[Nancy1999]

Hi, congratulations on getting your new baby boy. Joey's breeder recommended free feeding the first 6-8 months of life, and some people continue to free feed for the whole life of the dog. Like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to free feeding, but for the first few months or until a dog is 4-5 pounds the advantages clearly outweigh the disadvantages. Free feeding, by the way is just having kibble available at all time, hypoglycemia is a risk with small breeds, and especially puppies. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is easy to treat, but can be deadly, and unfortunately, one of the symptoms is loss of appetite, and the dog needs to eat something to return blood sugar to normal.. Puppies don't have fat reserves like an older dog, and can use all their energy in one play period, and if blood sugar drops too low, symptoms of hypoglycemia will result. Many people treat this with a sugar suppliment such as white Karo syrup or Nutri-Cal, but this can cause more dips in blood sugar, so it's best if food with protein is available at all times. The smaller your dog, the more important this is. Don't use Nutri-cal as a preventative, only as a treatment; otherwise you can cause an attack of low blood sugar.