# Food Increase During Growth Spurt



## jRemmy (Jun 9, 2016)

My pup is just coming up on 5 months old. He suddenly started eating more/wanting more food this week. I'm wondering if he's coming up on another growth spurt? And if so, how much more food would he require (in percentages)?

Some background: Currently 11 inches tall, 11 1/2 pounds. His parents were 13-14" and 20-25 pounds. Just in the last few weeks we successfully switched from Kirkland (costco food from breeder) to First Mate (Canadian brand). He's picky, and turned down about twenty other kinds of food. The new food is much more dense than the old, so he eats less volume now anyways. He used to eat way below the suggested serving when he was younger. However the new suggested serving is 3/4 cup. Doesn't seem like a lot of food. Thoughts?


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## SallyDoll (Apr 17, 2016)

This depends on the size of your cockapoo. Is he a mini or a maxi? He sounds big already to be considered toy

We currently have 2 dogs with us right now and one on the way. Our dogs don't eat that much they're more on the toy poodle side and only eat 1 cup a day but you could go up to 1.5-2 cups a day especially if he's a bigger puppy, just split it into 3x a day until he's about 6 months then you can do it 2x a day. When he's older though you may want to decrease the amount since cockapoos gain weight easily

3/4 cup doesn't look like a lot but in total he's getting about a cup a day (since you're splitting it into 3x a day) when you split the food it's easier for your puppy to digest.

I read Kirkland had a recent formula change, and I would stay away from Blue Buffalo for now since they had a recent recall. First Mate seems good, if he's doing well on it then you don't have to change. Our dogs are currently on Canidae and we add vitamins daily with their food

It's really hard to give dogs a perfect balanced meal, some owners choose to cycle different foods throughout the week so they can limit the imperfections in dog kibble and have a more balanced amount of proteins. Also when there's a formula change or recall in a brand, it won't be that hard to switch over to a new food. If your puppy isn't sensitive to food changes, rotations could be a good idea, but with yours I would just find 1-2 foods he really likes and stick to those


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## jRemmy (Jun 9, 2016)

Thanks, Sallydoll!

According to the breeder, he should be somewhere between 18-23 pounds. His father was almost 25 pounds, and his mother was 16 pounds (I think). 

He's an F2 - grandpa was a mini poodle.


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## Sbmpw (Jul 16, 2019)

I also struggle with knowing if my puppy has enough. He’s about 13/14 inches and weighs nearly 8 kg. I’m never really sure about ‘cups’. I read that puppies need around a 1000 calories a day to grow.. then I found an article saying 2/3 months 150/200 grams a day
4/6 months 250 grams a day 6/8 300/400 grams a day, 8 month on 300 grams a day 
I’m working on this as difficult to work out calories! 
Hope that helps


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