breeder is asking me to feed my GSD pup 3 times a day (every 6 hours), of 50 grams royal canine each meal?

They should be on four meals a day up to about 12 weeks and then three meals a day to approx 5 / 6 months and then two a day for life.

As for the vet knowing best, when it comes to nutrition I don't agree. They learn about nutrition for a maximum of two days out of their whole course, although in this case I agree.

At 8 weeks old I always fed my pups 3 times a day. Aprroximate times are: 7am---1-2pm---and last meal at about 8pm.

At about 5-6 months old I cut down to 2 meals a day of equal size or a smaller one in the morning depending on the dog and what suits it best and for some dogs they prefer just one meal a day as they mature. Not all dogs are the same and not all routines suit all dogs.

I would stick with what your pups breeder advises because that is what your pup has been used to.

As he grows, you can "gradually" make any changes if you feel the need to.

I would side on the vet also. Sometimes when starting pups off directly from mom and the other pups they sometimes have a little bit of a time adjusting to their new surroundings and stress out slightly. Your vet will know by the look and feel, of the pup and will go by what they think is best for the pup at this age.

It may be easier to feed a pup a little less more often - it is a little less stressful to feed smaller amounts at a time especially on the very young and the very elder dogs to their digestive system. As the dog matures you may be asked to go down to three times, then twice a day.

Just my experience

Your vet. Your breeder may know the breed's standards and appearances, but the vet knows more about your dog's health. If your vet is instructing feeding at every 4 hours, likely your pup is either incredibly young, or they are very skinny.

this is how i fed my dogs up until they were adults

8-12 weeks old 4x a day

12-6 months old 3x a day

6 months + 2x a day

I listen to Breeder…

My source… friends with Breeders...

● "Breeder is asking me to feed my GSD pup 3 times a day (every 6 hours), of 50 grams royal canine each meal"

That's NOT your QUESTION, [Shailaja] - it doesn't even ASK us anything. Your question is "To whom should I listen, breeder or vet?".

And there are more than 18 hours in a day. A wee pup SHOULD be fed no further apart than every 9 hours, but if it's hungry, a fourth meal can be supplied, thus bringing the interval down to about 6 or 7 hours.

Unless you have a pup tinier than a runt Chihuahua, I would NOT regard 50 grams of ANYTHING an adequate meal for a pup old enough to leave its dam & breeder - 150gms a day is barely a third the weight of a pound of butter!

● "but the vet told me to feed him 50 pallets every 4 hours... whom do i listen to?"

The vet did NOT tell you to feed him "pallets". These are pallets: https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=pallet&source=ln...

I imagine that he said "pellets" - which I imagine is how Royal Canin and other kibbles are presented. But you give us NO clue as to WHY he said "pellets". Before we can give advice between the 2 sources you list, we would need to know:

#1: WHY the vet said "pellets", and what KIND of "pellets". (I certainly would NOT feed rabbit pellets to my pups!)

#2: WHO the breeder is, how healthy & successful his/her previously-sold pups have been as they grew up.

I have been too busy to follow your deluge of questions, but recollect that you were looking at the "trash" end of the market - con-artists who cross-bred and claimed unlikely parents for their litters. No WAY should you take the advice of THAT sort of so-called "breeder"!

I wonder how long before you get the sense to TAKE MY ADVICE to ask your questions in groups that are dedicated to the TYPE of dog you think you have.... By asking there, the SAME people get to see each question & its answers, and you soon work out which of them KNOW what they're talking about, which are just reporting old wives' tales. And unlike in Y!A, groups have Moderators who evict the idiots and ratbags who insist on posting rubbish instead of "advice".

Of the 6 answers so far, only one was written by someone I recognise as a breeder. But I don't recollect you looking at Rottweiler pups.

I've previously directed you to the Diet_Sheet linked to from http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD_Source/... Why aren't you using IT? I've raised over 300 pups that way. If you can't afford to feed that way, you can't afford to have a dog - end of story. Feeding my Bea has cost me $660 so far this year, so my feed bill by the end of 2014 will be about $1500 if she doesn't get pregnant, more if she does.

Wake up, [Shailaja]. There is NO POINT in asking questions without supplying explanations as to WHY you need to ask them, and supplying all the details that intelligent readers need before they can answer.

And Y!A is NOT suitable for posting follow-up messages in - most people answer then never return - life is too short to keep returning to a question. When we had voting, many people would come back to vote - but by then it was too late for them to read-&-respond-to any follow-up information the Asker later supplied.

Regardless of your pup's breed, the first group below is RELEVANT.

If you have a GSD, or a GSD-crossbreed that looks-&-behaves mostly like a GSD, the second group is RELEVANT. But if you've got something very different, search for groups dedicated to what your pet is by clicking https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/search?query=dogs%20l... then typing the breed's name into the search field that says [dogs lovers].

Add

http://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/The_GSD/Source/

to your browser, so that you can easily look up all sorts of information about dogs, especially GSDs.

To discuss GSDs, join some groups such as

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/GSD_Friendly/i...

The people in them KNOW about GSDs. Plus you can include actual photos in your posts.

King Les The Lofty - first pup in 1950; GSD breeder & trainer as of 1968