During their puppy and adult years, beagles are highly active, which results in a ravenous appetite. If left unchecked and uncontrolled, this appetite can result in your lovable pooch getting on the fatter side. For this reason, beagle owners need to ensure that they feed their furry companions correctly, so how much should you feed your beagle?
Adult beagles require 45 calories per body weight pound, with daily food intake ranging from 90 – 305 grams. Puppies need 55 calories per weight pound, with daily food intake varying from 48 – 260 grams. A beagle’s daily food requirement varies depending on age and weight.
Knowing how much you should feed your beagle is essential to their health and care. This knowledge might seem relatively straightforward, but as a beagle owner, you must be aware of all the factors when planning your feeding regime correctly. Some factors include calorie intake, the relationship between your dogs’ weight and how much food you should give them, etc.
How Much Food Should Your Beagle Be Eating?
A beagle owner learns early on that their lovable companion is a voracious eater. Many beagles will eat when bored and ask you for food even if they don’t necessarily need it. This behavior can translate into a weight problem. For this reason, as the primary caregiver, you will need to brush up on your beagle feeding knowledge to ensure that you provide them with the appropriate amount of food.
Several factors go into feeding your beagle. One of the main things is that your beagle will consume different amounts of food depending on weight, age, activity level, and the type of food you are giving them. So let’s take a closer look at each of these factors and how you can set up your feeding regime accordingly.
How Much Should Your Beagle Puppy Be Eating?
Typically beagle puppies leave their mothers and head to their forever homes around eight weeks old. Until then, they have been eating a mixture of their mother’s milk and some form of puppy food. When you take them home, they should be fully weaned and consume a healthy diet of dry puppy food.
One of the most important aspects here is to ensure that when you start feeding your puppy at home for the first time, you give them the same food they were eating at their previous home. When moving your dog, whether a puppy or adult, from one food to another, you must ensure that you do so slowly and transition them correctly. Abrupt food transitions can cause stomach issues.
Overall, puppies need to consume around 55 calories per body weight pound per day. When your puppy is between 2 – 4 months, you need to split their daily food intake between four small meals. You then reduce the amount once they are five months to three small meals a day, and by the time they are six or seven months, you should reduce this to twice a day.
Most puppy foods will have a table on the back indicating how much food you should provide according to age and weight. The following table gives you an average of what you might expect to feed, depending on age.
| Age | Food Weight in Grams |
| 2 months | 48 – 144 grams |
| 3 months | 54 – 170 grams |
| 4 months | 55 – 180 grams |
| 5 months | 100 – 183 grams |
| 6 months | 145 – 200 grams |
| 7 months | 145 – 245 grams |
| 8 months | 150 – 260 grams |
| 9 months | 195 – 290 grams |
| 10 months | 155 – 250 grams |
| 11 months | 155 – 260 grams |
| 12 months | 155 – 260 grams |
Once your puppy is over ten months, you can start transitioning them to adult food. Do this slowly so that by the time they are 12 months old, they have fully transitioned onto the adult food.
How Much Should You Feed Your Adult Beagle?
Once your beagle is past the year mark, you can now consider it an adult, and hopefully, by now, you have transitioned from puppy food to adult food. Beagles getting over an hour a day of exercise may require more food than those who exercise approximately less than an hour a day. When it comes to daily calorie intake, you should ensure that they are getting around 45 calories per body weight pound.
You can opt to feed your adult beagle its entire daily requirement in one go once a day, or you can split the daily allowance into two and feed them twice a day.
A fun way to feed your beagle would be to remove some food before splitting the meal and hide it around your house or garden for your beagle to sniff out during the day. This creative feeding technique allows your beagle to use their sense of smell and keeps them entertained. You can also take some of the food and mix it with peanut butter before placing it into a chewable puzzle toy, providing hours of entertainment for your pet.
When it comes down to how much you should be feeding your beagle daily, it will depend on their weight, activity levels, and food type. The following table provides an average of what you might expect to feed your adult beagle, depending on its weight and daily activity level.
| Weight in Pounds | Daily Food Intake – High Activity | Daily Food Intake – Normal Activity |
| 11 – 21 | 90 grams | 60 grams |
| 22 – 26 | 160 grams | 140 grams |
| 27 – 33 | 230 grams | 190 grams |
| 34 – 40 | 305 grams | 230 grams |
How Much Should You Feed Your Senior Beagle?
When your beagle is around seven years old, you can consider it a senior dog, and you should feed it accordingly. You need to provide your senior dog with food designed for their age.
Regarding calorie intake, older dogs are less active than their younger counterparts and therefore require fewer calories, approximately 42 calories per body weight pound. You can reduce the quantity of food you give them to accommodate this. Most senior foods will reduce their fat content and fillers due to the difficulty that older dogs have metabolizing these foods.
When transitioning from adult to senior feed, you should ensure that you complete this process slowly and correctly so as not to cause stomach issues in your older dog. You can gradually introduce the new food over 1 – 2 weeks.
Signs That Your Beagle Is Not Eating Correctly
There are two sides to an incorrectly fed beagle, one, they are getting too much food, or two, they are not getting enough food.
If your beagle is overeating, you will notice that they are gaining weight. You can do a quick test to see if your beagle is getting on the larger side. Feel along your beagle’s back and sides. If their spine is too padded with fat and it isn’t easy to feel, you know that your beagle is overweight.
To correct this problem, you can start by decreasing their daily food intake and increasing their daily exercise. You can also try feeding low-calorie dog food to aid weight loss.
If you are worried that your beagle is losing too much weight and is now on the skinnier side, you can try to rectify this by increasing their daily food intake by 10%. If your beagle does not start gaining weight, it would be optimal if you contacted your vet for a consult to be on the safer side.
Conclusion
How much you should feed your beagle is directly related to their age, weight, physical activity, and the food brand you are giving them. Each beagle is different, and you should treat its daily food intake accordingly. The food type you give them will also vary depending on their age. Regarding the grammage of food, puppies will vary significantly due to their age and size. Adults will have less of a difference depending on their size and activity levels.
References
https://www.petcarerx.com/article/a-diet-for-beagles/468
https://www.quora.com/How-much-should-I-feed-my-2-month-old-Beagle-Pup
