# How much food should my 12 week puppy eat???



## yrojas11 (Jul 10, 2018)

Hi, does any one else feed their 12 week old puppy Purina Pro Plan Puppy for Large Breed? If so how much do you feed them?
In the bag it suggest to feed them 1.25 cups daily and that seems very little to me. I feed him 3 times a day. 

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thank you !


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## Riley's Mom (Jul 6, 2008)

My puppy was on Pro Plan. She ate 2 cups a day. She is now on Fromm and still gets a out 2 cups a day. She is gaining weight nicely and at 5 months old is about 40lbs.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

each type is food has a different calorie density. There is no answer that is universal. Look at the bag that your feed and that should tell you. It's a guideline so if you feeding what it says and the pup gets gassy or a little loose with their stool, back it down some as to much food will cause gas and lose stools


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## Jmcarp83 (May 4, 2018)

My 10 week old is on 1/2 Cup 3x a day. Breeder said the bag is overfeeding.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

I have found that the purina pro plan suggested amount on the bag is pretty accurate. So many foods suggest way to much so you have to keep buying food. But I have found the PPP to be very accurate. If you find you can see the ribs you can up it a little or if you think he is gaining to much you can back it off.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

As a puppy, feeding generally what the bag says will be accurate... It's as an adult that will usually be more then the dog needs. I tell people to see what the bag says and take 10-15% off the recommended amount on the bag to start and just adjust from there if they adding, losing it maintaining weight.

With my dogs the foods I have fed as a puppy are around 380kcals per cup. I would normally offer 3 cups a day over 3 meals until about 4 months of age and move it to 3 cups twice a day. At 8 weeks they don't eat a full cup each meal. I usually don't adjust much as that will keep them growing well but keep them lean and not adding to much extra weight from impacting the joints as the grow.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Also, a cup and a half a day for a 10 week old golden is seriously like a low amount of food. Maggie is 56 pounds and will be 11 months old as of the 23. She should top off somewhere around 60-62 pounds which is ideal and that's with feeding a cup 3x a day. So that's certainly not to much food. Growing 4-6lbs a month for females and 5-7 for males on average should be the norm till about 9 months as but then they should be slowing down growth wise.

If you're feeding a regular puppy food and not a large breed puppy food, then I can see feeding a little less as that is not controlling the growth but even then it sounds really low.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

My little guy is 12 weeks old and eating regular PP focus puppy (chicken and rice).

He's eating 2 and 1/2 cups per day (split into 2 meals).

I will be visiting the vet for weigh ins tomorrow - am betting on 25 pounds. He's a healthy little guy. He was about 18# a little over a week ago, but looks/feels like he put on 5 pounds since then.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Megora be careful not to let them grow to fast for his joints. That's a lot weight in a small amount of time.

You may already know this but keep in mind if you're feeding an adult food or regular puppy food, you may want to think about large breed puppy food. The key is the calcium and phosphorus ratio. You want roughly a 4/1 Cal to phos ratio as phosphors inhibits calcium absorption. So a good that had 1.8/1 or a 2/1 ratio is detrimental to joints and causes rapid growth.

Of course, you could just have a pup from larger parents and is going to just end up 85lbs or so.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Between 10 weeks and 4 months, I would expect a normal healthy golden retriever puppy to gain between 2 and 5 pounds every week. By 5 months, the growth should begin to slow way down and you'll only see gains on a monthly basis. 

By 6 months - I'd expect weight to be around 60 pounds. And minimal gains between then and 12 months. And minimal gains between 12 months and 24 months.

I have a height check thread showing my Bertie's growth over the first year of his life. 

I expect Jovi will weigh between 65 and 75 pounds as an adult dog. 

I don't really believe in feeding large breed puppy kibble + by 4.5/5 months will be weaned onto adult food.


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## Tahnee GR (Aug 26, 2006)

My 14 week old girl is getting 3 cups per day of the ProPlan Large Breed Puppy. She weighs about 25 pounds and her ribs are very easily felt. I don’t feed by the bag. Instead I feed based on body condition and activity level. With 5 Goldens, my girls tend to be pretty active.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

OK, but that is insane amount of growth at 5 pounds a week up until 4 months, 20 lbs in a month? And 60lbs at 6 months but 65-75 at a year? Never seen goldens grow like that personally and have had 3.

Also the growth plates close at 12 months so your pup won't be growing after that or soon after but will fill out a few pounds till about 18 months or so. It's like looking at guy at 18 and then again at 25 or 28 and weighs the same but certainly doesn't look the same.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Maggie'sVoice said:


> OK, but that is insane amount of growth at 5 pounds a week up until 4 months, 20 lbs in a month? And 60lbs at 6 months but 65-75 at a year? Never seen goldens grow like that personally and have had 3.
> 
> Also the growth plates close at 12 months so your pup won't be growing after that or soon after but will fill out a few pounds till about 18 months or so. It's like looking at guy at 18 and then again at 25 or 28 and weighs the same but certainly doesn't look the same.


Forgive me for being pretty anal with the record keeping (I did it to track how "fast" my dog's growth was without doing the slow growth method everyone else at the time was doing). I'd said I'd done "slow growth sorta" with my Jacks who was 70# at 12 months and 75 pounds at 5 years.

Growth plates close closer to 24 months - but sometimes after. It's why we don't neuter them until after 24 months - and OFA's on hips and elbows aren't done until after 24 months.

What I'm seeing with Jovi is he's right on track to match Bert's growth checks per month.

Also note - Bertie's typical weight is more like 68-70 pounds. He's not a heavy or big dog. 

*I think rapid growth is a concern, but I think you have to expect these dogs to double their size between 7 weeks and 12 weeks, easily. That's a pretty typical growth spurt for the breed. 

What you feed the dogs makes a difference in "how" they grow. You want to see them growing "all over" vs shooting up fast on stick legs or getting high in the rear etc.


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## Maggie'sVoice (Apr 4, 2018)

Yeah that growth you listed for Bertie is more what would be expected, 6 months 49lbs and 1 year at 75. That still growing 50% over the last 6 months. 

The 24 months is for giant breeds like Danes and other Mastiffs, St Bernards, leonbergers amoung others. So OFA just waiting till 24 months for all dogs. Labs, Golden's, other dogs under 100lbs have their plates close a bit older 12 months to 16 months, by 18 they should have closed.

Anyway, we definitely have different opinions and just that seemed like a lot of growth quickly.


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## ZeissGolden (Dec 2, 2017)

yrojas11 said:


> Hi, does any one else feed their 12 week old puppy Purina Pro Plan Puppy for Large Breed? If so how much do you feed them?
> In the bag it suggest to feed them 1.25 cups daily and that seems very little to me. I feed him 3 times a day.
> 
> Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
> ...


We used to give Zeiss 1/2 a cup of Royal Canin Puppy food 3 times a day.


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## Brave (Oct 26, 2012)

Lana is 15 weeks old and she's been getting 3 cups of PPP LBP per day (split between 3 meals) since she was about 9 or 10 weeks old. Her ribs are VISIBLE in the right light. Her ribs are horrifically easy to feel with NO pressure. Her last weight was 22 lbs @ 12 weeks old. I'm expecting her to be close to 30 lbs when I weigh her either tomorrow or next week when we swing by the vets office. 

Her vet says her weight is perfect and her growth is perfect. We're all aware of the dangers of growing too fast. I don't think it's any one's goal to grow their puppy as fast as they can with no regard to the short or long term health. 

Lana so far, has grown so much differently than Bear ever did. And Gypsy is no help because she was 6 months old and only gained a few lbs between when we got her and today. Bear went through obvious spurts. He'd be boney and then he'd get chunky and then he'd grow and be back to boney. Lana is consistently boney. The only time she wasn't boney was at 8 weeks when we brought her home from the breeder.


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## jdavisryan (Jan 28, 2018)

Woody is 13 weeks and gets 3 cups PPP Large Breed Puppy each day, plus training treats. He looks on the skinny side to me, with a very defined waist and easily felt ribs. He’s also a busy, busy boy and is probably burning calories like crazy. He gets weighed Monday and I’m guessing 25 lbs.


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## daisy1234 (Jun 17, 2018)

When I brought my puppy home, she was 3 months old. She was a rescue and the Foster recommended 3/4's cup 3 times per day. I thought she was looking skinny and I bumped her up to 1 cup three times per day. I was in to see my Vet during that and she said I was right to bump her up and she thought she was a good healthy weight. She currently is still getting that same amount and looks like a skinny lanky teenager and people do say she looks skinny though my Vet still says her weight is perfect. Mine eats Fromm large breed puppy. I agree, your puppy needs more food. Here is what my now 5.5 month old looks like and weighed 28lbs the last time I weighed her about a week ago.


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## Cpc1972 (Feb 23, 2015)

Chloe was only 48 lbs at 6 months. 60 lbs at six months does seem like a lot. But I bet my last golden Jake was that at six months. But he was 90 lbs as a adult. He was not heavy but could of probably lost ten pounds.


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## daisy1234 (Jun 17, 2018)

Just weighed mine this morning. She was 34 lbs. Yikes already. Oh for the puppy days.


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