Feeding
 

Hi

I have a new puppy, he is 11 weeks old.

Currently he grazes his food all day, but I want to put him on a schdule so that he poops around the same time. Currently grazing he is like pooping all the time.

He is kept in a play pen and has a bed at one end and a puppy mat at the other.

How can I change his feeding without bringing on a hypoglycemic attack???

Also he pees and poops on the puppy mat, but when let outside of the play pen, if looks to go anywhere but back in the pen or to the mat I place in the same area of the room.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

I free feed my pups. They are 10 months and 9 weeks. They spend most of their time in my kitchen which is where their pee pee pad, food and beds are. They get to come into the living room a few times a day though to spend time with the family. My little one, Daisy, is doing pretty good about going back to her paper when she needs to go. She poops when ever she wants to but since I don't have to take her outside, I don't mind. My older one, Nick, only poops maybe 2 times a day. So, maybe it will get better with age.

Good luck!

I think it's important to free-feed until they are at least 6 months of age, depending on his size. As you know, puppies are prone to hypoglycemic attacks and unless you are around all the time to make sure he is okay I would take it safe and free-feed until then.

how much does your puppy weigh?

It is easier to have them on a feeding schedule so they can also be on a potty schedule. most do this if they are outside training. i did it with morgan in the beginning. since he's not used to it you really need to make sure he is eating at meal time.

At 11 weeks old he should be eating at least 3 times a day, if he wants to eat 4 times and your home to do it, that's fine as well. i did a three time a day schedule.

basically what you do is place the food bowl down for 15-20 minutes at feeding times. after the 20 minutes you pick up whatever they didn't eat. they will usually go potty 15-30 minutes after eating. some go immediately and some take a little longer. after pooping, they get supervised free rein of the house for a little while. puppies have to potty many times a day, usually after eating, playing, and sleeping. after doing this for a few days you will begin to see a pattern in their habits and can adjust their schedule accordingly. with a puppy that young tho you need to make sure they are eating. at around 14-15 weeks morgan decided she didn't want to eat lunch anymore so she just ate twice a day which was ok.

I tried the 3 times a day routine and thats what I think bought on the hypo my pup had.

He weighes less then a kilo gram.

Also what should his poop be like? Tobys is a bit like tooth paste.

with his size then free feeding is best. leave it down all day long but really try to encourage him to eat at certain times. sit down with him in the morning, afternoon, and evening and try to get him to eat a good portion of the food so that you can expect a good poop shortly afterwards.

he's still really young and doesn't understand that the pad is the place to go. he uses it in his crate because its convenient. if he's out of his pen for a majority of the day then you need to confine him more often. puppies will have to potty after playing so if you have him out and are playing with him for a good 20 minutes or so, place him back in teh pen and expect him to have to pee soon. you want to check him before he feels the need to go so every 30 minutes maybe place him in his pen to see if he has to go. i'm not really sure what else to tell you. i brought my puppy home at 13 weeks and she was 0.8 kilos. she never had a hypo problem. i fed her 3 times a day and took her outside to potty. plus she was on a strict crate/ex-pen/playtime routine.