DavidB said:
Jules could you give me a bit of advice on cutting out the fourth meal?
Hiya, Sorry I didn't see this earlier.
It isn't absolutely essential to cut out a feed. If you are happy to feed 4 times a day and so is the pup, then you can continue for as long as you like. I just find that by about 12 weeks, I'm out and about with the pups so much, that one feed always gets slept through or forgotten about, so I tend to squeeze the two middle feeds closer together. It is also around this time I find the pups are ravenous in the morning and they settle better if I give them a bigger helping first thing.
At the moment I'm feeding 1/3 (of total daily ration) at 6.30-7am, then 1/6 at 11.30, followed by the other 1/6 (often used as clicker training treats) usually at about 1.30.....and last 1/3 feed at 6.30-7pm. Over the next few days I'll shift those middle feeds closer and closer together, so all rations are more or less equal. What time you give that last meal depends on you and your pup. My older dogs get fed at 6.30-7pm, so it makes sense for Pickle to be fed when they are, plus it means she then has a poo before going to bed and is nicely settled all night then. However some have faster or slower metabolisms, so you just have to fiddle about until you find the right time.
Some pups will eat as many meals as you care to give, for as long as you care to give them and others will naturally leave a meal out, or start to look disinterested in one, although I have to say, I've never had a Labrador refuse a meal, even if it is only 2 mins after the last one :wink: :lol: .