St Bernard dogs are originally guard dogs, who grow quite large in size. So you will have to pay a good deal of attention in order to ensure that they are sufficiently fed. Otherwise, your dog may not grow up to its full potential and lack energy to do the task they are born to do.
So in this article, we will help you understand how much your St Bernard should eat. Furthermore, you will learn about their body size by age, and how much food they will need during each age in order to maintain their regular activities efficiently.
How much should a St Bernard eat?
The amount of food that your bernard should eat depends on its age, weight, and level of activities. Note that you should serve puppies food more frequently than adults. An adult male st bernard is quite large in size and should eat 5 to 6 cups of food everyday, divided into two meals.
Table of Contents
The amount of food that you should feed your st bernard largely depends on the age, gender, body size, and level of physical activities that they are engaged with. In order to ensure that your dog is well-fed, and not overfed or underfed, you will have to keep a thorough knowledge of how much your st bernard should eat at different ages.
An average adult st bernard can grow as large as 115 pounds. So you can tell that they are among the larger breeds of dogs.
It is generally very easy to overfeed or underfeed your st bernard dog. You should provide your young st bernard puppies with half to one cup of food everyday. But divided them into small portions as puppies cannot eat large portions at once, and get hungry rather frequently.
On the other hand, as your st bernard gets older, you can reduce the frequency at which you will provide food. Instead, you can provide them food in larger portions as they will be able to indulge in more food than they were able to when they were puppies.
2 to 3 week old St Bernard:
Your 2 to 3 week old st bernard should eat rather frequently. Make sure that you are providing them with 5 to 6 meals a day. However, since they are pretty young, you should not provide them larger portions yet.
Instead, serve them small portions of food. Overall, they should not eat more than half a cup to one cup of food everyday. If you feed them any more than that on a regular basis, your dog may get obese.
4 to 5 week old St Bernard:
when your st bernard is 4 to 5 weeks old, they will need about 2 cups of food per day. But you should not offer this much food at once, instead, spread it over a number of meals.
Several meals a day will keep your st bernard pretty content. They will be able to eat as many as six meal a day, containing about 2 cups of food.
6 to 7 week old St Bernard:
During 6 to 7 weeks of age, your puppy will need about two and a half cups of food everyday. But you should not allow them this food in large portions at once. Instead, offer them about five meals a day in order to keep them on a well nourished diet.
8 to 9 week old St Bernard:
When your dog grows to 8 to 9 weeks, you can offer them two and half cups of meal to three cups a day. This will keep them well fed throughout the day. But make sure to spread this food over a few meals a day.
10 to 11 week old St Bernard:
a 10 to 11 week old st bernard should eat about three cups of meals a day. By this age, your dog will have grown pretty big. They are supposed to weigh about 20 to 40 weeks. You should provide them four to five meals a day. This will suffice.
They have a great appetite at this age. So if you provide them any more than three cups a day, they will happily eat it. But you should be careful because that might overfeed your dog.
3 month old St Bernard:
Your 3-month old st bernard will have grown quite large by this age. They are supposed to need about 950 calories everyday. In order to ensure that your dog is well-fed, you should provide them about four to five meals a day. Overall, these dogs need about three to four cups of food everyday.
4 month old St Bernard:
A 4-month old st bernard is pretty large in size. They weigh between 45 to 65 pounds, so you will need to feed them accordingly. These dogs need about 940 calories of intake everyday.
In order to ensure that they are well-fed, make sure that you provide them at least four meals a day. The 4-month old st bernard will need about 3 to 4 cups of meals everyday.
5 month old St Bernard:
A 5-month old st bernard will need three to four cups of food everyday in order to live a happy and active life. However, you should feed them in smaller portions and spread their food into three meals a day.
6 month old St Bernard:
A 6-month old st bernard will need to eat a balanced diet because their bodies are still developing. In order to make sure that they are growing properly and living an active life, you should offer them proper nutrition.
The ideal amount of food for them would be 4 cups a day. Spread this into three meals a day, ideally as breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
7 month old St Bernard:
A 7 month old st bernard should eat 4 cups a day in order to stay nourished. Make sure to offer them three meals a day. They need about 1240 calories per day, so you should plan each meal accordingly. Offer their food in the form of lunch, breakfast and dinner in order to keep them well-fed throughout the day.
8 month old St Bernard:
An 8-month old st bernard will need to eat at least 1380 calories everyday. In order to maintain this, you will need to offer them about 2 to 3 meals a day. Make sure that you are offering them at least three cups of food everyday.
9 month old St Bernard:
9-month old st bernard needs to eat 5 to 6 cups of food everyday, spread across two meals a day. In order to help them reach their potential in terms of physical activities and body growth, this amount of food is necessary.
10 month old St Bernard:
10 month old st bernard should eat five to six cup of food everyday as well, ideally spread across two big meals.
St Bernard feeding chart:
| Age | Expected dog Weight (pounds) | Recommended amount of food per day (cups) | Daily calorie intake | Feeding frequency |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 week | 4 to 8 | ½ to 1 cup | 152 | 5-6 |
| 3 week | 4 to 8 | ½ to 1 cup | 152 | 5-6 |
| 4 week | 10 to 20 | 2 cups | 303 | 5-6 |
| 5 week | 10 to 20 | 2 cups | 303 | 5-6 |
| 6 week | 15 to 25 | 2 ½ cups | 413 | 5 |
| 7 week | 15 to 25 | 2 ½ cups | 413 | 5 |
| 8 week or 2 month | 15 to 35 | 2 ½ to 3 cups | 475 | 5 |
| 9 week | 20 to 40 | 2 ½ to 3 cups | 514 | 5 |
| 10 week | 20 to 40 | 3 cups | 514 | 4-5 |
| 11 week | 20 to 40 | 3 cups | 514 | 4-5 |
| 12 week or 3 month | 20 to 40 | 3 cups | 514 | 4-5 |
| 4 month | 45 to 65 | 3-4 cups | 941 | 4 |
| 5 month | 45 to 65 | 3-4 cups | 941 | 3 |
| 6 month | 55 to 80 | 4 cups | 1092 | 3 |
| 7 month | 65 to 90 | 4 cups | 1241 | 2-3 |
| 8 month | 75 to 100 | 4-5 cups | 1380 | 2-3 |
| 9 month | 85 to 110 | 5-6 cups | 1518 | 2 |
| 10 month | 90 to 115 | 5-6 cups | 1582 | 2 |
Are you overfeeding your St Bernard or not feeding enough?
It is very easy to overfeed or underfeed your st bernard. You will have to pay careful attention to how much food you are giving to your st bernard in order to ensure a good health for them. If you overfeed them, then there will be a few symptoms that will indicate that you should control their portion.
When you overfeed a st bernard, they will have loose motion at the end of the day. Particularly during the night, they will show symptoms such as diarrhea.
On the other hand, if your st bernard is not being fed enough, it will show signs of weakness. You will start to notice that the st bernard is not as active as it used to be when you begin to feed them less than the prescribed amount for their age. In order to ensure that your dog is healthy and active, you should ensure that they are being fed the right amount.
How frequently to feed your St Bernard?
The frequency at which you should feed your st bernard varies according to age. You will have to pay close attention to their physical activities as well in order to understand how often you should feed them.
It is recommended that you feed a puppy at least five to six times a day. This will make them content. Young puppies cannot eat much at one go, so they need multiple servings in order to meet their hunger properly. So you should feed them after every couple of hours.
As for the adult dogs, you will not have to feed them as frequently. If you feed your adult dogs only twice or thrice a day, it will be good enough.
Recommended feeding time:
The recommended feeding time mostly depends on the age and feeding frequency of the dog. If you are feeding a young puppy, and they need to be fed quite frequently, then we would suggest you feed them after every couple of hours.
On the other hand, adult dogs, who need three meals a day, should be fed during breakfast, lunch, and dinner. These would be the ideal time to feed you st bernards.
Final thoughts
How much a st bernard should eat mainly depends on the age, gender, body size, and physical activities of the dog. Since they are among the larger breeds of dogs, make sure to provide them significantly larger portions of meal everyday. An adult st bernard should eat 5 to 6 cups of food everyday.