[kdryan]

We've been feeding Harley twice per day, about a cup and a half per bowl. Now this seems like too little to me, and he seems to be thinning out, but I can't decide if that's the worms being gone combined with just plain growing, or if it's because we're not feeding him enough. The wifey and I agree we would like to give him more. I don't see ribs, but he seems thin. That could just be my ignorance of how a dog should look. You can see the difference between now and my signature pics a week and a half ago. Is this how a 12 week old puppy should look?

He is not lacking for energy, that's for sure. We went to the lake again and he was all over the place. I had to settle him down after about 20 minutes of play and convince him he had to go back on the leash.

Sorry about the crappy pics, but you get the idea...

 

[LuckyGirl]

When mine were puppies they got fed 3x a day.

 

[MnMsMom9902]

i feed my 10-wk old 3xday, and about 1 cup per meal.

 

[justine]

If you're there and can feed 3x a day, as long as the amount of food is right for your dog, go ahead. I wasn't able to feed Abbey 3x/day when she was a pup because of work/school and she turned out fine!

 

[Labradorable]

Dozer is 11 weeks old. We feed Dozer 3x per day. He gets a total of 3 1/2 cups of food per day.

 

[Snowflake]

Puppy that age should get fed 3 times each day. Spread it out over three feedings.

 

[kdryan]

So we're giving him the right amount, just split it up over three times, not two. I'm going to go with three times a day...

 

[sarah]

3 times per day until Harley is 16 weeks old is my advice.

 

[Scout's Mom]

Kdryan,

I'm no expert but I agree with you he does look too skinny. If it were me I would increase his daily intake by at least a half of cup. I think you want to make sure that he doesn't get too fat but you don't want them too skinny either. I would follow your instincts. You are the one that lives with him everyday. If he starts to gain too much weight you can always feed him less.

 

[BigBrownDog]

He looks extremely thin to me. I would up it to 4 cups divided over 3 feedings.

 

[myfavoritedog]

I fed mine 1 cup, 3x a day, but as with people, some have different calorie requirements than others. I think I would keep the frequency of feeding to 3x a day, but as Scout's mom and BBD said, I would increase the quantity by half a cup. If he still appears a bit thin, I would increase it again. It may take a bit but you'll soon learn what amount works best!

 

[rottnlab dad]

He definitely looks a bit scrawny to me.
I'd give him more food, but as others have said, divide it over 3 meals if you can.

 

[kelli]

looking at a dog picture will never give an accurate depictions of weight.. in fact in person it's hard to tell.. tuck outweighs koda by 10 lbs and nobody would pick him has the heavier of the two because he's a field lab and thinner, but taller than koda, the bench version.

My opinion and preference is to run a dog on the thinner side of a healthy weight.. the less weight on joints the better and the better. i've taken a tonne of weight off koda since she got here to relieve the stress on her crappy knees.. but i've always kept tuck under 90 lbs (i know that sounds like a lot.. but he's actually quite lean) to keep his jioints as healthy as possible.. especially now that he's getting older.

There are so many obese labs out there now, people don't have a real depiction of what healthy looks like anymore.. they think they're supposed to look like a truck.. find some info online that tells you what to look for in a healthy-sized lab and then decide if your dog is over/under weight.. your vet can also help you with this..

it's just not as simple as looking at a picture at this angle and saying he's skinny.

 

[kdryan]

Well I wouldn't call him undernourished, that's for sure. I picked pictures that I thought showed him losing weight and maybe I overdid it a bit. I asked several people at the pet store today and they all seemed ok with how he is, including a couple of Lab owners.

Talking it over with Tammy, we decided we would feed him four times a day for the next few days, then start giving him 1 cup at a time, three times a day...

Kevin