A puppy is moving in? What an exciting time! One of the cornerstones of your dog’s healthy development is the right nutrition. But how much dog food should a puppy eat? We share tips on the correct portion sizes for puppies and junior dogs.
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How much is enough? Feeding guidelines help you find the right amount of food for your puppy.
Every breed has its own growth rate. As a rule: the smaller the dog, the faster it reaches its final size. Large and giant breeds, on the other hand, take more time to grow. The table below shows how long different dog breeds take on average to grow from puppyhood to adulthood:
| Adult body weight | End of growth |
| Small breeds (up to 10 kg) | 8 to 12 months |
| Medium-sized breeds (11 to 25 kg) | 12 to 15 months |
| Large breeds (26 to 44 kg) | 15 to 18 months |
| Giant breeds (45 to 90 kg) | 18 to 24 months |
Large dogs reach full maturity much later than lighter four-legged friends. This also means that recommendations for puppies and junior dogs regarding nutrition and exercise apply to them until they are around one and a half to two years old.
Small dogs such as Havanese, Dachshund, Pug or Jack Russell Terrier can start eating adult food from the age of one year. Once a dog is fully grown, it no longer benefits from puppy food. Larger breeds, however, need to be fed puppy food for longer – more on this below.
You can find out more in our detailed article on puppy nutrition.
Young puppies usually have a healthy appetite. So why not simply give them as much as they like? The reason: too much energy leads to faster growth. This, in turn, can cause skeletal problems that may affect the dog for life.
Too many calories are particularly risky for large and giant breeds. Giants such as the Great Dane take almost two years to reach full maturity. If they consume too much food as puppies and junior dogs, their bodies grow faster than their bones can keep up. This can result in some irreversible skeletal damage.
Growth curves help you monitor your dog’s body weight up to adulthood. They show the average weight a puppy or junior dog should have between eight weeks and 18 months of age.
That’s why breeders of large breeds often provide buyers with a growth chart when they collect their puppy. Alternatively, you can ask a vet specialising in nutrition for a growth curve. You’ll also find numerous growth charts for different dog breeds online.
Objective charts provide more reliable information than judging by eye. In fact, estimating by appearance can even be harmful: many owners tend to put more food in the bowl after their dog has had a growth spurt, as it may look particularly lanky at that stage. However, extra food doesn’t help, it simply makes the dog shoot up even more quickly.
A rough guideline for large breeds is: by the age of six months, they should have reached around 60% of their expected adult body weight.
Using a few examples, we’ll show how the recommended amount of food changes as your puppy grows and depending on their expected adult size. These examples refer only to the specific food mentioned. Every puppy food has different feeding recommendations based on its energy density.
As an example of a wet food, we have chosen Lukullus Natural Food Junior. As this food is also available in 800 g tins, it is well suited for medium-sized dogs. Lukullus recommends the following daily amounts for puppies and junior dogs:
| Expected adult weight | Up to 3 months | 4–6 months | 7–8 months |
| up to 5 kg | 200 g – 400 g | 400 g | 400 g |
| 5 – 15 kg | 400 g – 800 g | 400 g – 1,000 g | 400 g – 800 g |
| 16 – 30 kg | 800 g – 1200 g | 800 g – 1,600 g | 800 g – 1,200 g |
As you can see, there are sometimes wide ranges. The feeding recommendation for puppies is a good guideline for daily portions. The actual amount required depends on housing conditions, breed and, in particular, the puppy’s activity level. Your puppy’s individual growth curve provides a good indication of the right quantity.
© Rita Kochmarjovain / stock.adobe.com
If you are looking for dry food for your puppy or junior dog, you’ll find an even more tailored range. There is special dry food for puppies of large or giant breeds, as well as for small and medium-sized breeds.
The smaller the dog will be as an adult, the sooner you can switch to adult food, as they are fully grown at around one year of age. Large and giant breeds, however, must be fed puppy or junior food until 18 or even 24 months to prevent growth disorders.
Below you’ll find a table showing the recommended amount of Concept for Life X-Large Puppy for puppies with an expected adult weight of over 45 kilograms. The same applies to dry food: the suggested amount is only a guideline and must be adjusted to suit individual needs.
| Age in months | Expected adult weight 45 kg | 60 kg | 80 kg | 100 kg |
| 2 | 310 g | 400 g | 450 g | 530 g |
| 3 | 410 g | 510 g | 605 g | 715 g |
| 4 | 455 g | 530 g | 695 g | 795 g |
| 6 | 615 g | 675 g | 825 g | 1095 g |
| 8 | 610 g | 650 g | 905 g | 1120 g |
| 12 | 440 g | 670 g | 805 g | 955 g |
| 14 | 430 g | 545 g | 760 g | 895 g |
| 16 | 450 g | 540 g | 675 g | 800 g |
| 18 | 450 g | 540 g | 670 g | 795 g |
| 20 | Giant adult | 535 g | 670 g | 790 g |
| 22 | Giant adult | Giant adult | 665 g | 790 g |
| 24 | Giant adult | Giant adult | 665 g | 790 g |
If you would like to feed your puppy a BARF diet, it’s essential to research the topic thoroughly beforehand. As a general rule, a puppy eats around four to six percent of its body weight per day. However, the correct balance of nutrients is also crucial.
As a puppy’s nutritional needs change almost weekly during rapid growth phases, anyone wishing to feed their puppy or junior dog a BARF diet should ideally consult a vet or a canine nutrition expert in advance.
You can find more information about feeding puppies and junior dogs a BARF diet in our article BARF for puppies.
Puppies and junior dogs have smaller stomachs and a faster metabolism than adult dogs. That’s why their daily ration should be split into several meals. If you do a lot of training using dry food throughout the day, you can divide the remaining food into three to four portions. After eating, your dog should then rest for about an hour.
This is an important routine, especially for large breeds, to help prevent gastric torsion. Once your dog is fully grown, feeding two meals a day is sufficient.
Anyone training puppies and junior dogs often uses food rewards. However, it’s important to deduct these treats from the daily ration to prevent obesity.
By the way, your four-legged friend doesn’t need special treats as a reward. Their regular dry food works perfectly well. Simply weigh out the daily food allowance and set aside a portion as training treats in a treat pouch. If there’s any left over, it can be added to the evening meal.
To make training more appealing, you can mix the dry food ration with strongly scented treats, for example Wolf of Wilderness – Wild Bites. Every now and then, this “joker” in the form of a “Wild Bite” provides extra motivation. As a rule, however, these special treats should only be given for particularly difficult exercises or outstanding performance.
Find out more about puppy development in the zooplus magazine.
The zooplus editorial team consists of a dedicated team of experts with many years of experience in the field of animal husbandry: Luisa with her White Swiss Shepherd Elyos, Laura, Julio, and Florian. Together with a large network of animal experts, we work to make the zooplus magazine a trusted source of information for all animal owners and lovers. Our goal is to provide exciting animal knowledge and relevant information on the proper care of pets.
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