A five-week-old puppy needs four meals a day, spaced through waking hours, alongside whatever they are still getting from their mother. Not every two to three hours around the clock — that is the newborn schedule, and this article previously gave both figures as though they were the same thing.
The short answer
Four meals a day of softened puppy food, roughly every four hours while the puppy is awake. Something like 7am, 11am, 3pm and 7pm. Overnight feeding is not needed at five weeks in a healthy, weaning puppy that is putting on weight.
Newborn puppies do need feeding every two to three hours, including overnight — but that is the first two to three weeks, and normally the mother handles it. By five weeks the stomach has grown and the gaps lengthen.
Five weeks is still weaning
This matters more than the timetable. At five weeks a puppy should still be with its mother and littermates. Weaning usually starts around three to four weeks and finishes at about seven to eight weeks, and solid food is added alongside nursing rather than replacing it overnight.
Puppies should not go to new homes at five weeks. Beyond the feeding, they are still learning bite inhibition and social behaviour from their littermates, and taking them early causes problems that show up much later. In many countries eight weeks is the legal minimum.
If you are hand-rearing an orphaned litter, or the mother is not feeding them, that is a different situation and one to manage with your vet rather than from an article — the milk replacer, the quantities and the frequency all need to be right.
A workable daily schedule
- Four meals, evenly spaced across the day.
- Puppy food, soaked in warm water to a porridge consistency. Puppies at this age cannot manage dry kibble.
- Let them nurse as well if the mother is still with them. Solid food supplements milk at this stage; it does not replace it.
- Fresh water available at all times in a shallow dish they cannot fall into.
- Weigh them regularly. Steady weight gain is the single best sign the amount is right. A puppy losing weight or failing to gain needs a vet, not more food.
From around eight weeks most puppies move to three meals a day, and to two meals somewhere between six months and a year depending on breed and size.
How much, and what kind
Quantities vary enormously between a Chihuahua and a Great Dane, so use the feeding guide on your puppy food as a starting point and adjust to the puppy in front of you. Choose a food labelled complete for growth or for all life stages, and for large breeds one formulated for large-breed puppies — growth rate matters for their joints.
Do not feed cow’s milk, and do not make up your own formula from recipes online. Both cause diarrhoea in puppies, and a five-week-old dehydrates quickly.
Signs something is wrong
- Not gaining weight, or losing it — vet the same day.
- Diarrhoea or vomiting — puppies dehydrate fast, so this is urgent rather than wait-and-see.
- Weakness, floppiness, cold to the touch, or not interested in feeding — emergency. Low blood sugar and low body temperature both move quickly in young puppies.
- Crying constantly after feeds, or a swollen belly.
This is general information, not veterinary advice. Feeding amounts depend on breed, size and health, and a five-week-old puppy has very little reserve if something goes wrong. Your vet should set the plan, particularly if you are hand-rearing.
