All You Need to Know on How Much Should a Beagle Eat?

It’s crucial to ensure that your Beagle maintains a healthy weight throughout. But how do you keep a beagle’s weight in check? We are going to tell you the amount of food that you should give your adult or puppy Beagle. We also highlight the right food to feed it, its preferred treats and snacks, and what food you shouldn’t give. Let’s dive straight into it.

How much food is enough for a Beagle?

Dogs, like humans, have a daily caloric requirement. When you exceed this caloric threshold consistently, your dog becomes obese. The caloric requirement is dependent on the following: 

• The dog’s weight (size)
• Age
• The level of activities it engages in throughout the day. 

Adult Beagle

An adult beagle weighs between 25 and 30 pounds (11.3 and 13.6 kilograms). A larger beagle can weigh up to 35 pounds. Regardless of its size, an adult beagle needs about 45 calories per pound of weight. Therefore, this implies that the caloric requirement ranges between 1125 and 1350 calories per day for the normal-sized beagles—otherwise, 1575 calories for larger ones. 

Also, the more activities your beagle engages in, the more you’ll have to adjust its caloric intake upwards. Generally, beagles are highly energetic and active hounds. They exhibit this limitless energy during their puppyhood and part of their adulthood up until they’re about 7 years old (senior beagle). As such, they require more calories when they’re highly active and lesser quantities of food when they’re more aged (above 7 years). Senior beagles need about 42 calories per pound of their weight.

Beagle Puppy

A beagle puppy requires about 55 calories per pound of its weight. However, this is for a limited time since a beagle is assumed to have attained maturity at about 12 months. A puppy needs more calories because it aids in its growth. For this reason, counting the calories during puppyhood is pointless unless your puppy starts exhibiting signs of being overweight or underweight. What you need to focus on is the quality of food you give your puppy. We’ll expound on this later on.  

Beagle Feeding Guide

We’ve observed that deriving the number of calories from the food you give your puppy or dog is incredibly taxing. And this makes the need for a guide on the quantity of food to give your beagle, based on its weight or level of activity, vital. Provided you’re using quality dog food; the following guide should form the perfect basis. However, note that it’s only a guide, and the quantity of food you should give your beagle varies based on its temperament, environment, and activity level. 

Age	Weight Pounds (lb.)	Weight Kilograms (kg)	Daily Food Ration Normal Activity	Daily Food Ration High Activity
8 weeks – 12 months	4 – 10	2 – 4.9	85g	90g
1 – 2 years	11 – 21	5 – 9	60g	90g
2 – 3 years	22 – 26	10- 12	140g	160g
3 – 4 years	27 – 33	13 – 15	190g	230g
5 years	27 – 33	13 – 15	230g	245g
6 years	27 – 33	13 – 15	240g	250g
7 years	27 – 33	13 – 15	235g	245g
Over 7 years	27 – 33	13 – 15	230g	240g

Table 1: Daily Food Ration by Age and Weight

How often should you feed a beagle?

Giving your beagle the right quantity of food is one way of ensuring it maintains a healthy weight. The second way is limiting the number of times you feed your pet. The frequency reduces as your puppy grows older. 

Beagle Puppy

A beagle puppy’s diet during the first 4 weeks should exclusively consist of its mother’s milk. By the 4^th week, you could start introducing solid foods in a process called weaning. But you should do this incrementally by first mixing solid food (the one its mother is eating) with a higher amount of milk replacer for puppies or water. As it grows older, that is between week 4 and 6, you should reduce the amount of liquid added to the solid food. Using this strategy, your puppy will be eating a diet wholly consisting of solid food by the time it’s 6 weeks old. 

During the weaning stage, you should give the puppy between 6 and 8 meals per day, in small portions. The weaning phase ends at 8 weeks, making this the best age to get a beagle puppy. However, even as a new owner, you should continue feeding the puppy the brand its breeder used to give it during weaning up until it’s 2 months old. This is because any changes to its diet will cause stomach upsets. As such, the first thing you should do before taking your new puppy home is to ask the breeder for more information on the puppy’s diet and the food brand they have been using. 

In case you’re already a dog owner and, therefore, love a different brand from the one the puppy was used to in its former home, or you’ve heard about another brand from your friend and want to use it, you should do the following. Introduce the puppy to the new brand progressively over a period of between 2 and 4 weeks by mixing the old and new food brands. You should increase the ratio of the latter gradually every couple of days. But you should only do this once it is older than 2 months. 

A puppy beagle requires 3 meals a day when it’s between 8 weeks and 6 months old. At 6 months old, your beagle puppy will already weigh more than 50% of its adult weight. This is the time to reduce the number of times you feed it to 2. You should only give it 1 meal in the morning and 1 meal in the evening. At this age, adding water to its dry food is no longer necessary, but ensure that you avail water throughout the day. 

2 meals a day allows room for treats and snacks during training. Besides acting as positive reinforcement while training your puppy, these treats and snacks also promote growth. Notably, you can also introduce some home food in its diet once it’s more than 6 months old. 

You should only feed your beagle puppy food throughout its puppyhood (8 weeks to 12 months old).

Adult Beagle

At 12 months old, a beagle is considered an adult dog, and you should give it adult food twice a day. However, the shift from puppy to adult food should be progressive. It is recommended that you start this switch once the beagle puppy clocks 11 months because the preferred transition period is anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks.

In the formative months of its adulthood, its growth slows down gradually and finally stops once it’s 1.5 years old. An adult beagle attains its full, mature size at this age. Thereafter, you should closely monitor the number and quantity of snacks you give your beagle to avoid excessive weight gain because of too many calories.

When we say 3 or 2 times a day, we mean that you should divide the daily ration summarized in the table above by 3 or 2, respectively. 

How to choose the right food for a Beagle

As a beagle owner, you have two main choices:

• Home food: either raw or cooked food
• Manufactured food: dog food or treats/snacks

Manufactured Food

Manufactured food from a reputable brand is somewhat advantageous because it’s already prepared and has the requisite amount of nutrients. Essentially, it’s a balanced diet. But there are just a few reliable and reputable brands that produce quality food. A majority sell substandard foods that contain fillers, which have no nutritional benefits. In some cases, the fillers cause flatulence. Nonetheless, here are some pointers to consider when buying manufactured food.

• Select foods with fish oil, sunflower oil, or safflower oil. These oils keep the beagle’s fur smooth and the coat shiny. They’re also essential for maintaining high energy levels.
• Ensure that the first ingredient on the list is poultry meal, fish, or other types of whole meats. This is a testament to the fact that the food has a high protein content.
• Disregard foods that have grains in them.
• Disregard foods that don’t have natural ingredients.

There are 2 types of manufactured foods:

• Dry food: is economical and leads to cleaner teeth.
• Wet food: is suitable for puppies and dogs that don’t like drinking water.

Manufactured puppy food from a reputable manufacturer is the best for a growing puppy. Again, we reiterate that not all brands offer quality food, which is why you should ensure that what you buy conforms to the following requirements:

• It should have essential minerals such as phosphorus and calcium that aid in bone formation and reduce joint problems.
• It should have high protein content.
• It should have a high percentage of essential nutrients, e.g., carbs, vitamins, and fats.
• It should have water. This implies that you should only give your puppy wet food.

Home Food

If you still have qualms about buying manufactured food, don’t fret because you can just use homemade food following the guidelines below. However, it’s not advisable to give your puppy home food. For your adult beagle, you can either choose to cook but also know that giving it raw food is the most preferred option given the benefits such as:

• Healthier skin
• Beautiful coats 
• More energy
• Compact poop
• Better dental hygiene because the food cleans the teeth

You should clean the food before serving your beagle. Thereafter, just mix all the ingredients as follows and serve. 

Food Type	Portion per meal	Source
Fish or Meat	40%	Tuna, liver, chicken meat, kidney beans, beef, turkey, salmon, shrimp, pork, ham,
Carbohydrates	25%	Sweet potatoes, pasta, plain rice, oatmeal, corn, popcorn, bread, quinoa
Vegetables	25%	Green beans, spinach, peas, baby carrots, cauliflower, broccoli
Fruits	10%	Mango, banana, strawberries, raspberries, pear

The raw food can also include eggs, plain yogurt, honey, peanuts, cashew nuts, coconut, and cheese as extra additives. However, you should be on the lookout for any allergic reaction, and once you see any sign, you should immediately take your dog to the vet.

How to feed a beagle

You can use either scheduled feeding or free feeding.

Free Feeding

This is the method whereby your beagle has access to the food regardless of the time because you don’t take its feeding bowl away. Thus, at all times, the bowl will always contain food. This is the most preferred feeding method when your dog is between 8 weeks and 2 months old. 

Scheduled Feeding

Experts advocate for this method after your puppy attains the age of 2 months. Scheduled feeding entails having a strict feeding schedule at a specific time of day, say, at 7 am, 1 pm, and 7 pm. Alternatively, you could choose a different approach whereby you feed your beagle after a specific number of hours. Scheduling meals has several benefits among them:

• It aids in potty training given that the puppy will defecate at particular intervals
• It teaches and enhances discipline
• It helps you control the quantity of food you give it, ultimately ensuring that the dog maintains a healthy weight.

Treats and Snacks

Your puppy just turned 8 weeks old the other day, and you excitedly took it home. You also know that this is the perfect age to start basic training. Well, incorporating treats and snacks is one way of ensuring the training is effective. But you should be aware of the fact that at this tender age, you’re only required to feed the puppy wet food. Also, because beagles, however young, are particularly prone to becoming overweight, adjusting the quantity of food you give your puppy during its mealtime is one sure way of helping it maintain a healthy weight.

Once it can eat dry food, always ensure that its treats are natural and healthy. Steer clear of processed foods or snacks. Also, avoid giving it food scraps or human food while you’re eating. This will teach it that it’s perfectly okay to beg for food, and the puppy will carry this behavior throughout its life.

Besides edible treats, you could also give your puppy chewy toys, e.g., soft bones or deer antlers. They’re a great source of calcium, and they’ll keep your beagle distracted for a while. Others include toys made using tough rubber. However, you should only pick toys that too large to fit in the puppy’s mouth. This prevents swallowing or choking.

Alternatively, you could give your beagle popcorns, pieces of meat, or peanut butter that doesn’t contain xylitol. These snacks could work for your pet. But if you’re curious about what else to give your pet as a snack, you should seek approval from your vet.

What shouldn’t a beagle eat?

You shouldn’t give your beagle anything with added sugar, e.g., ice cream, candy, and confectioneries due to the resultant side effects. The processed sugar in these products will predispose your dog to diabetes, dental problems, obesity, sugar rush, and hormonal imbalance. Similarly, also avoid giving your beagle salt. What else shouldn’t you give your beagle?

• Avocadoes: They have persin (a toxin) which causes diarrhea and vomiting
• Any product containing xylitol, e.g., certain brands of peanut butter or sugarless gum. Xylitol is an unnatural sweetener that causes liver damage and lowers the blood sugar level.
• Mustard seeds
• Macadamia nuts
• Tea, chocolate, coffee, or caffeine: They affect the central nervous system, heart, kidney, and lungs. They also increase the chances of seizures and cause increased/abnormal heart rate, frequent urination, and fever.
• Cat food: It contains more proteins and fats than your beagle requires and will, therefore, make it sick.
• Walnuts
• Mushroom plants
• Garlic
• Raisin
• Apple seeds
• Alcohol
• Onions
• Cinnamon
• Almonds
• Potato and tomato leaves and stems
• Grapes
• Apricot pits

Conclusion

A healthy beagle has an insatiable craving for food and, left unchecked, it can really eat. There are numerous restrictions you can use to deal with the appetite. They include scheduling mealtimes and limiting the calories you give it. Otherwise, if you’re not careful, your beagle could become overweight, given its susceptibility to becoming obese. From its behavior, you can automatically tell that your beagle isn’t okay if it has a reduced appetite or no appetite at all.

Nonetheless, by following the guidelines we’ve summarized in this article, you’re guaranteed that your pet will always have healthy weight throughout.