# Feeding 10 week old cocker



## Stephbond1989 (Aug 4, 2019)

Hey everyone! I've got a 10 week old cocker spaniel puppy. He's above average size and weighs 5.5kg (as of today), he's not overweight (he's been at the vets today and they've done all his measurements and he's just big). So. I'm struggling with how much I'm meant to be feeding him! All the charts are different, and he's my first pup I absolutely don't want to over or under feed him!

The food he is on (still the one from the breeder) says 131g per day for a dog with an estimated adult weight of 15kg, so I'm currently giving 80g kibble and 50g in treats throughout the day whilst training and kibble in a ball thing that he has to work at). He's gained 1kg in 4 weeks since he was last weighed, 2 of those weeks have been with me.

Does this sound about right? Is there a calculation I can do for how much food he should be eating for his age??


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Each food has their own guidelines, often generous but as your puppy should need worming every 2 weeks till 12 weeks, then every month till 6 months. You can adjust the amount accordingly because it's best to weigh for worming products.

The baseline you have will be recorded at the vets, sometimes it may pretty much stagnant sometimes it will climb rapidly. If the vets don't worry, you don't worry is the way I see it. 

Your puppy will loose their round looking belly, become rather dangly legged and thin. It's quite common. As long as you notice growth, and weight gain. Then your puppy is thriving.


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## Rayan (Aug 5, 2019)

Hi!
Normal weight for cocker spaniel puppy is 4-6 kg in this age, 3 months - 5-6 kg. Now his weight is good, but this breed like to eat very much and too much. My advice to you, feed regularly (5 meals in this age every 3-4 hours, 4 months - 4 meals, 6 months - 3 meals) and small serving size (1-2 cups of dry food, depends on the activity of your dog). Meat, pieces of vegetables and fruits, corns should be included in feeding because it keeps the dog in good health.
And remember, please, your puppy needs to play games, caring, and attention from you. If he'll feel alone, he can have depression.
P.S. Don't forget to wash him every week, to comb every day, and cut every month.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Rayan said:


> Don't forget to wash him every week, to climb every day, and cut every month.


Sorry, I don't understand this - could you explain? Also OP, please be aware not all fruit and veg is good for dogs.


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## Rayan (Aug 5, 2019)

Yes, of course. You're right, not all fruits and vegetables are useful for dogs, for example, grapes, onions, garlic are toxic for our pets.
Here the list of healthy "F&V" (in pieces):
- Broccoli
- Celery
- Peas
- Pumpkin
- Apples (no seeds)
- Cantaloupe
- Watermelon
- Blueberries
What about washing, maybe I said wrong and you didn't understand me. I mean grooming such as cocker spaniel has great hair. Every day to brush your puppy (adult dog - 2-3 times a week), to bath one time a week, and to cut hair every month. As a result, healthy, long, silky hair.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

That sounds like a lot of bathing which could strip the oils from the skin - unless you bath in just water with no shampoo. Even then, many people only bath their dog if they have got really dirty. And with non shedding dogs, clipping is usually suggested at once per 6 to 8 weeks so again, it sounds like a lot.

What did you mean by climb every day - was that just a typo for comb (groom)?

And a little garlic isn't toxic, quite a lot of dog foods contain it.


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## Rayan (Aug 5, 2019)

Stephbond1989 has 10-week old cocker spaniel puppy and right grooming is very important. And yeah, my mistake, comb (plan to climb with my dog next week, sorry).
What about bathing: if you have an active dog, who runs every day and lives with you, he'll smell not good after 6-8 weeks. The optimal variant is once per 2 weeks. 
Garlic! Every organism is an individual. I had a bad experience with my Big Boss and don't feed it now. Some dogs can eat and don't have problems, others - not.


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Fair enough that your dog doesn't tolerate garlic, but hopefully you can see that by putting information like this can be misleading and inaccurate. Like the comment about no seeds from apples - you are right that seeds are bad, but do you know how many? In fact it is an enormous amount, so the odd seed in a core won't do any harm to a healthy dog.

I can see you are trying to be helpful and that's great but some of your information seems to be just half-right, so maybe check some independent sources before you share?


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## wee man (Apr 8, 2012)

We never shampoo our dogs. (All Cocker Spaniels) The only bathing that they get is in the shooting season, and that is with plenty of warm water to wash out the dirt but none of their natural grease. Our dogs all live in the house with us. (They DO NOT SMELL !!!!! ) and neither do we They are fed on a species appropriate diet, (which means a raw diet) with sometimes raw fruit and vegetables.


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## O2.0 (May 23, 2018)

Rayan said:


> for example, grapes, onions, garlic are toxic for our pets.


For clarity's sake, let's not put grapes in the same category as garlic and onions.

Grapes, raisins, sultanas should *never* be fed to dogs and if a dog accidentally ingests any of these it is a veterinary emergency. 
We don't quite know the mechanism, but something in grapes is very toxic to some dogs causing acute organ failure. Some dogs will eat grapes with no issues, others won't, and you don't know until your dog is very sick or dead. Not a risk worth taking. The amount nor size of the dog doesn't seem to matter either. Some chihuahuas have eaten large amounts of grapes and been fine, some great danes have died from one grape. We just don't know, and that's what makes them so dangerous. 
Grapes are a hard no always.

Garlic is toxic in very large quantities. In smaller quantities it is actually beneficial and many of us use it as a parasite repellent. Onions in small amounts won't hurt your dog either, unless he/she has an intolerance or allergy. My own dog eats garlic and onions without issue.


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## Stephbond1989 (Aug 4, 2019)

For some reason I wasn't getting email notifications about comments on here. I was advised by breeder that grooming is essential, and a daily comb would be beneficial and a full groom once every 6 to 8 weeks. And to use thinning scissors on his fur rather than clippers.

I bathed him when he came home with puppy shampoo as he stank of puppy pee, and I'll probably bathe him once a month or so unless he gets dirty. He smells of doggy if you get your face in his fur and sniff, and when he gets wet he smells a bit but nothing major and my house doesn't "smell of dog", so I'll be sticking to my regime unless anything else changes. Surely bathing every week would strip his glossy fur of its oils?

Thanks for the advice on grapes and raisens! I did not know this!!! I'll be really careful with both! Luckily it's not really something we have at home often but my mother has lots of them as she's a Baker and she makes fruit scones so they're rife in her house, so I'll ask her to ensure they're completely out of reach from him when we visit. I wasn't aware of the danger at all!

I feed him kibble, my brother is a farmer/butcher/chef on a pork and beef farm, so he has said he will be giving me raw off cuts for him which I'll use as a supplement to his kibble diet.

I actually have a question about raw meats, can they eat raw chicken?? I know raw beef is good for them, but wasn't sure on pork and chicken as we cannot eat these raw...? Sorry if that's a really stupid question!!!


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

No such thing as a stupid question. Yes, raw chicken is fine, especially things like wings which are fabulous for teeth. A balanced raw diet is 80% muscle meat, 10% bone and 10% secreting organ but it doesn't have to be balanced in every meal as long as it includes them over a few days. Fish from the salmon and trout family should be frozen for at least 48 hours to kill off a parasite that *might* be present. Non weight bearing bones are better for crunching. I have probably missed out loads, reluctantly for practical reasons I cannot feed entirely raw.


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## wee man (Apr 8, 2012)

You are very lucky to have your brother who is a *Farmer, Butcher* and a *Chef*, on a beef and pig farm.
There will be lots of useful waste products that you can use. All raw bones from animals are perfectly safe to use, (although try to avoid the large beef weight bearing bones) and are important when feeding raw meat., they are very nutritious in many ways and the bones themselves are great for healthy teeth and gums too. Off cuts, gristle, skin and some fat are all good, remember that offal, (heart, liver, kidney, lungs, tongues, testicles ), are all part of essential goodness for our pets that we humans would not consider using ourselves. These are all good to use for our dogs; Any human grade animal meat is good to use, some people like to freeze meat and fish as a precaution against certain parasites. As mentioned above, you do not have to feed a balanced meal every day with raw.
Feeding some raw along side your kibble should work well as many people who cannot feed totally raw do this, and quiet successfully.


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## Stephbond1989 (Aug 4, 2019)

Fantastic, so you mentioned chicken wings.... But I've read dogs shouldn't eat chicken bones??? Is that a myth??

Yes I'm very lucky to have him, he's where the puppy came from, they have lots of working dogs being a farm! And that's what they're all fed alongside kibble. And they are all strapping working dogs! So it's really helpful to have him for not only brilliant raw meat for Dennis but also free raw meat as i know a raw diet can be quite pricy!!


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## lullabydream (Jun 25, 2013)

Stephbond1989 said:


> Fantastic, so you mentioned chicken wings.... But I've read dogs shouldn't eat chicken bones??? Is that a myth??


Yes and no it's all about the contexr. Raw chicken bones are fine. Cooked bones are more likely to splinter and cause a problem.

To start off raw feed, it's usually best to hold and end of say a chicken wing so your dog gets the idea of chewing rather than just biting,ripping and tearing all in all in one go. Which some dogs do, do so they need to get the idea to slow down and chew per se. Remember dogs don't chew as we do, their jaws do just go up and down


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## JoanneF (Feb 1, 2016)

Stephbond1989 said:


> dogs shouldn't eat chicken bones??? Is that a myth


It is. Raw bones, especially chicken, are soft. If you are unsure, don't feel pressurised to feed them but I think they are amazing for dental hygiene.


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## Blitz (Feb 12, 2009)

Rayan said:


> Hi!
> Normal weight for cocker spaniel puppy is 4-6 kg in this age, 3 months - 5-6 kg. Now his weight is good, but this breed like to eat very much and too much. My advice to you, feed regularly (5 meals in this age every 3-4 hours, 4 months - 4 meals, 6 months - 3 meals) and small serving size (1-2 cups of dry food, depends on the activity of your dog). Meat, pieces of vegetables and fruits, corns should be included in feeding because it keeps the dog in good health.
> And remember, please, your puppy needs to play games, caring, and attention from you. If he'll feel alone, he can have depression.
> P.S. Don't forget to wash him every week, to comb every day, and cut every month.


I cant agree with very much of this at all.

4 meals a day is ample at this age. And down to 3 fairly quickly and 2 by 6 months. As for washing every week, definitely not, no reason at all to bath him more than once or twice a year.
A working cocker can vary enormously in weight so I would not think there is any standard weight for any age. I know 2 from one litter, one is springer size and one is smaller than my miniature poodles.


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## bumbarrel (Feb 23, 2017)

I don't understand about 'cut every month' either. If it's a show Cocker you should strip coat out by hand (with the help of a comb) or have it clippered off if you want a short coat. A lot of working Cockers are clippered as they have a shorter coat anyway. 

You might need to tidy bits with scissors (the 'skirt' and behind the ears perhaps). 

My dog has never been bathed and doesn't smell but is grromed every day.


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Rayan said:


> if you have an active dog, who runs every day and lives with you, he'll smell not good after 6-8 weeks


My 3 dogs are active and run every day. One is very nearly 10 years old, she was washed once when a puppy, but not since, apart from the neck when she rolled in fox poo. The other 2 are 5 years old, and likewise have never been washed all over - though they do all swim in the river or pond a couple of times a week. There is no reason to wash a dog, they do not sweat like people do.
Edited to add; Kite was washed as a puppy because she had diarrhoea in her crate on the journey home and had got it over a lot of herself before I could find a place to pull the car over and clean her up as best I could. When we got home, it was straight in the sink.


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