calmer around food, same with treats   she doesn't take my fingers off now when she takes them it's more gentle. There is hope!

Great feedback! Sounds like Pebbles is doing just fine!