Is my 5-month-old Jack Russell puppy overweight? How much to feed?

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Smokey. The average American dog is quite overweight. So if you have one at a healthy weight, it will usually look too thin. You want a thin covering over the ribs when you run your hands along his sides. He should have a waist the curves in from the top and size views. There is a one through nine scale of body condition scores. A healthy weight is a four or five. Every dog food contains a different amount of calories per cup. At six months of age, he should still eat puppy food. Look at the side of the food bag for feeding recommendations. Keep in mind, these are typically too high for most dogs. His weight looks great in your picture, but it obviously hard to tell for sure. Your current feeding amount is likely adequate. I hope this information helps! https://www.justrightpetfood.com/blog/dog-body-condition-score

Hi there and good morning. Thank you for your question. Puppies need to be a good quality, nutrient dense diet. Puppies, unlike adults, need a higher amount of calcium and other minerals in their diet for their growing bones. A food that is specially formulated for puppies you can find at your local pet store would be suitable. Cute pictures! Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach and good luck to you and little Jack.

I see that Ellie is five months old. Because she is a growing puppy, it is not recommended to worry about if she is overweight or not. Restricting any food or putting her on a diet at this age could adversely affect her growth. I would recommend feeding her a puppy formulated food, feed according to the instructions on the bag, and take her out for exercise twice a day for 25 minutes at a time.

I would feed her according to the instructions on her bag of food, but I would divide it into three equal portions to feed her three times a day. I don't worry about puppies being fat, especially if they are very active. They are growing, and they don't need to be a diet. I hope this helps!

We really don't worry about puppies getting fat, as their calories should not be restricted during this important time of growth. It could be that Jarvis's belly is due to intestinal worms, which are common in puppies. Please give him a deworming treatment. As for diet, he needs a puppy formulated food. I recommend giving him Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Purina ProPlan, or Iams. There is a daily recommended allotment of food listed on each bag, and I would divide it into three equal portions to be fed once in the morning, once at noon, and once in the evening. Best of luck.

Most foods will have feeding instructions on the side of the bag according to your pet's weight and age, so you can use that as a starting gauge for how much to give. Puppies should generally be fed at least 2-3 times a day, and if your pup isn't gaining weight well, increasing the food amount and having your vet check for any issues such as parasites or illness which could impede weight gain is best.

Based on his current weight, I would expect this mix to be around 30 lbs when he reaches adulthood, but this is a rough estimate. They shouldn't be losing any weight as puppies, but this does happen sometimes when they are in a new environment, or have a medical condition (i.e. diarrhea). I wouldn't be too worried if he lost a little weight, but is otherwise acting normal and appears healthy. It's good that you are thinking about controlling his diet. I recommend feeding a small breed puppy food to Pepe until he is about eight months old, then he can be switched to an adult food. A good dog food will have the adequate amount of calories calculated into their recommended feeding guidelines (can find this on the bag). If you feed according to that and limit the amount of treats and/or table scraps he gets, then you should be able to keep him from getting overweight. For more information on feeding Pepe, I recommend you read the article at the link below. This explains what to look for when choosing your food. https://www.petcoach.co/article/what-to-look-for-when-choosing-your-pet-s-food/ I hope that helps and all is well with Pepe.