Maltese Dogs Forum : Spoiled Maltese Forums - View Single Post - New Puppy - How Much to Feed
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Old 07-01-2009, 10:54 AM   #3 (permalink)
LJSquishy
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Name: Lisa
Dog's Name: London (12/20/07) & Preston (03/25/09)
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Washington
Posts: 5,329
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The recommended age for a Maltese puppy to leave it's mother is 12 weeks of age. Since you got your two babies so soon, they will need special care. First you will want to take them both to a vet for a complete check-up and blood test.

As far as how much food to feed, they should eat at least 3 meals per day. I choose to free-feed my dogs, meaning food is down all of the time. This does not work for all dogs, as some will overeat. Puppies need LOTS of food and nutrition as they grow, so I would allow them EACH 1/2 cup per meal, 3x per day...or better yet, offer them more food than you know they can eat.

You will also want to purchase a tube of Nutri-Cal if you don't already have that. It is used to help prevent Hypoglycemia in young puppies. You will want to monitor them closely as they are very young and it can happen in an instant.

Eukanuba is a very low quality food to feed, so I would recommend switching their food in a few weeks -- they are too young right now to handle a food switch well. Many of us feed Natural Balance Sweet Potato & Venison or their Potato & Duck formula (dry kibble, not canned) and there are a number of other quality foods out there. You can visit http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com and click on "Reviews" to search for a new food for your two babies. Any food rated 4-stars or higher is considered a high quality food. Many of the 5-6 star foods we have found are too high in protein for Maltese to properly digest and it leads to runny poo and/or upset tummies. That's why many of us opt for the 4-star Natural Balance food -- it has a much lower protein content.

Please let us know if there is any other help we can offer! Welcome to Spoiled Maltese.
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