[Jane44]

Hi,
I have a 3 1/2 month old boxer pup. We are feeding her 3/4 c of Innova twice a day and 1/2 c extra if she goes to playtime with other dogs. She also gets frozen baby food if we crate her and lots of healthy treats. Is this enough? She weighs in at 24 lbs and very is energetic. The vet says she is perfectly healthy (she has little puppy belly) but her ribs show a little. Is this because she is growing so fast or because she needs more food?

 

[tootsie]

Hi and welcome to the forum!  
Boxers tend to be on the lean side. As long as you can't see spine or hip bones, your girl is probably very healthy. My female is 2 1/2 years old and is just now filling out to where I can't see any ribs. I guess I'll have to start cutting back a little on the treats!  
Seeing the last two ribs on a boxer is perfectly normal. You would rather have a boxer on the lean side than one on the heavier side.
Looking forward to pics of your girl, and again welcome!

 

[Diesel-and-Kira]

I free feed my two dogs. Neither one are good at standing still long enough to eat a bowl of food. So we just fill their bowls the morning, and they eat when they want. Normally they just grab a kibble, walk to the living room, and eat it on the carpet. I dont know why they just cant stay in the kitchen. lol

 

[Jane44]

Hi Tootsie,
  On Gracie you can see her ribs and she has a boney little behind but you can't really see her hip bones.  Also we have a friend who overfed her and she just threw it all up.  I will look and see if I have a side profile of her. I just want to makesure she is getting enough but not too much!  Her coat is very glossy and silky too, so she seems pretty healthy.
Jane44

 

[Cuda]

I am from the school of pups feeding themselves.    They know when they are hungry and how much to eat.   Once they reach 2 to 3 years old......if they develope a weight problem,  then regulate how much they eat.

 

[tootsie]

Jane44...Another thing you could do if you are questioning if she is eating enough is to watch her when she eats. Is she devouring her food within a few minutes? If she is then I would give her some more. If she leaves the food sitting in the bowl for 10-15 minutes, she's had enough. You can pick it up and offer her the food at the next feeding. Puppies will go through growth spurts and will need more food from time to time. You will have to be the judge to figure out is she is still hungry with the amount you are feeding. Remember that the feeding instructions on the bag are just guidelines and may need to be adjusted.  :wink:

 

[Newcastle]

As tootsie said, you want a Boxer to be on the thin side; there is research coming out now which indicates thinness in a puppy/young dog decreases risk of health problems in adults, as well.  She will go through stages where you can see every rib from across the room, and stages where it looks like her skin is hanging off of her - these are normal Boxer puppy growth phases and last usually less than two weeks.  So long as, like tootsie said, her spine and hips are not prominent, she's at a fine weight.  

I don't recommend free-feeding, for a variety of reasons, but especially in puppies because it seriously undermines both housetraining and leadership building.  Of course, my dogs would eat themselves to death, so even before I switched to raw it was never an option for me (with raw, of course, there's no way I'd leave food sitting out all day!).

 

[samsonsmom]

Welcome to the forum! Looking forward to seeing pics of your babies...You have been given some great advice and it may be helpful to also read thru the puppy section as well as the training to get a lot of good information and advice