# How much to feed?



## Jccinoh (May 31, 2020)

New to Standard Poodles (have owned toys over the past) and am curious about a few things (sorry about the number of questions!)
1) How much should we feed? We brought our Oakley home yesterday (8 weeks) and was told by breeder he feeds Purina Pro Puppy (which I guess is ok?). Anyway, the Purina shows that based on his 'full grown weight' and his age (less than 3 months) we should give between 1/2 and 1 2/3 cup per day. We gave 1/2 cup last evening and 1/2 cup this morning and he ate it all. 
2) Is morning and early evening an ideal feeding schedule?
3) What should an 8-week old SPOO weigh? (I know there are multiple factors, ie parents, etc) We have vet appointment this Saturday for his 'checkup' and I am sure they will tell me then but I was curious now. 

Any and all input/advice welcome!
Thanks 
Jimie


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

My boy Galen was the runt of his litter. He was 6.2 pounds at 7 1/2 weeks. I suspect his litter mates were pushing him off the food dish. He had an insatiable appetite for the first couple months. We initially fed him 1/4 cup after each nap; this worked out to four meals per day. If he ate it all up immediately we would give him another 1/4 cup. He got up to 2 cups per day pretty quickly and even ate 3 cups during one of his growth spurts. That's much more than the Purina bag recommended. If we didn't give him what he wanted he would steal Pogo's food. At 5 months he is finally slowing down.


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## Jccinoh (May 31, 2020)

Thank you so much! Ok, we will increase the food a bit and instead of 2 meals (morning/evening) we will provide a 'lunch' food of 1/4 cup. That will get him to 1/2 cup in the morning, 1/4 cup at lunch and 1/2 cup early evening (total 1 1/4 per day). We will see how he does with that. If he continues to eat all of it (quickly) will add a bit more. 
Ours is about 7 pounds now so not far from what yours was.
Again, thank you!


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## cowpony (Dec 30, 2009)

The handy thing about having a slightly hungry puppy is that they are delighted to work for food. Too hungry and they can't concentrate.


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## PeggyTheParti (Sep 5, 2019)

Something I learned about Peggy is that she has a hard time relaxing when she's hungry. This is a challenge, as she's not the most voracious eater. But if we can fill her belly, we are often blessed with a delightfully sleepy Poodle.

At Oakley's age, we fed her as much as she wanted to eat, with most of her calories hand-fed to reward desirable behaviour (settling, short training sessions, puppy classes, etc.).

She was malnourished and underweight when we brought her home: 10.8 lbs at 9 weeks. Luckily, she put weight on quickly with a diet change, and was almost 14 lbs at 10 weeks.


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