At what age did you cut back meals?

Hi, We are new to owning a staffy. She is now 20 weeks old, and when we got her, the breeder said to feed her three times a day to help build her muscle. Shes been eating three meals of canned puppy food and has access to dry puppy biscuits. She still seems to be hungry, and theres no chance of missing a meal, as she goes to the fridge and subliminally wills it to open lol...
At what age did you start cutting back your pups food? Are we feeding her too much? Her father was very muscular, and she already has a big chest on her, and is starting to get the muscular legs. She does seem to have will power, and will happily leave some of her meal if she doesn't want it. Much thanks!

Also, did you find your pup to be picky about the temp of its food? She will only eat it after its been heated.... I know as young pups cold food can give a belly ache, but shes still fussy about it.  

Darcy was about 7 months when we cut her meals down to two a day, mainly because she wasn't eating her lunch time meal. We feed her dry kibble mixed with a raw egg or sardines in tomato sauce/oil. Perhaps you could come say hi :- https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/f7-new-member-introductions
Wet food has a lot of water in it and perhaps that's why she's hungry. Here's a list of dry foods we recommend :- http://staffy-bull-terrier.com/dry_food

Hi Darcy-May, thanks for replying! Ill check out those dry foods. I hadn't thought of the water content of tin food. She's still happily eating her three meals, we were unsure of when to start cutting back though. Ill also try the raw egg and sardines. I've posted a hi to the group, had missed it on the way to finding an answer. Thanks again!!

Mistygirl wrote:Hi, We are new to owning a staffy. She is now 20 weeks old, and when we got her, the breeder said to feed her three times a day to help build her muscle. Shes been eating three meals of canned puppy food and has access to dry puppy biscuits. She still seems to be hungry, and theres no chance of missing a meal, as she goes to the fridge and subliminally wills it to open lol...
At what age did you start cutting back your pups food? Are we feeding her too much? Her father was very muscular, and she already has a big chest on her, and is starting to get the muscular legs. She does seem to have will power, and will happily leave some of her meal if she doesn't want it. Much thanks!

The general rule of thumb is....
8 weeks to 12 weeks - 4 meals a day
12 weeks to 6 months - 3 meals a day
6 months - two meals a day, and then either stay at two meals, or cut down to one meal at around 9-12 months.

Tinned food isn't really good. As already mentioned there's about 80% water in them which means you have to feed so much more to get the right nutrition into them! Plus, it's awful for teeth.

Mistygirl wrote:Also, did you find your pup to be picky about the temp of its food? She will only eat it after its been heated.... I know as young pups cold food can give a belly ache, but shes still fussy about it.  

If you're feeding tinned food, don't heat it up! You'll increase the likelihood of food poisoning!

By all means take it out of the fridge for half an hour before you give it, but don't actually heat it.

I hadn't thought of that Caryll, thankyou! Ill try taking it out earlier if she has some tin. Mostly she has been getting the tiny my dog sachets, because shes so fussy. Ive been trying to wean her onto tin, because otherwise we are working to pay for her food lol.
Will also talk to Mark about starting her on just dry food.

You can always mix a wee bit of the pouch or tin stuff in with her dry biscuits ... removes the cold issue, tastes good and is better for her

Chiquito is 6 months and raw fed - he has recently decided that he does not want to have his morning meal so I guess this means by his own choosing he is now only fed two meals a day. He does have a bone and/or frozen kong in addition to his two bowl meals each day though

Kell, when you give a Chiquito a bone, do you give one that is meaty? When Misty was around 4 months, we gave her one with meat, thinking she would enjoy her treat... She gorged herself, and ended up vomiting for two days straight! We've been a bit scared to give her another bone in case she shows another lack of restraint lol. She loves pigs ears, denta sticks and chomp and chews. We started her on the pigs ears after she started eating our leather couch, but after seeing on here that they are not good for her, we've cut her supply and she's not impressed!
We tried her on the Applaws range the other day, and she absolutely went nuts for it. Natural, no fillers, not much liquid, just meat and vege.