How many times a day should a 12 week puppy poop?

[Vabulldog]

We are feeding him twice a day. I'm going to start keeping a journal but I feel like he's pooping more than I'd expect. I'd expect after meals, in the am, before bed maybe throw in a lunch and that'd be 5 tops. Am I off?

He's eating Purina Pro puppy formula.

 

[Bulldog2001]

We are feeding him twice a day? I'm going to start keeping a journal but I feel like he's pooping more than I'd expect. I'd expect after meals, in the am, before bed maybe throw in a lunch and that'd be 5 tops. Am I off?

He's eating Purina Pro puppy formula.

A puppy that age should be eating 3 times a day(breakfast, lunch and dinner).


I would recommend switching him to a better quality food as the fillers definitely make them go more(garbage in and garbage out as we say).

Some dog food brands to stay away from(as they are all fillers that causes many health issues):

-Purina
-Royal Canin
-hills
-Science diet
-vet food(all vet food avoid)
- eukanuba
-anything from grocery store

Good quality brands of dog food;

-Carna 4
-Natures Logic
-Farmina N&D-comes in puppy and adult formulas

Both Carna 4 and natures logic is for all life stages, no synthetic vitamins, all whole foods used, and they both have probiotics.


I have 3 dogs all as puppies never went more than 3 times a day, but usually they went 2 times a day as puppies except one of the big dogs had cow patty like poop and she was going 5 times in the middle of the night and more during the day, I forget exactly what the cause was but she needed a antibiotic and a probiotic then she only went 2 times a day but it was normal and the problem was solved. But I know for certain that low quality foods with fillers, that makes them go more and there is much more to pick up. Like it was piles on low quality food.
Good food made 3-4 small pieces, not a full scoop or pile.

Raw food is best if you can, even for 1 meal and the other meal is dry.

My dogs now have been on raw for over a year, and they only poop 1 time a day(for the big dogs- and it’s very minimal only a few small pieces), and the frenchie goes only 1 time every other day, not often does he go every day and it’s minimal, cause there is no fillers.


I would highly recommend getting him on a better quality food, especially as a puppy to prevent new health issues.

 

[Vabulldog]

A puppy that age should be eating 3 times a day(breakfast, lunch and dinner).


I would recommend switching him to a better quality food as the fillers definitely make them go more(garbage in and garbage out as we say).

Some dog food brands to stay away from(as they are all fillers that causes many health issues):

-Purina
-Royal Canin
-hills
-Science diet
-vet food(all vet food avoid)
- eukanuba
-anything from grocery store

Good quality brands of dog food;

-Carna 4
-Natures Logic
-Farmina N&D-comes in puppy and adult formulas

Both Carna 4 and natures logic is for all life stages, no synthetic vitamins, all whole foods used, and they both have probiotics.


I have 3 dogs all as puppies never went more than 3 times a day, but usually they went 2 times a day as puppies except one of the big dogs had cow patty like poop and she was going 5 times in the middle of the night and more during the day, I forget exactly what the cause was but she needed a antibiotic and a probiotic then she only went 2 times a day but it was normal and the problem was solved. But I know for certain that low quality foods with fillers, that makes them go more and there is much more to pick up. Like it was piles on low quality food.
Good food made 3-4 small pieces, not a full scoop or pile.

Raw food is best if you can, even for 1 meal and the other meal is dry.

My dogs now have been on raw for over a year, and they only poop 1 time a day(for the big dogs- and it’s very minimal only a few small pieces), and the frenchie goes only 1 time every other day, not often does he go every day and it’s minimal, cause there is no fillers.


I would highly recommend getting him on a better quality food, especially as a puppy to prevent new health issues.

I agree with you. I have to say I've heard of several breeders that feed food that I wouldn't. I ran into a breeder that was feeding Fenchie's Iams. Why do you think breeders feed such low quality food?

 

[Bulldog2001]

I agree with you. I have to say I've heard of several breeders that feed food that I wouldn't. I ran into a breeder that was feeding Fenchie's Iams. Why do you think breeders feed such low quality food?

I know some brands that are low quality, such as Purina and Eukanuba and Royal Canin, they give breeders a deal/highly discounted and some free food to feed the parents if they have the puppies on it to promote their food. I know that’s true for eukanuba and Royal Canin and definitely Purina.

The breeder we got our last dogs from also said that, and that was the only nutrition knowledge they had and when vets know they are on those brands they say it’s a good food cause they sell those garbage brands too to make $$.

And because of the low quality food the first 2 dogs came home on, one has allergies, they BOTH have Kidney disease(they were diagnosed at ages 5 and 6 years), they were given 6 months to live with kidney disease, but it’s now 2 years and the kidneys are still good since the switch to low phosphorus raw diet. The vet food kidney care made them way worse.

Now the older one has cancer, which her dad passed at 7 from cancer, she is almost 9 and she was diagnosed 3 months ago and only given 1 month.

So the food is literally what is keeping them healthy and treated some of the health issues!

That’s crazy but doesn’t surprise me that a breeder for Frenchies is feeding Iams, not good for the dogs health, especially puppies, that will likely cause tons of health issues.

I still highly recommended getting your pup onto a better quality food to keep him healthy.

 

[2BullyMama]

We are feeding him twice a day. I'm going to start keeping a journal but I feel like he's pooping more than I'd expect. I'd expect after meals, in the am, before bed maybe throw in a lunch and that'd be 5 tops. Am I off?

He's eating Purina Pro puppy formula.

How much at each meal are you feeding? it could be you are feeding too much.

 

[Vabulldog]

How much at each meal are you feeding? it could be you are feeding too much.

I'm feeding 1 cup at each feeding. I guess his age and weight are right on the border: https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/dogs/dry-dog-food/development-puppy-chicken-rice.

How much would you feed? He should be between 50-55lbs as an adult.

 

[Bulldog2001]

I'm feeding 1 cup at each feeding. I guess his age and weight are right on the border: https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/dogs/dry-dog-food/development-puppy-chicken-rice.

How much would you feed? He should be between 50-55lbs as an adult.

1 cup per feeding but you feed 2 meals per day?? Or do you feed 1 cup per meal 3 times a day??

I would still switch his food to a better quality, then you usually can feed less cause it’s more nutritious and not full of fillers like this Purina, and Royal Canin and Hills

 

[benny]

I'm feeding 1 cup at each feeding. I guess his age and weight are right on the border: https://www.purina.com/pro-plan/dogs/dry-dog-food/development-puppy-chicken-rice.

How much would you feed? He should be between 50-55lbs as an adult.

You seem to be feeding too much. The purina guideline says 1/2 to 1+3/4 cups per day for 12 weeks (not quite 3 months old).

What was the mature weight of the Sire and Dam?
How much does he weigh right now?
What is the consistency of his poop? (we want it to be soft and solid, like slightly dried playdough. You should be able to imagine drop kicking it and it not destroying your shoe)
Can you post some photos?

Cut it down to 3/4 cup (maybe even slightly less) per meal and see what changes you notice. It is very important not to over feed puppies, it can negatively affect their future health.

 

[Vabulldog]

I do 1 cup per meal 2x a day per the breeder. I am going to switch foods. I think I just haven't had a young puppy in a long time.

You seem to be feeding too much. The purina guideline says 1/2 to 1+3/4 cups per day for 12 weeks (not quite 3 months old).

What was the mature weight of the Sire and Dam?
How much does he weigh right now?
What is the consistency of his poop? (we want it to be soft and solid, like slightly dried playdough. You should be able to imagine drop kicking it and it not destroying your shoe)
Can you post some photos?

Cut it down to 3/4 cup (maybe even slightly less) per meal and see what changes you notice. It is very important not to over feed puppies, it can negatively affect their future health.

It's more like softserve from McDonalds and just coils as he poops. It ends up looking like a poop emoji.
Sire is 65lbs and Dam is 44lbs
He's 15lbs at 12 weeks. He'll be 13 weeks on Wed (Born 1/11/23)

 

[benny]

It's more like softserve from McDonalds and just coils as he poops. It ends up looking like a poop emoji.

You’re feeding too much. I would try reducing before switching.

Are you adding anything to the food, ever? Are you giving any treats (what kind and how many)

He’s so very young, IMO (and people I trust will certainly disagree with me here) a food change from what he came on isn’t ideal right now unless you determine the food itself to be what is causing the problem.

 

[Vabulldog]

I agree with your there. Brutus would be dealing with the food change and whatever has his stool soft in the first place. He wasn't this soft when we first got him. I've had dogs where if I got in a jam I'd be okay with picking it up and throwing it in the woods and just washing my hands when I got back home. No way I could pick this stuff up. Even in the yard I can't really use a poop bad because it gets all smeared on the grass.

 

[oscarmayer]

I agree with you. I have to say I've heard of several breeders that feed food that I wouldn't. I ran into a breeder that was feeding Fenchie's Iams. Why do you think breeders feed such low quality food?

It saves $$$ and many breeders are all about the $$$

 

[Cbrugs]

Have you tried adding pure pumpkin to his food? You can also have him tested for parasites as a lot of times, young puppies pick something up and parasites can cause soft poop.

 

[Bulldog2001]

I do 1 cup per meal 2x a day per the breeder. I am going to switch foods. I think I just haven't had a young puppy in a long time.

It's more like softserve from McDonalds and just coils as he poops. It ends up looking like a poop emoji.
Sire is 65lbs and Dam is 44lbs
He's 15lbs at 12 weeks. He'll be 13 weeks on Wed (Born 1/11/23)

Try reducing his food for a week and see how that goes. In a week, if it improves your feeding too much and should switch his food to a better quality food. If feeding less for a week and it’s not improved, I would just switch his food to a better quality food cause the food can definitely be the issue. Even if the food isn’t the issue, I would rather and recommend getting him on a better quality food that’s not fillers, cause that way you can prevent health issues that come with a low quality food such as Purina, especially as a puppy before health issues come up switching to a higher quality is better.

 

[2BullyMama]

It saves $$$ and many breeders are all about the $$$

the breeders also get package deals from the brands at a discount rate