How many times a day should I feed a Chow Chow puppy?

This typically reduces as a puppy grows, often from around four meals a day when very young down to two meals by adulthood, following the specific food's guidance for your puppy's age.

How do I know if my Chow Chow puppy is a healthy weight?

Regular weighing alongside a body condition check — feeling for ribs that are easy to find without being visible — is more reliable than judging by eye, especially given how much a thick coat can hide early weight gain. Ask your vet if you are ever unsure.

Do Chow Chows need a large-breed puppy formula?

Chow Chows are a sturdy medium-to-large breed, so a formula suited to that size range is generally appropriate, though your vet can advise on the specific product best suited to your individual puppy.

Chow Chow puppy feeding chart: how to use one

A feeding chart on a puppy food's packaging gives a starting point based on your Chow Chow's current weight and age, but it is a starting point to adjust from, using your puppy's body condition and your vet's guidance, rather than a fixed plan to follow without checking in. Chow Chows are a sturdy, medium-large breed with a notably thick double coat, and their steady rather than rapid growth pattern is worth keeping in mind when using any chart.

How a feeding chart is meant to be used

Every puppy food's feeding guide is based on an expected weight range for a given age, but every dog is an individual, and a chart is only ever an estimate to check your puppy against, not a fixed prescription. Weigh your puppy regularly and compare their actual weight and body condition to how the chart's assumptions match up, adjusting the amount fed if your puppy is tracking notably above or below what would be expected.

Meal frequency typically reduces as a puppy grows — commonly starting around four meals a day for a very young puppy and gradually dropping to two meals a day by adulthood — and the specific food's chart usually reflects this general pattern, though the exact timing should follow the guidance for that product.

What's different about a Chow Chow

Chow Chows are a solidly built, medium-large breed, and their heavy double coat can make it harder to spot early weight gain just by looking at them, so a hands-on body condition check — feeling for ribs that are easy to find without being visible — matters more for this breed than for a short-coated dog where a growing waistline is easier to see.

The breed is not known for a rapid growth spurt in the way some working breeds are, so steady, consistent weight gain tracked over several weeks is the more useful sign of healthy development than any single reading.

When to check in with your vet

If your Chow Chow puppy seems to be gaining weight much faster or slower than the food's chart would suggest, or if you are ever unsure whether the amount you are feeding is right for your individual puppy, your vet can check their body condition properly and advise on any adjustment. This applies at any stage of growth, not just as a one-off check when a puppy first comes home.

Routine vet visits during puppyhood are a natural point to raise feeding questions too, even if nothing seems obviously wrong, since a vet weighing and assessing your puppy regularly builds up a much clearer picture of their individual growth pattern than an occasional home check alone.

Feeding kit

Things we stock that owners commonly reach for here. Nothing on this page depends on you buying one.

Beaphar Lactol Milk Replacer for Puppies

A milk replacer for newborn and orphaned puppies, and for nursing or recovering dogs

From£20.23

Choose options

Nutriment Dog Weaning Paste

A 500g frozen weaning paste for puppies, single-ingredient British chicken

£2.99

Alpha Sensitive Salmon & Rice

A salmon and rice dry food for adult dogs with sensitive digestions, made without wheat gluten, soya or dairy.

£49.00

Alpha Working Dog Maintenance Chicken

An energy-controlled chicken dry food for working dogs with lower energy needs or a tendency to put on weight.

£29.00

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Common questions

How many times a day should I feed a Chow Chow puppy?: This typically reduces as a puppy grows, often from around four meals a day when very young down to two meals by adulthood, following the specific food's guidance for your puppy's age.
How do I know if my Chow Chow puppy is a healthy weight?: Regular weighing alongside a body condition check — feeling for ribs that are easy to find without being visible — is more reliable than judging by eye, especially given how much a thick coat can hide early weight gain. Ask your vet if you are ever unsure.
Do Chow Chows need a large-breed puppy formula?: Chow Chows are a sturdy medium-to-large breed, so a formula suited to that size range is generally appropriate, though your vet can advise on the specific product best suited to your individual puppy.

Sources

Written against guidance published by UK veterinary and welfare organisations. Always confirm specifics with your own vet.

Written by Matt Garnett, who runs Giddy Pets and is a lifelong pet owner — not a vet. This is general information, not veterinary advice, and it cannot replace an examination by the vet who knows your animal. How we write these guides.