Is this going to be enough!
 

Hello
i get my puppy on monday and decided to feed her hill science and was sent some info from them and it says that a 8 week old puppy that weights 1.5 k is to be given 30g a day,lexie isnt even 1 k yet and is 30g a day going to be enough as it seems so little, i no that there stomach is so little but any advice would be brilliant,
And also can i give her both types of hills dry food like one week the regular then one week natures best so she dont get boared
Thanks Tracy x

I free feed my puppy. If it is Kibble you can leave the food down all day, along with frsh water. Your baby is tiny, so it is extremely important that she is eating. She could end up with Low blood sugar which is dangerous to a tiny pup. Have Nutrical on hand . :aimeeyork

Yeah, it's pretty tough for these little puppies to eat too much as they're growing. We free fed our dog without any problems, and he ate what he wanted.

so shall i just fill the bowl and let her eat what she wants?

I think you can do that--it's better to overfeed than underfeed while she's growing.

As to your original post, I wouldn't switch foods. That can lead to having a picky eater, which many people here can tell you can become very worrisome when your dog will hardly eat anything. Just focus on one good food--she'll be healthy, she'll be happy, she won't be picky, and she'll never know what she's missing!

If you are going to stick with Hills Science Diet, I would recommend that you feed the Nature's Best. I think it is better than regular Science Diet. Just my opinion!!

When I first got Pixie she was very tiny...14 weeks old and 1lb 7oz! the breeder told me to feed her 4 times a day and no more than about a tablespoonful at a time to begin with as her tummy was so tiny and over feeding her would upset her stomach and she would end up with diarrhoea:thumbdown
I was feeding her breakfast at about 7am, scrambled eggs made with a little goats milk and mixed with a little cheese...a drink of warmed goats milk mixed with honey is good too.
Lunch was around midday and was usually freshly cooked chicken..(I would roast a whole chicken then store this in the fridge)
Dinner was around 5pm..Royal Canin Starter or Royal canin Mini Junior..breeder was feeding this so I stuck with it at first..(small kibble great for tiny mouths!) I would mix this with a good quality tinned dog food..(I would buy Royal canin chicken & Rice from my vet) Pixie also liked Butchers tripe mix! stinks...but she loved it!
Then around 9pm I would give her a few pieces of chicken and maybe a drink of warmed goats milk.
I think the key is little and often..this routine worked well for Pixie..:thumbup:
I also see no harm in leaving down a bowl of kibble for your puppy to pick at during the day..a good idea if you are out a few hours day..I do this now with Pixie and she will be be crunching away on her kibble a couple of times a day.

That is what I do with mine. You can put both kinds in the bowl and see if she prefers one over the other but switching back and forth so not a good idea. They don't get bored with food.

thanks for the advice
well i picked the princess up yesterday, 2 days early and she has settled in very well, at the min she is having bakers complete with a bit of butchers tripe mixed in but she does not eat very much of it, and also i have left a small bowl of bakers down on its own, how long shall i leave the bowl of mixed food down for as she leaves quite a bit?
and how much should she be drinking?
Tracy x

When I fed kibble (I feed raw now), I always free fed - and my babies never overate, so it's a really nice option for puppies.

As for never switching, personally I think Hills is one of the poorer foods on the market. Also, keeping your dog on ONE food all of the time can cause acquired allergies. Variety is good for them - and it is not always true that switching between a few brands causes upset. Humans don't eat one kind of cereal for every meal, day in, day out. Carnivores in the wild don't eat the same exact thing day in, day out.

There are a lot people on YT who will alternate between a few bags of different quality kibbles - and this is actually very good for these babies, imo. :)

I agree!! :thumbup::thumbup:

As for never switching, personally I think Hills is one of the poorer foods on the market.

Hello
thanks for your advice, im in the uk and thought hills was one of the best foods you can get here as been told by the vet , is royal canin better,
what would you recomend?
Tracy x

thanks kerrie sounds like she has a nice variety diet,
Tracy x

I Personally am a big fan of the (UK only) brand 'Natures Menu'...Pixie loves it.:D

I was probably feeding more like 2 tablespoonfuls at a time back then..1 didn't look enough to me!:rolleyes:

She now has James Wellbeloved kibble left down all the time..she picks at this regularly throughout the day..then the Natures Menu for dinner.

Bruce has always free fed and he has never over ate. That said, I think you should consider switching off Hills. It is one of the lowest quality foods on the market, it contains so many fillers and very little nutritional value. The reason vets reccomend Hills is marketing, many gets get substantial financial compensation and/or money toward their education from the manufacturer.

Check out this site

Dog Food Reviews - Hill's Science Diet Adult Large Breed Lamb Meal & Rice Recipe - Powered by ReviewPost

i got a couple of pouches of natures menu puppy food for her to try, ill let you no if she likes it,

Congratulations on your new puppy!

You might consider that free feeding makes it very difficult to know for sure when your puppy ate and how much, in the case of an emergency this info is important.

Secondly, housebreaking is going to be an exercise in consistency to say the least. If you put something in one end at a certain time you have an expectation it's going to hit the other end on a regular schedule.

Free feeding works well for some, but others free feed and fight problems they don't realize they are creating. Feeding on a schedule, a measured amount, and in the crate(if crate training) is how I housebreak any puppy I'm going to keep.

yes she has had 2 accidents now which isnt to bad, she goes on the pee pad and she goes in the garden for a wee aswell,

I agree with what Molly Moo said about it being difficult to know what they are eating while free feeding. Or at least I couldn't keep up with it very good. When Bernie was 10 weeks old I was free feeding. I thought he was eating enough, but he wasn't. He had a hypoglocemia attack. After that I totally changed his diet. He's a raw fed baby after that. He eats that stuff just as soon as I put it down. Any kibble you choose should be grain free, as the grain can cause skin problems and other alergies.

hi just to let you no that lexie ate from her bowl this morning yeeeeeeehh but then went for her first injection and she is a little quiet now and my partner had to feed her from his hand,
when she had her injection my friend had to stay with her and i went out of the room, i heard her sqeal from outside it was so horrible, i could not of possible stayed there when they did that because of what i went through with molly moo,
she was supposed to have a micro chip today but vet said she is a bit to small to have it done and might have it done with her 2nd injection, im gonna dred it, but i no its for the best
Tracy x

hello just a update on lexie, she is going to be 10 weeks tomorrow and she has got her second injection and microchip aswell at 9.45,
she is still not eating very much and i have to hand feed her again or she wont eat anything, i had to change her food to royal canin as it is much smaller for her to eat as she was finding the other food to big,
she is eating about 20gms of food a day which is very little and somtime worrys me, she is drinking plenty of water
ant advice on fedding would be good
Thanks Tracy x x

i have free fed My suzi and there have been no probelms. You can still measure out the food you put in the bowl and keep track . When they are puppies they need to be getting plenty of food.
After vaccines it is common for them not to be eating much. If you keep feeding her by hand she will get use to it , and may choose not to eat on her own anymore at all. Consitency is very important. A very tiny Puppy is not going to eat a whole lot off food. :aimeeyork