Dogs are one of the best companions of humans, but people often forget the responsibility part. Boxers are one of the most intelligent and energetic dog breeds.
But they are also prone to some health conditions related to food. So, you need to be very careful about their food from puppyhood. This article will provide you with comprehensive information about young boxers feeding.
How much should a Boxer eat?
The food requirements of boxers vary depending on their age, sex and weight. In puppyhood (2-3 months), they need to eat four times, about 2.25-3.75 cups per day. As they grow up, they need less frequent but more food. Consider various factors to make a complete feeding schedule for your boxer.
Table of Contents
Answering the feeding requirements of a boxer in a few lines is quite a hard task to do. There are a lot of things you should know about the best ways of feeding a boxer. Moreover, no rule of thumb will help you properly feed your boxer.
The paragraph above may sound intimidating, but don’t worry. By remembering some simple facts, you can easily understand when you have to change something in their feeding style.
We will also provide all the detailed information you need about the feeding requirements of different ages of a young boxer.
Boxers are medium breeds of dogs. So, they need dog foods of medium-large puppy food at a young age. Those types of puppy food are necessary so they do not grow too fast. For large dog breeds, fast growth comes with some health complications.
Boxer puppies should stick with the puppy food for 24 months. Early shifting to adult food can cause digestive complications.
This article will primarily discuss two-week to 10-month-old boxer puppies, which is certainly the most important time for their growth.
How much should your boxer puppy eat? How to determine the amount of food your boxer puppy needs? First, let’s talk about the factors that affect the food requirements of your boxer puppy.
When determining the amount and frequency of food, the age of the boxer puppy is the first thing you should consider.
As the puppies grow up, they need more calories and nutrition to support their growth. As puppies have a faster metabolism, they need to eat more frequently than adults.
You also need to consider the weight and size of your boxer puppy. Usually, larger puppies need a bit more food. However, you should also care about obesity.
The gender of boxer puppies also determines their food amount. Male ones are slightly bigger than females, and they need more food.
The more active boxer puppy needs more food. Also, make sure your young boxer does not have too much exercise. It can be harmful to their bone health and development.
We will provide all the information about boxer puppies’ food requirements for different ages. Still, you can change the amount of food slightly depending on the factors mentioned above. Here are details about food requirements for boxer puppies.
2 to 3 week old Boxer:
2-3 week old boxers should not eat any puppy food. They should only drink their mother’s milk. Feed them their mothers milk every 6 hours. Before 2 weeks, they should drink milk every 4 hours. They can not eat puppy food before 4th week.
4 to 5 week old Boxer:
From 4 weeks, boxers puppies can eat some puppy food. But they are not mature enough to eat puppy food directly.
Mix the food with warm water and make gruel-like food. Your boxer puppy may take a few days to learn to eat the food. Slowly reduce the amount of water in the puppy’s food.
In the 4th week, feed ⅔ cup of food 4-5 times daily. Feed a little more than one cup in the fifth week.
6 to 7 week old Boxer:
From the sixth week, your boxer puppy should be able to eat dry puppy food. In the sixth week, feed 1.75 cups of large breed dry puppy food a day. Divide the amount into four parts and feed four times a day. Feed 2.25 cups of food in their seventh week.
8 to 9 week old Boxer:
After eight weeks or two months, you must feed your boxer puppy with 2 ½ cups of food. They need 288 – 397 calories daily and over two cups of puppy food to fulfill that. Increase the food a bit in the ninth week. They should eat 2.4 cups of food at that time.
10 to 11 week old Boxer:
They are growing super fast in the 10th and 11th week period. Your boxer puppy should eat 3 cups of food per day in the 10th week. You should slowly increase the amount, and in 11 weeks, the puppies should eat 3.4 cups of food.
3 month old Boxer:
3 month old boxer puppies should eat 3.75 cups of food every day. They need over 300 calories every day during that time. Divide the food into 3 parts and feed them after every 6 hours. They can eat small snacks throughout the day.
4 month old Boxer:
4 month old boxers should eat 3.5-4 cups a day. They need 489 – 567 calories a day. During that time, they are growing very fast, so you need to ensure they get high-quality puppy food every day.
5 month old Boxer:
5 month old boxer puppies should eat 4-5 cups daily. From here on, their food amount starts to get a bit stable.
6 month old Boxer:
In their sixth month, boxer puppies need 4-5.1 cups of food daily. You can slightly adjust the amount of food depending on their activity.
7 month old Boxer:
7 month old boxers should eat 4-5.2 cups of food daily. Keep track of puppies’ weight every week.
8 month old Boxer:
In the eighth month, boxer puppies food requirement stays almost the same. They need 4-5.3 cups of food daily.
9 month old Boxer:
A 9 month old boxer puppy need to eat 4-5.4 cups daily. Male puppies are slightly heavier than female ones, so they need slightly more food.
10 month old Boxer:
After ten months, boxer puppies’ growth rate slows down. So their food requirement slightly decreases but stays stable for the next months. They need 3.75 to 4.80 cups of food every day.
The table below contains important information about boxer puppies’ food, weight, and calorie requirements.
| Age | Expected dog Weight (pounds) | Recommended amount of food per day (cups) | Daily calorie intake | Feeding frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 week | 4.5 – 5.5 lbs | – | – | 4 |
| 3 week | 6 – 7 lbs | – | – | 4 |
| 4 week | 7 – 9 lbs | ⅔ cup | 253-220 | 4 |
| 5 week | 8-13 lbs | 1 ¼ cup | 253-220 | 4 |
| 6 week | 12-16 lbs | 1 ¾ cup | 253-220 | 4 |
| 7 week | 15-19 lbs | 2 ¼ cups | 253-220 | 4 |
| 8 week or 2 months | 16-20 lbs | 2 ½ cups | 288 – 397 | 3 |
| 9 week | 17-21 lbs | 2.6 cups | 288 – 397 | 3 |
| 10 week | 19-23 lbs | 3 cups | 288 – 397 | 3 |
| 11 week | 21-25 lbs | 3.4 cups | 288 – 397 | 3 |
| 12 week or 3 months | 22-26 lbs | 3.75 cups | 288 – 397 | 3 |
| 4 months | 30 – 35 lbs | 3.5-4 cups | 489 – 567 | 3 |
| 5 months | 35 – 41 lbs | 4-5 cups | 489 – 567 | 3 |
| 6 months | 41 – 48 lbs | 4-5.1 cups | 656 – 833 | 3 |
| 7 months | 48 – 55 lbs | 4-5.2 cups | 656 – 833 | 2 |
| 8 months | 50 – 57 lbs | 4-5.3 cups | 656 – 833 | 2 |
| 9 months | 52 – 61 lbs | 4-5.4 cups | 656 – 833 | 2 |
| 10 months | 55 – 63 lbs | 3.75-4.80 cups | 850 – 867 | 2 |
Are you overfeeding your Boxer or not feeding enough?
You should consistently keep track of your young boxers’ weight and size. If the boxer is over or under the safe weight and size range, you should be careful about overfeeding or underfeeding your boxer.
A slight loss or high weight than the ideal should not be a concern. But keep that in your mind.
Overfeeding is more common among dog owners.
They like to see their dog eating and happy, but it can hurt them badly. Underfeeding happens when you stick with the same amount of food, but your boxer grows up. You need to update the feeding amount with age consistently.
You can also understand by the look of your boxer. A healthy boxer should have a small curve in its belly. If you overfeed your boxer, it will get fat, and there will be no curve in its belly. Underfeeding can cause a big curve in their belly.
The effects of overfeeding or underfeeding can be dangerous for your boxer. Overfeeding will increase the risk of obesity, heart problems, arthritis, and other obesity-related diseases.
Underfeeding can cause some immediate negative effects on your boxer.
You will notice stunning growth, skin problem, low weight, and similar health issues in your boxer dog.
How frequently to feed your Boxer?
Boxers are medium-breed dogs, and they don’t have a fast metabolism. Young boxers need to eat more frequently as their metabolism is faster. As they grow up, they need to eat less frequently.
At the first eight weeks of their age, they need 4-5 time feeding. Sometimes it gets hard as they spend most of their day sleeping. You must have a strict feeding schedule to ensure your dog gets enough nutrition.
2-3 month old boxers need to eat four times a day. The amount may increase every week, but the frequency should be constant.
4-12-month-old boxers need to eat three times a day. After one year, they are about 80% of their adult size. And for one year, they need to eat two times a day. After six years of their life, they should eat one to two times a day.
Recommended feeding time:
Your boxer’s feeding time depends on your boxer’s age. If it is five months old, it will need to eat three times a day.
So, you can divide the day’s food into three parts. And feed them at about the same frequency. Four hours is the ideal frequency to feed a 2-3 month old boxer. Six hours is the ideal frequency for feeding a 4-12 month old boxer.
You can organize feeding sessions depending on your convenience. But make sure to be constant about their feeding timing and other habits.
Final thoughts
Boxers have a different energy, nutrition, and calorie requirements in different stages of their life. As a boxer owner, you should consider all the factors to determine the right amount of food. but on average the adult ones need 3.5 to 5 cups of food a day.