Okay guys, this is my first Husky Puppy. So, of course I am quite neurotic and I just want to know if I am approaching his nutrition correctly. Delilah was easy, but Cato is growing!

We feed:

Morning - .75 c. of Grandma Lucy's Pureformance Chicken

Lunch - .5 - .75 c. of Acana Wild Prairie or Blue Wilderness Salmon

Dinner - .75 c. of Grandma Lucy's Pureformance

He seems to be full, but he scarfs down his food. Do you guys think I am over feeding him? And at what point should I reduce what he is eating. Ugh, nutrition for a puppy is much harder.

I know a lot of you have experience with puppies, so I am going to post a few pictures of him so you can tell me if he looks to be a healthy weight for 5 months. (sorry about any hard to tell pics, he wouldn't sit still!)









Just for cuteness and so you can see his mask

He looks a lot like Ghost did at that age, and our vet has always been happy with her weight. They're supposed to be pretty lean, so as long as the ribs and hips aren't visible (yet easy to feel) you're fine. As far as adjusting food intake, let him tell you what he needs. We noticed that when it was time to cut Ghost back she just wouldn't eat as much, and we'd pull back a little on the food and just monitor her weight. We've always been on dry kibble so I can't speak intelligently about GL, but Ghost gets a little over 2 cups per day total of TOTW. When she was 5 months, I think we were around 3 cups of Blue Wilderness.

kcal wise, that sounds about where he is meredith, but the damn dog eats so fast that you would think I starve him. Which is why I'm worried about if he is getting enough!

That's a problem we really haven't had with Ghost, but you'd think we starve Lulu from the way she behaves around meal times. That dog would eat herself to death in a heartbeat if we let her. She's at a healthy weight for her frame, but she cries and cries while we do our feeding ritual (NILIF) and then inhales her food. It's like she hasn't been fed in weeks, but we feed her twice a day...

Cato is my LuLu. lol Delilah is so behaved for meal time.

Oh, Lulu's problems go WAY beyond food issues... I wouldn't wish her psychological issues on anyone. Seriously though, I've never seen a dog as OBSESSED with food as Lulu is.

We have a pet gate up, so the kitties have some freedom, but Cato stands out their when I make the GL and will cry the entire time. He is so damn excited.

I would love it if some others piped in

We never had Blitz as a puppy (got him at age 1) but I was always worried he was too skinny. He looks about the build of your pup though when he was younger and the vets all said he was fine. I've always heard that huskies are on the leaner side. Now that Blitz is older I've found that he pretty much knows how much he needs to eat because there will be some days he will not eat much and some days he will eat a whole bunch - also depends on his activity level.... lazy days he doesn't eat as much but active days he will eat a little more. Blitz is a small boy though - he's only 45 lbs and he is 2 1/2 years old. We think he was either the runt or had poor nutrition as a puppy.

p.s. love his mask!

He looks healthy based on the pictures. I can't speak for GL since we've only ever used kibble, but when Demon and Dakota were puppies we were feeding them 1C 3x a day of Iams puppy (not the best, I know that now). However, I can't remember when we switched to 2 meals a day...somewhere around the 6th month I think. Now we feed TOTW 1.75 to 2.25 cups per day depending on the dog. If one of them looks a little too lean, we up their intake for a little while.

I would say let her tell you when she's ready. If she doesn't, try cutting her food back a little and see how she does. If she maintains the weight and continues to grow, you're probably okay.

Balon is 3 1/2 months old and he eats only kibble, but he eats 3 cups a day at 3 separate feedings.

Bodhi is 2 years, 10 months and 43 lbs. When we got him at a year and five months, he was eating 3 cups a day of Kirkland kibble. Now he eats about 2 3/4 to 2 1/2 cups a day of TOTW. He's a healthy, happy dog with infinite energy. His small size doesn't bother me in the least.

He absolutely inhales his food because he was raised in a kennel. If a dog didn't eat fast, another dog would eat it. The breeder said that was called "competition eating."

My last husky before Bodhi was a female who weighed about 60 lbs. and was a finicky eater. She would hold out for days without eating a thing, causing me much distress.

All huskies are different, even though they are similar.

I don't think Cato looks skinny, even after all Balon eats he looks skinny to me, but probably cause I look at my lab lol.....

I'm just neurotic. We just switched his feedign schedule, because I can tell Delilah is getting sick of having to eat 3x a day - lol. So we are feeding 1c. of kibble for breakfast and 1 - 1.25 cups of GL for dinner. He did well on it yesterday. No complaints.

Delilah gets 3/4 c. of kibble and 3/4 c. of GL and she is more than satisfied.

When Raven was that age we had the same problem. I fed her 1 cup 3 times a day and she would inhale it in less than a minute. I thought maybe I wasn't giving her enough too. What worked for me was I started giving her 2 cups in the morning without any rituals or fuss. Just put the food down and walked away. I was making her sit and wait before. Then a cup in the evening. It worked for her. She eats calmly now taking her time.

He's thicker than Rogue was (who was fed quite a bit) at 6 months and our vet was never worried about her weight. Photo reference to sort of compare.

Heather was your vet worried because she was too thin?