New Bullmastiff Mommy - Questions about feeding

[Ziaya]

We adopted a bullmastiff right after Christmas. She turned four months on January 11th. I'm a little concerned about her weight. Currently, she is eating roughly 4.5 cups of taste of the wild puppy food a day. Ziaya scarfs her food and never seems full. Her vet last week stated it's not abnormal to see all of her ribs at this age, 40 pounds would of been an ideal weight, and we will weigh her again in a month. She weighs about 37.5 pounds as of yesterday. Does anyone have any guidance on how many cups of puppy food a 4 month old Bullmastiff should be eating? I tried attaching a recent pic to this message, but I'm not sure if it attached... Any advice is appreciated. Thank you from Ziaya's new mommy! We <3 her very much!

 

[ThePowers]

Hello New Bullmastiff Mommy. My husband and I are going to be new owners of a couple Mastiff puppies in a couple of weeks and we too are wondering what is recommended in feedings. What should we buy before the pups come to our home. Any tips would be greatly appreciated from anyone.

 

[Ziaya]

We stocked up with Tricky Trainer Chewy treats (amazed how quickly she learned to sit, lay down, come, stay, and shake), different textured large chew toys (Kong brand, Ziaya chews on everything), large crate with divider, Today is Ziaya's first day of obedience school, so I am sure the trainers will give us a list of more puppy needs

 

[Harrygto]

welcome I am no help with pups I only get old EM great looking pup

 

[lhamilton75]

My girl will be three on Monday and she still eats her food in about 30 seconds. She now weighs 117 but she was up to 130 the vet said we needed to grim her down so we have been cutting back her food. We were giving her two cups in the morning and two cups at night but now she just gets one cup in the morning and one cup at night but she has always acted like she is still starving. Not that there is ever any food left but we don't leave it out for her because she would never stop eating I don't think. We have to kennel our other two dogs when they eat so she won't eat theirs too. But when she was a puppy I believe I fed her according to what the bag of food suggested. I don't know if this helps but maybe ask the vet how much they suggest you feed your baby and the try to exceed ice her daily to keep her in shape. We aren't as good about that with Bella but I wish we had been. She has had quite a few problems but I love her and wouldn't trade her for the world. Good luck I'm sure you'll be an excellent new mommy.

 

[ThePowers]

Where did you find those treats??? We too want to put our new pups in obedience school as soon as possible.

We stocked up with Tricky Trainer Chewy treats (amazed how quickly she learned to sit, lay down, come, stay, and shake), different textured large chew toys (Kong brand, Ziaya chews on everything), large crate with divider, Today is Ziaya's first day of obedience school, so I am sure the trainers will give us a list of more puppy needs

 

[musicdeb]

Welcome aboard~ Feed the pup the recommended amount on the package and adjust according to body condition. Be more concerned with body condition than body weight.



Generally, mastiffs are allergic to grain and chicken found in kibble. You can check www.dogfoodadvisor.com for dog food ratings and customer feedback. Mastiff puppies should eat Large Breed adult food or All Stage food because puppy food has too much calcium causes fast growth. Slow and steady growth for a healthy mastiff. Protein in the food is not an issue unless the pup has kidney issues.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1659&aid=652

Dog Food FAQs: Protein

Check out Acana Regionals, Wellness Core, Castor & Pollux Grain Free, Earthborn Holistics, Fromm*s, Innova Natures Table, Victor*s Grain Free or Taste of the Wild grain free. Chewy.com is a great place to order dog food and they offer free shipping.

You may want to check out the raw diet for your pup. Raw diet can be fed to young pups. Check out the sub forum on raw diet that has a wealth of information. It is not recommended to feed the pup kibble (one with grains) and raw food. Do your research re: raw diet and form your own opinion.

Slow transition to the new food is as follows to prevent diarrhea. If at any time during the transition, the pup has diarrhea return to previous amounts of food per feeding. If you are switching flavors made by the same manufacturer, you should not have to do a slow transition.

Amount per feeding:

Day 1-4 ¾ cup of old food and ¼ cup of new food.

Day 5-9 ½ cup of old food and ½ cup of new food.

Day 10-14 ¾ cup of new food and ¼ cup of old food

Day 15 Start 100% of new food

OR

You can feed the pup boiled meat and boiled white rice with canned/raw pumpkin (not the pie filling) usually start with 1 teaspoon or the pumpkin for young puppies and 1-2 tablespoons of pumpkin for pups older than 8-10 months for 4-5 days to reset their system. After the reset, start the new food.

 

[Elizabeth M]

Congratulations on your new little one. I have a 7 month old Bullmastiff that I brought home a little over a month ago. After some research I've been slowly movingher onto Taste of the Wild All Life Cycle Lamb and Rice and she loves it (we have a few more days before she will be completely off the puppy food.) She is currently eating 3 cups twice a day and I believe looks good. She weighs in the 60's now. For training treats, I give Wellness Pure Rewards Jerky (I cut them in half) and the occasional piece of string cheese. For chewing, I really love the elk antlers - both Gertie and my Rottie Reuben spend alot of time chewing on those suckers and they last a long time!

We adopted a bullmastiff right after Christmas. She turned four months on January 11th. I'm a little concerned about her weight. Currently, she is eating roughly 4.5 cups of taste of the wild puppy food a day. Ziaya scarfs her food and never seems full. Her vet last week stated it's not abnormal to see all of her ribs at this age, 40 pounds would of been an ideal weight, and we will weigh her again in a month. She weighs about 37.5 pounds as of yesterday. Does anyone have any guidance on how many cups of puppy food a 4 month old Bullmastiff should be eating? I tried attaching a recent pic to this message, but I'm not sure if it attached... Any advice is appreciated. Thank you from Ziaya's new mommy! We <3 her very much!

 

[norcal408bully]

Welcome and congrats on the new pup. My bm is now 9mo and I have reduced his food dwn to 2.5 cups twice a day. I believe when he was a pup I was feeding him 2 cups 3x a day. I never followed what was on the bag cause I didn't believe that to be enough food for him and he never grew out of weight off that amount.


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[Max's mom]

Your pup is cute. Some dogs gobble. Max always has and even now, it takes about 15 seconds for him to clear up 3 cups of kibble from his bowl. I have tried all kinds of special slow feeder bowls and even fed him on a 15x19 pan for a while so he had to rummage around to get the food.

Kong sells the best thing for slowing down a pup. It looks like a really big kong but has a weight in the bottom and a hole midway up the side. You fill it with food and put it on the floor. The pup has to tip and roll it to knock the food out. It takes Max about 30 min to empty his. (watch out for it going under the couch = ticked off puppy). It stimulates the mind and really helps with bored puppy syndrome. That was the best $20 bucks I spent.