Hi all!

I haven't been very active on here lately - life is busy!

We finally found a food that all 5 of my dogs do really really really well on: Acana Ranchlands.

Enter... new puppy!

He'll be 11 weeks this Monday. We got him at 9 weeks old. He weighed 10.1lbs that day (we took him to the vet immediately). He's from the same breeder I got 3 of my other pups from, but has a different mother than them.

My concern is his size, growth, and the food. First, I keep accurate weight charts of all my pups, and he's much smaller in size at the same age than they were since I got him. I realize they grow at different rates though. Since we got him, he's gained 2.3lbs (we've had him 12 days). Does he sound like he's growing normally? My others grew around 2-3ish lbs/wk so he seems a bit behind...

Now to the food. I was so excited to get my pack on this because it's an ALS food, and I really don't like/don't think puppy foods are a necessary thing. However it was brought to my attention that the calcium:phosphorus ratio is high in Ranchlands. GREAT! /sarcasm. But I thought that only mattered in large breeds? He's doing SO well on Ranchlands. The breeder originally had him on TOTW puppy and his poop was a bit runny/soft. Once we transitioned him to Ranchlands - it's perfect now.

Last question, amount to feed. He's the first puppy I've ever not free fed. I have NO basis for comparison on how much to feed him. He always acts like he's starving (my free fed puppies never ever acted like this. But we can't free feed any longer because one of my huskies has hypothyroidism and needs to be regulated, and now that they're on a richer food I think they'd all overeat anyway.) Once he got transitioned over, we had him on 1.5 cups/day, and we're upping that to 2 cups/day starting today (422 kcal/cup). We currently feed 3 times a day. If he doesn't get the runs on the higher amount, I'm thinking we should go to 2.5 or 3 cups a day? Not sure... heeeelp lol.

Sorry for the long post and rambles. Basically, should I be concerned about feeding Ranchlands to my new pup, does he sound too small, and how much of a food (I know it'll vary based on brand, but I'll only feed grain-free to him regardless of what I might have to switch to)  should I be feeding at this age?

Thank you for any and all replies. Really appreciate it!!

PS- He's not skinny. You can see some photos here: 6woofs.tumblr.com

I wouldn't worry too much about his size.

The Ca:P is a little high but "if the shoe fits...". Seriously though, if he's doing well on it, I wouldn't worry about that and would just keep him on the food.

Since you can't free feed like you used to, why not just try offering 3 cups a day split into 3 meals and let him eat however much he wants in those meals (of course assuming that he still has firm bm's on that amount)?

Thank you very much for your reply! Sorry it took so long for me to reply. We have upped him to 3 cups a day and he's doing well, he still wants more but I think 3 cups is a good amount. He gained 3lbs in one week so we think he's finally getting his little growth spurts. And I'm just glad to hear someone else thinks the same as I regarding the Ca:P... if he were a large breed I'd worry more about it, but honestly I don't expect him to get more than 50lbs if that.

Thank you again!