How Do You Know How Much to Feed?

Zoom-boing

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Oct 30, 2008
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East Japip
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?
 
Dogs will never turn down food so don't ask them if they're full.

Our dog, a 45 pound beagle mix gets a cup of dry in the morning and half a can of canned in the late afternoon plus a few snacks during the day and whatever he can snatch off the street during our 2-mile daily walk before I can stop him.

Whatever you do, pay no no attention to the instructions on the dog food bag. They're just trying to sell you more dog food.
 
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?

i would ask the vet. that's what we did with the bunny.
 
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?

i would ask the vet. that's what we did with the bunny.


That's probably the best bet.
 
Dogs will never turn down food so don't ask them if they're full.

Our dog, a 45 pound beagle mix gets a cup of dry in the morning and half a can of canned in the late afternoon plus a few snacks during the day and whatever he can snatch off the street during our 2-mile daily walk before I can stop him.

Whatever you do, pay no no attention to the instructions on the dog food bag. They're just trying to sell you more dog food.

Oh, I know they'll eat until they explode. But when they let you know in no uncertain terms that they're still hungry is it ok to give them a bit more? Do dogs get hungrier on some days vs others, like people?

Penny has a certain 'mouthy' bark she does when she's hungry; Dio gets really bouncy-all-over-the-place when he's hungry (he's new and we're still figuring out his cues). I just fed them their evening meal a good hour before I figured they'd eat. Now they're both settled down so I can only assume they were truly hungry.
 
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?

i would ask the vet. that's what we did with the bunny.

Whenever I tell the vet how much we feed they just say 'ok'. Guess I'll have to ask them, rather than just tell them, eh? We also have a new vet so they might be more communicative . . . which is one of the reasons we have a new vet.
 
Here's another way you can look at it.

If your dog weighs 30lbs and you weigh 150lbs, he's 1/5 your size. think about how much food you eat per day and divide it by five and that will get you in the ballpark.

And don't foget that a dog's processes are alot less complex than yours.
 
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?

zoom I don't go by the recommendations on the bag.. I go by age and how active they are. You know by looking at their little bodies. my JRT got so fat he could not jump. he's getting older too, I cut his in half and he's back to jumping and he looks good.
 
We have a bowl on the kitchen floor and they eat when they feel like it. My two beagles are pretty active hunters so they don't get fat. One likes to eat at night the other in the morning. Taco, the Mexican Mouse Hound doesn't eat enough to make a sparrow fat.
 
I have never fed my dogs what was recommended on the bags.

If your dog is very active then it will need more food if not so active it will need less.

The best way to feed is to monitor your dog's weight. and get to an amount where he maintains his ideal weight at his given activity level.
 
you want your dog to be a bit on the thinner side......i have a 100 doberman i give him about 2.5 cups of kibble a day.....make sure its a good food ....and 11 am and 4 pm are real close feeding times.....
 
How do you know how much to feed a dog? Do you follow the recommendation on the side of the bag/can? For Penny, who weighs 45 lbs., the bag says to feed 3 1/4 cups/day -- I feed her 2 cups/day, which is what they recommend for a 30 lb dog. The vet always tells us she's overweight but she's nearly always weighed between 43 and 45 lbs. I had her on 1 1/2 cups/day for 6 weeks to see if her weight would reduce. She looks the same to me.

For Dio we feed him 1 cup/day but the bag says for a 20 lb dog to feed 2 1/2 cups day. It's puppy food (his last bag). Sometimes they are full on what I feed them but the past few days Dio has been hungrier so I've given him 1 1/4 cups.

They get fed around 11am and 4pm. They get a mile and half walk nearly everyday plus lots of run/chase around the yard, weather permitting. So how do you know if you are feeding them enough but not too much?

zoom I don't go by the recommendations on the bag.. I go by age and how active they are. You know by looking at their little bodies. my JRT got so fat he could not jump. he's getting older too, I cut his in half and he's back to jumping and he looks good.

See Penny isn't fat but isn't as slim as when we first got her either. She was only 10 months old then too. I cut her food back for about 6 weeks to 1 1/2 cups/day and her activity picked up quite a bit with Dio coming into the house . . . more walks and much more playing/running in general. The past week or so she's been more mouthy for food so I increased it by 1/2 cup. She just got a bath and when wet I don't really see any difference in her weight, I guess I thought I would. She's a dang furry dog though and after a bath her collar is always a bit looser due to brushing out a lot of fur . . . but it's really lose now. I guess I need to take to over to the vet to get her weighed. I was trying to shave a few pounds off of her . . . takes time I guess. How long did it take for your JRT to lose the weight?

Dio is just one year old and I can feel his hip bones (on the top of his back, near his tail); never could on Penny. He's like a sleek border collie type more so than Penny. I want him to stay that way. I thought the bag recommendations seemed high, glad I wasn't following them!
 
We have a bowl on the kitchen floor and they eat when they feel like it. My two beagles are pretty active hunters so they don't get fat. One likes to eat at night the other in the morning. Taco, the Mexican Mouse Hound doesn't eat enough to make a sparrow fat.

Dio had been free-fed by his previous owners. He wouldn't even eat the kibble when we first got him I had to mix water in to soften it. He had been fed Purina Puppy Chow (I don't know if that's softer food or not) and it took him a few weeks to realize that he had to eat when the food was there because if not he'd go hungry.

I'm not a fan of free-feeding because whatever was sitting in that bowl would be gobbled up by Penny. We learned that lesson when the cat's crunchy food was on the floor. The cat kept getting skinnier and Penny got a bit fatter! We caught her in the act and moved the cat's food.

Dio also frequently takes a small mouthful of kibble out and runs into the next room with it, drops it on the floor, pounces on it several times then eats it, then returns to the kitchen to finish his meal there. :lol: He's so funny.

Doesn't free-feeding mean random pooping too?
 
you want your dog to be a bit on the thinner side......i have a 100 doberman i give him about 2.5 cups of kibble a day.....make sure its a good food ....and 11 am and 4 pm are real close feeding times.....

What kind of food do you feed? We feed them Performatrim from PetValu. I did try a all meat kibble from a new pet store but she ended up gaining weight . . . no doubt because I gave her too much.

Penny used to eat once a day but I've switched her to twice a day since Dio came. I think 11 and 4 are close in time too. . . I'm working them towards 9am and 5 or 6pm. They just seem hungry in the mid-afternoon. Think I should just make them wait?
 
i use purina one.....chicken and rice....they do well on it.....

dogs are always hungry...hell they think every meal is their last.....o and dont think the 100 lb dog doesnt try to sneak food all the time
 
now i feed at 7 am and 7 pm......now if you want your dog to lose weight...feed it less in the am....that encourages it not to be sluggish and get out and run....if you want to slow their feeding down put a tennis ball in the bowl....i have friends who never feed but once a day.....
 
I feed my four Taste of the Wild.

Jake the BC bets 1/2 cup in AM and 1/2 cup in PM.

Same for Abbey my GSD mix.

Zip and Murph the two little terrier mixes get 1/4 cup each in AM and PM. I also feed a lot of raw things.

Don't ever follow whats written on the bag. Your dog will be an elephant.

Taste of the Wild is great food and you don't have to feed a lot of it for your dog to look good. Mine all look great.
 

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