Okay, it's kind of complicated, so bare with me as I explain. LOL
I got Gigi when she was 5.5 months old, so she well out of the puppy stage(Thank God!). Her breeder free fed all her dogs because she said they should always have fed available, so we did the same with Gigi. Then Gigi was not an eater, I don't think she liked her food(Chicken Noodle Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul) very much, but she liked to eat everything else! LOL But in the past month, I've switched her to Natural Balance and Gigi eats that like a pig. I can't free feed her now because she will never stop eating the NB(she won't even stop when the door bell rings!). So Gigi is now almost a year and she is fed three times a day. We're trying to get some fat on her bones, and in the past month, her weight hasn't really changed though, so what's up with that, I don't know. :P I don't think other people feed their adult malts three times a day. But we also free feed her the CNS when it's not her meal times. She does eat it, when she's bored enough. LOL
My first malt pup, Imani, we got when she was 10 weeks old. Imani never had a problem eating, we fed her three times a day and Nutri-cal in between. My Imani was 1.2 pounds and never grew the three months we had her, and that was due to a liver shunt, that's why she's at the bridge now.
She also had all kinds of other problems due to her genetic problems, and isn't a great example for you of a healthy puppy so I really can't help you with a puppy's feeding. Sorry!
But I do think you should feed your new puppy three times a day if your puppy is an eater, most are. JMO
QUOTE (angelgirl599 @ May 4 2009, 02:02 PM)
Quote:
Also how much do I feed the puppy each day if I were to only give her food at fixed times during the day? I think I recall some of the threads saying put food down for 15 minutes and let her eat as much as she can and take it away but some other threads say to give her a fixed amount: I don't know LOL never measured. Since Gigi was free fed, we put whatever down. But now I am wondering this too. I'm just trying to get Gigi's weight up though for now. Which is still not working so I don't know.
If I chose to feed at fixed intervals throughout the day, I've also been reading about hypoglycemia, how will this affect her since some threads say to make sure the puppy is getting enough food because of the hypoglycemia. I don't really know anything about hypoglycemia. Sorry.
I'm leaning towards feeding at fixed intervals because I have a cat who we feed once in the morning and once at night and I think he would try and eat the puppy food if it was out all the time. I'm just concerned that feeding at fixed intervals might affect the puppy's health and growth because of things like hypoglycemia and everything. Don't know LOL
Also, how do treats and fruit and veggies factor into their diets? I don't want to overfeed her but I definitely don't want to underfeed her either. Don't really know this either. Gigi get's a veggie, chicken and rice meal every Saturday. She LOVES it! [/B]
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