Beagle puppies need 55 calories for each pound of their body weight. From 8 weeks to 6 months, they should be fed 3 times per day. After 6 months, they should be fed twice per day.
It can be hard to know how much to feed your beagle puppy. He will always seem hungry, leaving you to wonder if you’re doing something wrong. But if you follow this guide, you will know exactly how much to feed your puppy, as well as how to tell if you are overfeeding or underfeeding him.
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How Much To Feed A Beagle Puppy
How much to feed your beagle puppy is dependent on three things: how old he is, what kind of food he’s being fed, and how active he is. It is not a formula that is set in stone.
From 8 weeks to 6 months, beagle puppies need to be fed three times per day and roughly 1-2 cups of food in total each day.
Based on body weight, your puppy should be eating 20g for each 1kg of body weight. Or, based on calories and pounds, he should eat 55 calories per pound of body weight.
If your puppy is more active, he may need more food. If your puppy is less active, he may need less food. We will discuss how to tell if you are overfeeding or underfeeding your puppy later in the article.
Focus on feeding your puppy food that is high quality with protein, calories, and a lot of nutrients.
Make sure you keep feeding your dog puppy food until he is fully grown. He will probably need to switch from puppy food to adult food between 1 and 2 years of age.
If you switch to adult food too early, your puppy won’t be getting all the nutrients he needs. Puppy food is packed full of extra nutrients to compensate for the growth of the puppy.
Puppies need a lot to eat, but not too much. Even though your puppy may ravage through his food and tempt you to feed him more, stick to the guidelines.
How much to feed your puppy also depends on your puppy’s age. When he is still very young, he will be getting some of his calories from his mother.
At first, your puppy will need wet food, but eventually, he will be able to eat dry food. You can also prepare food for him like lean meat, but never feed your puppy something you wouldn’t feed a human.
As your puppy grows, the ratio of canine milk replacer to dry food will become less and less until he is fully eating dry food.
Newborns will nurse every few hours. When they are weaning, they should be eating 6 to 8 small meals per day.
Make sure that when you adopt your puppy, you keep feeding him the same food that he is used to eating. If it’s not a brand that you approve of, slowly change brands by mixing them and changing the ratio over time.
How Many Times Should You Feed a Beagle Puppy?
For the first 3 to 4 weeks of your beagle’s life, his main diet will be his mother’s milk.
By week 4, you want to slowly wean him off of his mother’s milk by mixing milk replacement with solid food. Each day, change the ratio until he is eating just solid food by week 6.
Newborns will nurse every few hours. When you are weaning him off of nursing, you will want to feed him 6 to 8 meals.
From 8 weeks to 6 months old, you should feed him three times per day. He should get 1 ½ cups of food each day split into three meals until he reaches 12 weeks old, at which point he can start getting 2 cups of food each day split into three meals.
Your beagle puppy will be very hungry and ready to eat when you put the food down. Although you may want to feed him more because he eats so fast, stick to the schedule.
If you put all the food down at once, he would eat it all in one sitting, which would upset his stomach.
Do not free-feed your puppy. Having set meal times helps potty train your puppy and also helps him eat appropriate amounts at once.
From 6 months to 1 year, you can start feeding your puppy just 2 meals each day- one in the morning and one in the evening.
If your beagle puppy is home alone for most of the day, give him a light breakfast and then leave some food in a treat release.
You will be using treats and snacks to train your beagle, so keeping him at 2 meals once he is 6 months old will allow room for his rewards.
When your puppy is older than 1 year, his weight gain will slow down because he is reaching full size.
Next, you need to choose if you want to feed your beagle puppy commercial food or homemade meals.
Homemade food will give you complete control over what your puppy is eating and can help you make sure he is getting high-quality, whole foods. However, it takes time to cook all the meals, and puppies can only eat certain things. It is also harder to keep track of.
Manufactured food can be great if you choose a good brand because it can be really high quality. But the better brands will be more expensive, so it might not be in your budget.
There are essential nutrients that you should check for when buying commercial food.
When buying commercial food, look for real meat, no fillers or additives, a good nutritional balance, and a decent amount of healthy fats.
Beagle Puppy Feeding Stages
2 Weeks Old
2-week old puppies will be getting more care from their mothers than from you. The mother will be giving him all his nutrients and warmth. If one of the puppies gets rejected, you will have to care for him. You can put a heating pad at medium heat beneath a blanket to keep him warm and feed him with a bottle.
4 Weeks Old
At 4 weeks old, your puppy will start to transition from a diet of fluids to a solid diet. Give him wet food that is mushy with liquid. He can not yet chew properly. You should feed him ½ – 3/4 cups of nutritious food in 6-8 meals. Gradually reduce how much liquid is in the food until his meals can be solid.
6 Weeks Old
A 6-week old puppy will be reducing his nursing and eating food that is solid. You can increase how much food you are feeding him because he will start to become more active. He should get roughly 1 cup of food each day, split into three meals.
8 Weeks Old
At 8 weeks old, your beagle puppy won’t need to nurse anymore and can eat solid food. He should get around 1 ½ cups of food each day, split into three meals. The food should be high-calorie.
10 Weeks Old
10-week old beagle puppies need to be getting fed 3 times per day. They should be fed on a specific schedule. They should still get 1 ½ cups of food split into three meals.
12 Weeks Old
At 12 weeks, your beagle will have a good appetite and be used to his feeding schedule. Monitor your puppy and change the amount of food you feed him to keep him healthy. He should get 1 ½ – 2 cups of food split into three meals each day.
How To Know If I Am Feeding My Beagle Puppy Enough
It is important to feed your beagle puppy the right amount.
If you don’t feed your puppy enough, he can end up with nutritional deficiencies.
But if you feed your puppy too much, it can result in obesity.
Other health problems from feeding your dog too much include musculoskeletal problems, reduced quality of life, shortened life span, some cancers, skin disorders, Cushing’s disease, labored breathing, and congestive heart failure.
There are many factors to consider when deciding how much to feed your puppy.
Figuring out the right meal size depends on things like exercise levels, metabolic rate, body weight, number of meals, and type of food.
If you are using manufactured food, there will be a chart on the bag telling you how to feed properly depending on weight. Divide the total amount by how many times per day you are feeding your puppy (usually around three times).
But this information isn’t written in stone. Combine this starting point with your puppy’s lifestyle.
If you have a puppy who weighs a lot and barely moves, cut back on the calories. If you have a puppy who doesn’t weigh much and is constantly running around, you can feed him a little more.
You can also try to use a calorie calculator for your puppy. Sometimes they are right on target, but sometimes they are as far as 25% off, so take it with a grain of salt and just use it as a starting place.
Your veterinarian can help determine your puppy’s body condition score and decide the right number of calories.
Here are some signs that mean your beagle puppy is at a healthy weight.
He will have ribs that aren’t visible but can be felt easily with light pressure.
When you look at him from the side, his chest will be closer to the ground than his stomach.
His abs should be narrower than his hips and chest when you look at him from above.
You should check your puppy’s weight every 2-4 weeks and write the results down in a diary. If your puppy starts to gain or lose weight in a way that is unfavorable, change the portion sizes. Discuss the weight gain or loss with your vet to make sure it’s not something more serious.
Each time you change dog food, you will have to repeat all these processes.
When in doubt, talk to your vet. It’s their job, and they can properly assess your puppy to see if he is getting the right amount of food.
How To Know If You Are Feeding Your Beagle Puppy Too Much
It can be easy to overfeed your puppy. He will appear to always be hungry, so you might feel bad and feed him extra. Or maybe you’re overdoing it on treats.
However, overfeeding can cause serious consequences like reduced lifespan, arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease.
Here are some signs that you are overfeeding your beagle puppy.
If your puppy looks overweight, you may be feeding him too much.
Bodyweight on its own is not the only indicator of whether or not your puppy is overweight. Your puppy should have an hourglass shape from above, and you should be able to feel his spine, hips, and ribs with just a gentle touch.
If you’re able to see the last few ribs when your puppy is moving, that means they are the perfect weight.
If you have to press hard to feel the ribcage or if the waist isn’t visible from above, there is fat covering them, and your puppy may be overweight.
If you are overfeeding your puppy, it may show in other ways than weight gain. The problem may not be too many calories- it may be too many nutrients.
This will show up in bowel issues like loose stools and abdominal swelling.
If your puppy’s bowels are normal in the morning and soft in the evening, that is a sign of overfeeding.
If your puppy has frequent flatulence that smells extremely bad, that is another sign of overfeeding. Feeding too much will overwork the digestive tract.
Skin moulting is normal once or twice a year, but shedding frequently is not. If your puppy is obsessively grooming himself, chewing on his feet, or balding, these are all signs that your puppy’s body is trying to get rid of extra waste.
Similarly, regular scratching is a sign that something is wrong with nutrition. Even if the food is high quality, overfeeding will overwork your puppy’s system and cause things like itching and dry skin.
If your puppy is overly lethargic, he may be weighed down by overfeeding. Weight gain can make some activities harder for puppies. But any extreme change in behavior should be checked by a vet.
If your puppy eats its own poo or other dogs’ poo, it is a sign of a digestive problem. There is a misconception that it means the dog doesn’t have enough nutrients or is hungry, but really it means there is an underlying health issue.
How To Know If You Are Not Feeding Your Beagle Puppy Enough
Your puppy will beg for food, but it is hard to know if he actually needs it or if he just wants it.
If you aren’t feeding your beagle puppy at least 20g of food per 1kg of body weight or 55 calories per pound, there is a chance your puppy might be hungry.
If you are feeding your puppy food that you have prepared for him on your own, it can be hard to meet all the nutritional needs of your puppy. Only feed your beagle puppy homemade meals if you’ve done your research.
With homemade meals, it can be harder to measure how much food your puppy is eating.
If you can see a well-defined ribcage, you might not be feeding your beagle puppy enough. You should be able to feel each rib but not see it. If the rib cage is visible, your puppy needs more food.
Conversely, if you can’t feel the ribs at all, your puppy is overfed.
If your puppy has had an increase in activity and you haven’t adjusted the food to keep up, he may not be getting enough food. The same can be said if he just had a growth spurt.
If you have a really busy schedule and tend to miss meals regularly, that is a surefire way to know that you are underfeeding your beagle puppy, and you need to make sure you feed him at his meal times.
If you don’t follow the guide of how to increase your beagle puppy’s food as he grows through his life stages, you will surely be underfeeding your puppy.
It is important to keep track of how old your puppy is, so you know when to wean him onto dry food and when to increase the amount he is eating.
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It is important to feed your beagle puppy enough to keep him healthy, but it can be hard to know how much is enough.
The more active your puppy is, the more food he will need. If your puppy isn’t as active, you might need to feed him less.
You should buy high-quality food that has enough nutrients, calories, and protein. Puppies need fat in their food as well.
When you adopt a puppy, don’t switch his food right away. Keep him on the old food, or if you want to change brands, do it slowly by mixing the food.
There are different rules to follow for each stage of your young puppy’s life.
For the first 3 to 4 weeks, your beagle puppy will get all of his nutrients from his mother.
Between weeks 4 and 6 you want to wean him off of the milk and onto food. Mix milk replacement with solid food and slowly change the ratio so that the food is completely dry at 6 weeks.
From 8 weeks to 6 months, beagle puppies need to be fed three times per day and roughly 1-2 cups of food in total each day.
You should feed your beagle puppy 3 times per day until he is 6 months old, and then you can lower it down to 2 times per day. The exception is when your puppy is very young, at which point you will want to feed him as frequently as 8 times per day.
Don’t free-feed your puppy because he will eat it all at once and upset his stomach. It will also be harder to potty train your puppy if you are not on a schedule.
Don’t just feed your puppy any time of morning or night. Keep a strict schedule.
It can be hard to decide if you want to feed your puppy commercial food or home-cooked meals.
Home-cooked meals will give you total control as to what your puppy is eating, but they are time-consuming and may be harder to measure.
Commercial food can be very high quality, but the better the quality, the more expensive it will be.
Deciding how much to feed your puppy can depend on more than just weight and calories. You also have to factor in activity level, metabolism, and more.
If you are feeding your puppy enough, you will be able to feel his ribs with a light touch but not see them. If you are underfeeding your puppy, you will be able to see his ribs. If you are overfeeding your puppy, you won’t be able to feel his ribs.
Final Thoughts
Feeding your puppy the right amount is vital to proper growth and nutrition.
As long as you follow guidelines and adjust according to your beagle puppy’s lifestyle, you will surely feed your beagle puppy the correct amount.
