# How much food to feed?



## mymilo

Hi,

This is my first post and I am new to this forum and learning my first Maltese behavior. His name is Milo and he's currently 12 weeks old male about 2.7 lbsand very active. Anyway, my questions how much food to feed a day? I am currently, feed him dry food Purina Pro Plan Lamb and rice about 3/8 cup a day, 1 at 5 am and 1at 5 pm. Yet, it seems not enough for him, he eat so fast and wanted more and try to still food from my other dog. Should feed more? But don't wanted him to over feed or Weight.

I also have another question, he poop at least 5 times a day, it's to much?


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## LexiMom

Welcome to SM and Congrats on Milo - Would love to see pictures 

At 12 weeks I think he should be eating 3 times a day - 5am to 5pm is a long span for a little fluff not to eat. Whatever the feeding directions are for his size just split that between 3 meals - I am sure he is gobbling his food up because he is very hungry.


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## Kathleen

Welcome to SM and congratulations! We would love to see pictures of your little guy!
My little Max is 16 weeks and for the past month he has been an eating machine! I think he has doubled in size. There is such a large range of the amount to feed in the instructions that it can be hard to know. I have been giving him extra because he still seems so hungry and he is growing so much. While they are growing, I don't think they will get overweight. You just have to keep an eye on them to be sure. I was more worried about him getting enough to grow and be healthy.
He poops many times a day too - maybe 5 or 6. I wouldn't be worried if it is "normal."
There is always so much to worry about when they are so little!


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## mymilo

Thanks for response. See photos at the smugsmug. I don't how to attach photos.


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## Sylie

Hi and welcome to SM. You absolutely need to feed him more often...three, even four times a day. Puppies eat AND poop more often than adult dogs. I suggest you go over older threads in the feeding forum and learn everything you can. You might want to reconsider the food too.


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## mymilo

I just upload the photos.


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## Grace'sMom

Milo is very cute :wub:

Grace is 14 weeks right now, just teetering on 3 pounds. She eats 4-5 times a day (my picky no attention span eater).... That is what works best for her. Tiny tummies need to be fed more often. Especially since our little fluff pups have a faster metabolism then their bigger puppy friends.

I feed Grace the lowest amount on the bag for her weight range, and then add more as she needs it, up to the full serving listed (never have gotten that high).

The better quality of food the less you will have to feed. Some say a puppy who is 3-5 pounds has to eat 1 1/2 cups a day! My Grace would never accomplish that.

Usually I will feed her, and if she gobbles it up, I will put another TBS in her dish. Sometimes she eats it, sometimes she is done.

If I feed her and she is going slowly (no gobbling lol) then I let her eat what she eats in a 15 minute window. Then we stop and she will have more at our next feeding time.

There are a lot of good posts here that you could read through 

:Welcome 3:


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## LJSquishy

At his age, you can either free-feed him by leaving food down all of the time, or feed him 3 times per day. I would offer him 1/4 cup of dry food at each meal. Puppies are growing and are very active and usually need to eat more than adults. After he is 6 months old, I would reduce his meals to twice per day, 1/4 cup at each meal.

After your puppy settles in, in a few weeks, I would try switching to a better quality food. Dogfoodanalysis.com is an excellent website and tool to use in finding a high quality food.


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## Furbabies mom

Hi, welcome to SM!! Milo is beautiful! If you do change the food, do it gradually by adding the higher grade food to the old food until you are eventually feeding all new food.my dog's ate 4 times a day as puppies, but they got up early with me, at 4:30am so it's a long day. They are ages one and two, and still eat twice a day.


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## mymilo

Thanks, for all the responses. I don't changing food but there are so many out there. I am welcome to any recommendations for dry food. Please give me a brand name and what type of food. I'll try to increase the meal to 3 times a day 1/4 c each times.


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## Grace'sMom

There's a good thread to look at for food recommendations:

http://spoiledmaltese.com/forum/60-...reats/58420-foods-we-use-recommendations.html


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## *Missy*

Milo sure is cute!! Welcome to SM! Like ljsquishy said I would first go to dogfoodanalysis.com. You can click reviews then it shows five different "star" levels of dry food and wet food. You can go through and find what your feeding now as well as different foods that are very great quality. It helps to first learn why you don't want to feed something so you are very committed to higher quality. There are so many good threads on this as well and ultimately you will need to research the different benifits etc to the different foods that you feel will help and be great for your pup and what works for her. It does seem like alot of work but I believe so worth it!


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## mymilo

Thanks, for all the responses. Milo it like a machine it so fast, it only take him 15 seconds to finished a 1/4 or 3/8 cup . It this normal? Look like he's always hungry.


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## LJSquishy

mymilo said:


> Thanks, for all the responses. Milo it like a machine it so fast, it only take him 15 seconds to finished a 1/4 or 3/8 cup . It this normal? Look like he's always hungry.


Puppies have huge appetites so it is normal for him to eat fast and always seem hungry. If you can, I would leave food down for him all of the time and see if he will slow down eating a bit. I did that for London when she was a puppy. It's amazing how much they can eat at first.  As he gets older he won't need to eat as much. Usually an adult between 5-7lbs will need to eat about 1/2 cup of food total per day.

Look at www.dogfoodanalysis.com and try and pick at least a 4 star food to try. Some foods may not be available in your area. If you have a Petco, they have several good options, and Petsmart has one or two good choices. Most chain pet stores carry low quality foods so you have to know which brands to look for before going in.  If you let us know what type of stores are in your area we can definitely help you select a high quality brand. Look for a grain-free food suitable for All Life Stages or puppy food. I prefer to feed an all-life-stages food. Some good brands you can probably find are Wellness, Natural Balance, Solid Gold, Blue Buffalo, Fromms...these brands have a variety of different choices so make sure to find one that is grain-free within that brand.


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## mymilo

Just give the specific brand name and type of the dog food (dry) and I'll try to get it. I lived near Petco and Petsmart. I am currently trying to train him; therefore, I don't know if it Ok to leave the food down all the time or not?


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## Luckymommy

mymilo said:


> Hi,
> 
> This is my first post and I am new to this forum and learning my first Maltese behavior. His name is Milo and he's currently 12 weeks old male about 2.7 lbsand very active. Anyway, my questions how much food to feed a day? I am currently, feed him dry food Purina Pro Plan Lamb and rice about 3/8 cup a day, 1 at 5 am and 1at 5 pm. Yet, it seems not enough for him, he eat so fast and wanted more and try to still food from my other dog. Should feed more? But don't wanted him to over feed or Weight.
> 
> I also have another question, he poop at least 5 times a day, it's to much?


If the poop is formed and not mushy it is good. It will taper off. Then you will worry when he doesnt go at all. We have done that a couple of times but it all worked out.


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## Luckymommy

mymilo said:


> Hi,
> 
> This is my first post and I am new to this forum and learning my first Maltese behavior. His name is Milo and he's currently 12 weeks old male about 2.7 lbsand very active. Anyway, my questions how much food to feed a day? I am currently, feed him dry food Purina Pro Plan Lamb and rice about 3/8 cup a day, 1 at 5 am and 1at 5 pm. Yet, it seems not enough for him, he eat so fast and wanted more and try to still food from my other dog. Should feed more? But don't wanted him to over feed or Weight.
> 
> I also have another question, he poop at least 5 times a day, it's to much?


Wait till he only goes once and then you will be worried. Lucky sometimes only goes once and i am always afraid he will get up during the night, but his crate is right next to our bed and at almost 18 mo, he is great and even if he eats good at night.


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