Golden Retriever Puppy

[Todd]

Hi

I have a 8 week old male Golden Retriever. I understand that there is no set amount to feed such a puppy but i have little idea on how much i should start him on. The breeder was very non specific and was saying "a handful" and so on but the pup was also competing with his brothers and sisters. I am currently feeding him a dry puppy food (Supercoat Puppy) and some decent pet mince. The bag of dry food says about 200grams a day and im feeding him about 200 grams of mince as well. He eats the mince no problems but he is only getting through about half the dry food. I am trying to split it over 3 meals so he is feeding regulary. Am i on the right track or should i back off on the mince? He weighs 3.2 kg which i think is a bit underweight for an 8 week old male. Anyway, i'm just hoping to get somewhere to start and i'll build it up as he grows,an idea of what other people are feeding their dogs at around this age. Any help would be great.

Cheers

[GoldD]

When we bought home our golden retriever were told 1/2 - 3/4 cup dried food (Eagle Pack) three times a day. Plus a tablespoon of yoghurt or cottage cheese added to two meals. It was also suggested 1/3 can sardines in springwater every now and then and I add a shake of garlic powder to repel fleas. Try a doggy kiss with sardines, yoghurt and garlic powder to get a slow mover out of bed in the morning. Works wonders.

Treats suggested were cheese, euk puppy biscuits, chicken etc. 1 egg per week from 10 weeks onwards and a bone every week. Fresh veggies (steamed) thrown in to the mix too.

That's the way I have gone and Diesel now 13 weeks is going along great guns. You should always want to be able to see a waist - not just a barrel. Hope this was of some help!

Everyone will have different suggestions however the breeder is happy with how our boy looks so I must be going along well!

[jillybean]

I'm definately no expert on this, but if the recommended guidelines for your dog's size/weight is 200g of dry, you don't need to be feeding 200g of mince as well. That's doubling his food - no wonder he doesn't finish his dry food! If you want to feed mince too then I'd cut down the amounts of both that you're feeding. If he's hungry he'll finish it.

[goldielover]

If you're adding mince (beef in particular) you should ensure that he's getting enough calcium as well so as not to upset the calcium - phosphorus balance. If you want to continue adding mince, i'd be adding lite cottage cheese (not creamed) to most meals and maybe for some variety natural set yoghurt.

Also being quite young you could soak his Supercoat Puppy for around 20 mins in warm tap water until it's mushy, then add the mince and cottage cheese in and stir it, so he can't leave the dry food then. If he's still not eating all 3 meals, decrease the quantity of mince.

Are you absolutely sure he's 3.2 kg?? That is very small for an 8 week old baby!

We also have a Retriever breeds thread in the Breed Sub forum of the General section - feel free to join in - we have a great bunch of retriever owners there who will offer lots of support!

Edited December 1, 2007 by goldielover

[Poodle wrangler]

Don't overfeed your pup.

Goldies are a large breed and all large breeds can have hip problems.

Keeping him lean with nice, regular growth is best for growing bones.

I don't measure dog food.

Use the packet as a guide only. Start there. It's OK to see the last rib. Lots of fur, so you should be able to feel the ribs easily with the flat of your hand (no poking). Poke enough and you'll find ribs on an obese dog, too :D.

Goldies typically love their food and will eat much more than is good for them. If pup's leaving food, he's not hungry.

If you're feeding mince in addition to the recommended amount of dry, you're feeding too much.

Naturally dry food is less tasty than mince, so pup leaves the dry.

[littlelabrador]

Im no expert like the others here, but our labrador was 4.4kg when we got her at 8wks. Shes now almost 16wks and is 11.8kg. Our breeder told us 1cup of dry food twice a day, plus a handful at lunchtime if they seem hungry. She was on supercoat and it was apparent quite early that she was intolerant of that. I really dont think the breeder (who had about 22 puppies from 3 litters all together) actually noticed. She had continuing diarrhoea/ very loose poos, and we ended up on a special vet food. Even on that , it was still about a cup for each meal. This is if you are not adding anything else. Molly is now on Hills Science Diet Large Breed puppy and is thriving. As the vet explained, it doesnt work out much more expensive than supercoat etc, because you feed less - ie, if you look at the pack of supercoat to see how much you are going to be feeding him at 9 months, its like 5-6 cups ! Not pushing any brand of food here either, just explaining. The advice from our vet was that a large breed pup should be gaining about a kilo a week. Molly gets about a cup of dry food, with a little rice, and either some chicken mince or beef mince, and about once a week, a raw egg. We arent using the yogurt yet due to her sensitive tummy. And when i say some mince, i mean about 2 tablespoons, not a huge amount. good luck. got any pics ??

[Cockerlover]

I always advise my new puppy owners that if they want to add to kibble ; eg mince /vegies /ect ;to mix it in with the kibble or you will find the pup will only eat the tasty food & leave the kibble; refere to the kibble guide as to how much to feed & reduce the amount of kibble accordingly to what you add to it;

[kim21]

My pup is the same; if there is a choice he wont eat the dry food, only the meat so I mix in my meat really well so the dry food is covered. When they are puppies the most important thing is they get enough nutrients and minerals and that is gotten from the dry food not the raw meat (which is low in minerals). Also try adding a little bit of chicken or beef stock to the dry food to make it more palateble. I would back off the mince a little and only use it to get him to eat the dry food. Good luck, I know how hard it is especially when you think they might be underweight.

[Poodle wrangler]

I've never met a Goldie that you had to worry about eating too little .

My larger dog eats kibble as a food of last resort, too. Totally normal.

[GoldD]

I don't think our 15 week old golden even chews - food goes down like a vaccum cleaner Wouldn't matter if it were dry or mince or veggies alone. If it's in the bowl it's gone

If you offered him a bowl of veggies and a bowl of dry I can guarantee you he would eat both - probably starting with his dry eagle pack then to veggies! The beautiful boy is a major eating machine

[First Time Puppy Owner]

Only a suggestion - but perhaps rather than lumping a massive bowl infront of him - try hand feeding him out of the bowl for a bit to try to slow down the eating?!?! Just a thought no wisdom as Benson has always been a paced eater yet might be worth ago

[Poodle wrangler]

Only a suggestion - but perhaps rather than lumping a massive bowl infront of him - try hand feeding him out of the bowl for a bit to try to slow down the eating?!?! Just a thought no wisdom as Benson has always been a paced eater yet might be worth ago

Yep. Reduces the risk of digestive upset, too.

My standard poodle was on a diet and started guzzling- I sprinkled his dry food out over the floor, so guzzling wasn't an option.

You can do the same in the yard.

You can also stuff food into a Kong or other chew toy.

Bigger dogs can get bloat (intestines swell and twist over). Bloat is a vet emergency.

Lots of factors involved (e.g. hereditary, temperament (anxious dogs), food type) but it's advised NOT to guzzle food as it may be a factor as well.

[goldielover]

Only a suggestion - but perhaps rather than lumping a massive bowl infront of him - try hand feeding him out of the bowl for a bit to try to slow down the eating?!?! Just a thought no wisdom as Benson has always been a paced eater yet might be worth ago

I've had to do that with both Chelsea and Ally. A cup or so of dry is gone before i can even stand up from putting the bowl down. Chelsea is fine now, but i still feed Ally outside by spreading her dry over the concrete ground - takes her much longer that way!