Feeding a Maltese puppy with hypoglycaemia risk

Maltese puppies and hypoglycaemia — this is genuinely important to get right, and I'm glad you're thinking about it at four months. Toy breeds like Maltese have so little body mass that their blood sugar can drop frighteningly fast if meals are too far apart or the food isn't energy-dense enough. The good news is that with the right food and feeding schedule, it's very manageable. Can you tell me what you're currently feeding, how many times a day, and whether you've noticed any wobbliness, lethargy, or shivering between meals?

That wobbliness and sudden sleepiness is a classic low blood sugar episode — your instincts are right to be concerned. The supermarket kibble is almost certainly the problem. Own-brand foods tend to be lower in fat and protein, which means they burn through quickly and don't sustain blood sugar between meals. At 1.2kg and four months, she's right in the highest-risk window for this. Before we even talk food, I'd move to four meals a day immediately — roughly every four to five hours while she's awake. That alone will make a big difference. On the food side, you need something specifically formulated for small and toy breeds, with higher energy density and a better fat-to-carb balance. Can I ask — is she happy eating dry kibble, or would she accept wet food too?

Mixing in a little wet food is actually a great idea for a dog in her situation — it slows eating slightly and adds moisture, but more importantly it makes the meal more palatable so she reliably finishes it. An empty bowl is your best friend with a hypoglycaemia-prone puppy. My clear recommendation here is Royal Canin Maltese Puppy. It sounds niche, but it's genuinely breed-specific in a meaningful way — the kibble shape is designed for the Maltese jaw, but more relevantly for you, the formula is energy-dense and balanced specifically for toy breed metabolism. It sustains blood sugar far more steadily than a generic puppy food. Feed it four times a day — breakfast, mid-morning, early afternoon, and early evening — and keep a small pot of honey in the house. If she goes wobbly again before you've switched foods, a tiny amount of honey on her gums will bring her round quickly while you call your vet. She should stabilise well once you're on the right food and schedule.

The Royal Canin Maltese Puppy bag has a feeding guide based on adult target weight — for a Maltese she'll likely be around 3–4kg fully grown, so use that column and divide the daily amount across four meals rather than three. At her current weight you're probably looking at around 25–30g total per day in dry food, so roughly 7g per meal, which sounds tiny but is right for her size. If you're adding a teaspoon of wet food to each meal, reduce the dry slightly so you're not overfeeding overall. Weigh the kibble for the first week or two — it becomes second nature quickly and it's genuinely the most effective way to keep her stable. And if the wobbly episodes continue even after switching and going to four meals, do get her checked by a vet, as occasionally there's an underlying cause beyond just feeding frequency.

That's exactly the right call — you're going to see a real difference quickly. Transition gradually over about five days if you can, mixing increasing amounts of the new food with the old to avoid any tummy upset, even though the old food isn't ideal. Keep a close eye on her energy levels in the afternoons specifically, as that tends to be when the gap between meals catches up with small puppies. You're clearly very attentive to her, and that matters enormously with a breed like this. She's lucky to have you looking out for her.