English mastiff puppy food amount

[Richard S Freeman]

We just got an 8 wk old fawn english mastiff last week. He is awsome! He is very playful and seems very happy but he only eats around 2- 2 1/2 cups of food a day. Well under what they recommend they will. He was 16.6lbs 6 days ago and he weighs 18.6 now. I feed him nutri-source large breed puppy like the breeder fed. Is he considered a runt or should i be worried? I keep his bowl out always and he frequently eats just not much at one time. Normal or not?? Thank you anyone that has advise for me

 

[Loverboy Skyline]

That sounds like enough kibble to me, especially when it's high quality. Although 16.6 at 8 wks sounds small for an EM it is not abnormally small and at this stage I wouldn't worry about it yet. You can expect him to gain about 4-5 pounds a week once he gets going.

 

[sadhbhsdad]

Hi, For what its worth when I fed kibble to my pup after we got her I never left food there for her to graze on throughout the day.
I fed her 3 times per day and if she did not eat or started and did not finish within 5-10 mins of me presenting the food I would remove it and try again a little later. If she did not eat at second time offering I removed it and offered it back at next meal time.
She is now fed raw so never an issue with refusing !

Good luck with pup.

 

[Loverboy Skyline]

I also wanted to mention my Bullmastiff was only 11.5 pounds at 8 wks. He grew about 3 pounds a weeks after I got him. 2 weeks ago he went to the vet. He was 117 pounds at 9.5 months and you can see his ribs because I keep him lean. This is exactly where I would expect him at this stage based on his parents size. Puppy size is a very poor indicator unless you can say it's due to a physical abnormality like a pituitary defect. The size of the parents and grandparents is the best predictor.

 

[Smokeycat]

I got my big guy (EM) at 11 weeks old and he weighed 24 lbs. One thing I learnt is to ignore what he 'should' weigh and go by his body condition as he was constantly under the 'normal' range for his age. He typically put on 5 lbs a week but not always. He also taught me that a small puppy doesn't mean small adult. Sometimes it just means they take longer to get where their genetics say they should be.