My puppy is 12 weeks old today and is being fed 4 times a day i.e. every 4 hours.  This means she gets her last feed of the day around 8 pm, which also means she's up and hungry at 5 am!  She's always hungry for about an hour before her feed.  How can I space her feeds out so that the last feed is later.  Also, can I give her chew sticks etc in between feeds or is she too young?  And, when will I reduce the amount of feeds she's having?

Hi
I dont think i would do a later feed than 8pm but would give a couple of biscuits before she settles to bed ( i also gave small amount of goats milk) and her breakfast around 7am.

what are you feeding her on?

I'm sure you'll get lots of advice on this.

My breeder was feeding on pedigree puppy tinned and a few dried biscuits.  My vet recommended I slowly change this to a complete dry food, so I'm half and half with puppy iams at the moment.  Do you give milk before bed?  She has last toilet at 11 pm so what time would you give?  And how much?

Are you feeding her a little more food for each meal ? maybe she needs more and that is why she is hungry early morning I always feed that little bit more if they leave some then they are full.

Roni

I usually space my pups meals out more, so feed at 7am, 12pm, 5pm and 10pm.

If she is 12 weeks old, she should be going onto 3 meals a day really, (don't reduce the amount of food per day, just split it into 3 meals instead of 4) but if she is still seeming hungry in the morning, maybe keep her on 4 a bit longer. When you drop her to 3 meals, drop the lateest feed, butthen space them out a bit mor again if you fell you need to.

Just to add, have you been increasing her food regualrly since you have had her?

I am increasing her food.  I feed her in conjunction with the pack instructions.  She's not really liking the iams much though.  I'm doing half tinned pedigree puppy and half iams.  She always leaves some iams.  But I'm loathe to change her diet again as it may upset her tummy.  What do you think?

I would say if she doesn't like it then change it. It could be that she just doesn't like dry food in which case you could put her on Natures
menu, natures diet or natures harvest - all available at pets at home.

They are really good foods and very natural.

Dry foods I would recommend would be:
James wellbeloved
wafcol salmon and potato
arden grange (http://www.ardengrange.com)
orijen (http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/orijen) - My favorite (my dogs eat this with one of the three wet foods above)

Hope this helps
Anna

Generally the tins and packets over estimate the amount to feed so I woudl be cuttign teh tinned down.

I too feed first at 7am and last at 10pm then pups are on 4 meals and when they drop to 3 meals the last is at 8pm.

If she is leaving food then she isn't hungry.  Most dogs will eat the tinned first as it is smellier and often has added flavour enhancers like salt and sugars too.

I would give her a marrow bone to keep her teeth busy between meals.

What makes you think she is hungry between meals?

If you're happy feeding her Iams, i woudl change her over to that more entirely, so take her off the tinned food. I know she is only a pup, but pick up what she doesn't eat within 20 mins and don't feed her again until the next meal. She will soon learn to eat it if she is hungry. Havign said that, I weaned my litter onto Iams as their Mum was on it. Pups weren't all that keen, and Mum was never greedy about it but she did look wel on it, and pups all did well too.

I agree that pet food manufacturers guidelines over estimate amounts needed, and that is one of the reasons I always think the best way to feed is by appetite and eye, even for a puppy. Do bear in mind that most people keep their dogs, especially puppies a bit on the porky side, as they think they should have 'puppy fat'.

Thanks for all that advice.  I'll definitely try feeding later in the evening.  I don't think she likes the iams 'cos she was barking at the food dish at lunch time!  The reason I think she's hungry is that she's always sniffing around the food cupboard.   Sometimes she whines and always uses her puppy eyes!  I went to PAH on Saturday to look for some chew sticks for in between meals but the assistant was horrified and said definitely no in-betweenies until at least 16 weeks.  I've got to say, I'm totally confused about food.  Do you think I should be trying to get her onto just dried food?  Also, someone replied that she gives her dog goats milk before bed.   But how much and how long before bed?

my puppies are on 4 meals a day until 16 weeks this is what I recommend to all new puppy families, I feed at 8 ,12 ,4 and 8 I find if I feed later it is more difficult to toilet train.
You can give Lactol puppy milk (which is what I do) or goats milk , start off with a little watered down goats milk to make sure they can take it and it doesnt upset the tum you could give this inbetween meals or after a feed (which is what I do) if she is not happy with the dry and you are trying to wean her off the wet give a scrambled egg or some cheese on top of the dry food , you could also try soaking the dry food for half an hour before feeding my dogs prefer thier food soaked.
If you want to give milk before bed put some with water in a dish and see how much she wants .

Roni

If you are thinking of treats for pup (obviously for in the future) i would always say go with natural things-pis ears, tripes sticks, hide etc as opposed to things like pedigree stix (which in my eyes are the equivalent of turkey twizzlers :-)) Natural things last longer, give pup something to play with and are not full of e numbers and will make pup fat

i recommended goats milk as thats what i used to do as last feed was around 8pm and this milk drink and a biscuit kept her going.

tripe sticks i would recommend also - all mine love em!