My eight week old female eats like a little pig. We've switched her to raw, and it's great, but how much should she eat at a time? We're feeding her 3 times per day.

With raw, it is better to feed one large meal as opposed to several smaller meals, because it allows for more of a 'workout' for the dog if he's having to tear off hunks and chew through bones on a large piece. It may also be better on the digestive system to eat one large meal because when the dog begins to eat, the digestive juices start flowing to help digest the meal. If the body is having to do this two or three times a day, it could lead to stomach upset or bile vomiting as the dog anticipates being fed and begins to turn on the acid pumps, so to speak.

I realize that your pup is only 8 weeks, but with raw, I don't think you should be feeding more than once or twice a day (you can alternate - feed one large meal one day, then feed two meals the next, then feed one large meal the next, if you're more comfortable doing that).

Also, with raw, puppies should be fed 5%-8% (I believe - someone correct me if I'm wrong) of their body weight per day.

We feed our puppies raw and they eat 3 times a day from 4 weeks til about 12 weeks, then twice daily after that. It depends on the dog and how well they maintain weight whether we switch to one feeding a day or stick with two.

Hard keepers do better with 2 smaller meals per day, than one giant one.

Dogs that are at ideal weight and aren't pregnant,nursing, growing or being worked hard are fed once daily. This is something we are constantly modifying, due to many things like weather changes, breeding activity, training schedule or being kenneled more or less than the dog is used to.

I am feeding many large active dogs here, so I feel that I have some experience in this matter <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Okay, so I understand the frequency, but my question is about volume. How many chicken necks per meal/per day? How much raw muscle/organ meat per meal/per day? And so on....? She's 8 weeks old and weighs about 11 or 12 lbs.

I'm new to the board and have been just lurking and reading, but this is a subject that I have experience with. IMO, chicken necks are too small for puppy feeding. They swallow them practically whole. That's not a great habit for a raw-fed dog to get into.

For my puppy, I started out with ground so that her body would adjust to digesting it. When she was well into teething, I switched her to leg parts and chicken backs....sometimes wings.

The amount really depends on the puppy, activity levels, metabolism. Feel the ribs every few days and adjust accordingly. It's very easy to make adjustments.

My puppy is a Briard, and at 8-16 weeks, I fed about 1/2 to 1 cup of ground twice per day and about 1/2 to 1c of tripe along with it. She is five mos now and gets either one chicken thigh twice per day or two or three wings, along with the tripe and/or veggies. She also gets a small raw marrow bone to chew on every day or two.

Occassionally I will also add a bit of yogurt, kefir, cottage cheese, or a raw egg with the shell.

Tracy

Thanks. I've been cutting the necks into 4 pieces. Mostly so she doesn't swallow them whole, but also she doesn't drag the little pieces around the kitchen like she does the whole thing. I'll keep checking her ribs and adjust accordingly. Everything looks good thus far.

Tracy is right on, feel the ribs and look at the pup and adjust amounts accordingly.

Good luck with your puppy!

My pups are 12 weeks old.

This may come as a shock to some of you (i hope not).. but i feed then boiled chicken ( 10 minutes ) once a day at around 6pm.

The thing is that..... they each eat a whole chicken!!! (with bones ofcourse) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

Is this normal? I hand feed them individually and they really do enjoy it!

I hope you aren't feeding them cooked bones, Ahmed. This can be very dangerous! Bones should ONLY be fed raw if you're going to feed them.

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I hope you aren't feeding them cooked bones, Ahmed. This can be very dangerous! Bones should ONLY be fed raw if you're going to feed them.

Not really.... the meat is pretty much still raw! the only reason i boil the chicken ( whole ) is to kill any bacteria that may still be there. I do realise that puppies have sensitive stomaches.