[Vianca V]

Does anyone know why food portions are reduced when the puppy becomes 5 months?
My Peke is 5 months next monday and after 2 months of eating 3/4 cups of food I’am spposed to reduce her to 1/2 a cup. Also I spayed her this week and read an article that when females are spayed Im supposed to reduce her food intake by 25% in order to avoid weight gain. Is this true?

[Naturella]

Vianca, I am not a pro, but from what I know, different breed puppies mature differently – a small or toy breed puppy can be considered an adult and fully-mature at 6 months of age; large and giant breed puppies can continue growing and be considered puppies for up to 2 years! So I don’t know where the 5-month mark came from. I do know that adult dogs just don’t need the extra calories from puppy food, that is why the amount should be reduced, but as with every dog, you need to watch activity levels and overall body condition and adjust accordingly – for example, reduce food if she’s getting chunky or is in general not very active, and increase food if she’s too thin and/or very active. As for the dog being spayed, I don’t know if you have to reduce her food, maybe one of the pros here will jump in on that part. For my Bruno, I only reduced his kibble 1/4 cup from his 1 cup/day allowance after being neutered, but that coincided with him being 6 months old and an “adult” now. Also, now I complement the loss of kibble with various toppers (wish I did that when he was a puppy, but oh well, he got his fair share of bully sticks, fish skins, etc.), so he hasn’t really lost the calories, but he burns them just fine.

My Bruno is 13.5lbs and he’s at moderately high activity level. He is supposed to get 1 cup at most of food, I think, for his weight group. I feed him 3/4 (heaping) cup of dry food plus The Honest Kitchen as a topper and coconut oil/yoghurt every other breakfast, and a raw egg, canned sardines, and a raw meaty bone once/week for each. He is lean, muscular, and in good body condition.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the actual amount – just observe your dog and adjust accordingly, and eventually you will find an amount that works for her.

[Melissaandcrew]

There is no magic date that all dogs need their food decreased. Adults don’t need to be fed three times a day like a pup, but the amount they eat will vary from dog to dog. For ex, my shihtzu ate three very tiny meals per day. As she reached adulthood, the amount increased, but the frequency did not. I have not found my crew needed reduced food simply by virtue of spay/neuter, but rather based on their particular activity levels, and those change depending on the weather. All my dogs, from pup to senior eat an all life stage food.

[Naturella]

Oh, like Melissa said and I forgot to mention – Bruno was on puppy food but now he’s on an all life stages food, which is suitable for growth and maintenance. So it’s almost like he’s still on “puppy” food. So the calories barely changed between him being an adult and a puppy – I just watch his body and activity and make any necessary changes.

[theBCnut]

I’ve never had a dog that needed his calories reduced at any particular age. Quite a number of them needed more calories when they were old enough to actually work. I have always fed puppies based on expected adult weight. Increase or decrease food based on the actual body condition of the actual dog, not based on some chart or calendar.

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