How much to feed the four month old female rottie?

[Jadesmom]

I had a question. We have a four 1/2 month old rottie and we feed her two times a day generally. I was wondering how much we should be feeding at each feeding?

[mercedes]

It usually depends on the dog. Mercedes is four months old and gets three cups a day.

[Beckysmom]

You can probably follow a formula off side of food container if you use one, or out of homemade dog recipe book if you use that.

Or, you could follow the dog's own lead (my choice)--at that age, if it gets plenty of exercise it probably won't get fat and can probably eat as much as it is able to do in about 20-30 minutes minutes or so per meal. If it does start seeming fat, cut back food or add more exercise.

Water, of course available 24/7

i'd probably still try to feed three times per day

until 6 months when I cut to 2 times per day for the rest of a large dog's life. (Personally believe --apropos of nothing--that bloat less likely with two smaller meals than one big one.) And also know for sure that my own dogs seem happier on two meals than one one.

[Rott-Wiley]

How much you feed is also going to depend on what you feed. A better grade of dog food requires much less to get the same amount of nutrition. So one cup of a good food may equal as much as 3 cups of a much lesser grade of food. Plus a puppy will eat more per pound then an adult given the same amount of exercise. Like Beckysmom said, check the label on the bag for a good reference. Hope that answers your question.

[unyverse2000]

Ivy is 12 weeks and she is getting 2 meals a day for the past 3 days. I've given her 3 small meals of chicken soup and she always left most of it. i then switched her to two larger meals per day and she finishes it all and then licks the bowl and puts her feet in it looking for more. she has bull sticks to chew on and gets plenty of small treats for praising/training. she doesn't look skinny at all. she gets at least 2 long walks per day and alot of playing inside.

maybe the chicken soup is quite filling to allow only two meals instead of three. when i was going 3 meals, i left it out for 20 minutes, but she still didn't want to finish.

[Skip]

What kind of food are you feeding? What does the recommended dosage on the bag say? Is your dog heavy...lean..how much does the dog weigh? It's hard to give any suggestions without knowing this..

[Jadesmom]

Jade is eating Iams puppy, large breed formula. The last time that I weighed her (three weeks ago) she weighed thirty-five pounds.
She is definately getting stockier, but she still has a defined waist. I don't know what the reccomendations are.

[Skip]

Originally posted by Jadesmom
Jade is eating Iams puppy, large breed formula. The last time that I weighed her (three weeks ago) she weighed thirty-five pounds.
She is definately getting stockier, but she still has a defined waist. I don't know what the reccomendations are.

She doesn't sound overwight for a dog that age. I'm not trying to avoid your question, but there are dog foods out there that are much better than Iams. If you do a search on premium foods here, you will find a lot of great info. With a premium kibble, you can actually feed less than most other brands because more of the food is actually absorbed into the dogs system rather than end up in a lot of piles on your lawn, plus the ingredients are MUCH healthier for your dog. I'm not a fan of any of the large breed formulas either. Most of the really good kibbles just have one formula for the life of your dog. You can do a lot better than Iams.

[Rott-Wiley]

Skip is absolutely right here. You're not going to find a good quality dog food sold in grocery stores. There are plenty of threads in the nutrition section that discuss the better brands and I would suggest you switch her over to one of them as soon as you can.

[Jadesmom]

We placed her on the Iams as a suggestion from the vet. When we got her she was on puppy chow. What foods do you suggest. I was also told by the vet to keep her on a large breed formula to prevent her from growing too fast.

[LynnS]

Hi Jadesmom!

Congrats on your new puppy. There are many high quality foods out there but some of the popular brands are Canidae (adult food is fine for puppies), Innova, Flint River Ranch and many others...browse or search this forum (nutrition) and you will see many threads on this topic.

[Skip]

Originally posted by Jadesmom
We placed her on the Iams as a suggestion from the vet. When we got her she was on puppy chow. What foods do you suggest. I was also told by the vet to keep her on a large breed formula to prevent her from growing too fast.

Just my opinion, but I would not take dog food advice from a vet. A lot of times they suggest a food that is being given to them for promotional reasons. My belief is that most vets are not real knowledgable when it comes to quality foods. I've been feeding Healthwise for about 4 months now and am very pleased with it. I was previously feeding Wellness, which is another great food. Healthwise is very comparable quality-wise to Wellness, it comes in a bigger bag, and is about 10 bucks cheaper.