How often should I feed my dog?

This often becomes an important question asked by many dog lovers and dog owners. If it is a puppy within the age of the first six weeks, the puppies need to be given milk at the rate of five to seven times per day. The puppy will make some sound if it wants to feed in general.

However, the feeding frequency may be reduced when the dog becomes six to eight weeks old. By the time the dog assumes the age of four weeks, it may start taking some solid food. Hence, mix the solid food with water in majority and feed your puppy once or twice in the beginning and if the dog develops some diarrhea, then delay the feeding.

The feeding frequency may be changed to two to three times daily after the assumption of the age of eight weeks. However, you may provide food more or less than the estimated numbers. Don't let your puppy go hungry. Dietary intake will also vary with different breeds of dogs and levels of activity.

However, around three months to six months of age, the puppy will be teething. Hence, restrict the feeding to two times only but the balanced type of nutrition needs to be provided to the dogs of this age group to avoid the deficiency based symptoms in them.

From six months to one year, try using puppy food that is available commercially. Then, from the first year onwards, the adult food may be given gradually. When the dog becomes an elder dog, restrict the frequency of feeding since the activity level of such adult dogs gradually diminishes much as an elder humans does.