Cockapoo growth?

[Tinkobell]

Our girl is 22 weeks and has 3 meals a day. Just starting to loose teeth. Very very lanky and turning out to be a big poo. Anyone any glue as to when they stop growing and reduce feeds to x 2 meals per day? Be grateful of guidance as varies by breed. Thank you! Ps here she is retrieving from water this morning!

My cocker naturally started to eat less around the 5 month mark so we dropped to two meal at 6 months of age. Ironically we are back to three meals a day as it's better for his digestion.

IME around 5-6 months they just stop looking for their lunchtime feed as they're less hungry and busy doing other things :) I don't think there are any hard and fast rules.

My springer also dropped his middle meal naturally at about 6 months old.

He didn't stop growing in height until about 9-10 months and at 12 months seems to have stabilised in weight.

We went down to two meals a day at around 6 months too.

Brill thanks 5-6 months seems to be a common 3 to 2 meal switch point for many. Did people reduce the quantity a little also at this stage and switch from pup food to adult?

Mine was on food suitable for both puppies and adults so can't help on that one.

I didn't reduce the quantity but from about 6 months I was feeding approx. the same amount as he now eats as an adult. That meant he was getting proportionately more as a lighter dog then he gets as a heavier one but always the same amount in actual weight.

Over time I have occasionally tweaked it up or down if I felt he was gaining or losing body fat. Difficult to do with a growing puppy but you just have to keep looking at their body condition and assessing if their shape is changing or if you can feel their ribs more/less easily than before.

That said, he did get a lot more (healthy) treats as a younger puppy because he was getting them for every single good behaviour. As that has naturally reduced as he has gotten older, it's likely there has been a reduction in how much he eats, overall.

I was always feeding a bit of a mix of adult and puppy foods but think I stopped buying any puppy foods at around 8 months.

Yes I'm constantly doing the rib feel thing and ensuring her shape doesn't become too loaf like a silly worried about joint strain. I think the pup food is slot fattier / more calorific for growth than adult.

Bitey which food were you using? We're having a few issues with our puppy with loose stools and have wondered if the puppy food is too much for his tummy. A few things I've read online suggest it can be a cause of it. A food that's good for both might be worth trying.

AgathaF I used Millie's wolfheart kibble initially but switched to their wet food as it was kinder on his stomach (he was recently diagnosed with inflammatory bowel disease so had frequent bouts of D&V since he was a puppy ). The wet food was the same ingredients but it just meant he digested it better.

However, he has recently got bored of some of the flavours so I started using forthglade wet food as well but those say from 1 year old and upwards but I think they also do ones for puppies.

If you are having issues with food and you use kibble I would highly recommend switching to a good quality (look on allaboutdogfood.co.uk to see how they compare for quality) wet food instead as it made such a difference to the firmness of his poos.

Thanks for that Bitey. We've been using wet food since we got him. I'm not a massive fan of kibble, and he really wasn't enjoying the kibble he was being fed at the breeders. I think he's going to have to go back to the vets this week for samples to be sent off to rule out anything else, so I'll see what the results of those are then make a decision over the food. He's currently on chicken and rice on the vets advice.

I think the rule of thumb is 3 melts until about 6 months and puppy food u TIL full growth reached which is different for each breed. Ours will be 15-18 months. Even if they dont grow in size the are still growing bones etc.

What breed was each parent? Cockapoo covers a multitude of possibilities.

Mine is 25 ish weeks. Losing teeth. Eats very little, has kibble down all day now supplemented with meat. Was on raw food but went off it in the heat.

Mine is more poodle than cocker and lanky.