How much...

[desertranger]

So we have interminably discussed what to feed our dogs but how do you determine how much to feed them? Currently I feed Jin 2 cups of Kirkland kibble (the same as Diamond) and a couple of tablespoons of high quality canned food. Abby gets less since she's not as active as Jin. Jin always seems to be hungry but I can't tell if he needs more or if he's just being a foodie.

[nancy]

We feed Fergie Authority - the PetsMart brand - lamb & rice. She gets ~!3/4 cup morning and evening. Has since she was a pup. On Wednesday & Thursday evenings, she gets ~1/3 can for moist food. We decrease her kibble then. She's been doing fine for almost 14 years. And her weight has remained constant, even though she ran 5Ks with us when she was younger and does only walks now.

[Ms.DaisyDuke]

Well, I look on the back of the bag and check the recommendations. I will feed that for a little while and see if my dog needs to gain or loose more weight and adjust intake accordingly. Daisy eats less than recommended on almost all foods because she's kind of a lazy border collie. If we are doing lots of training one particular day, I will reduce the amount of kibble she gets (not usually enough though as she seems to be carrying a little bit of holiday weight again this fall). I wouldn't gauge it on how "hungry" Jin seems, but what his physical condition is...if he looks like he could gain a couple pounds, then up his food for a week or two. Some dogs just act hungry all the time and would gorge themselves if we let them!

Daisy eats 1/3 c. of kibble 2 times a day and could loose a pound or two (I feed Go! Natural now so I might have to adjust this amount or the amount of treats she's getting!), the foster dog is about the same height, but severely underweight by 10lbs, he gets 1 1/2 c. of kibble 2 times a day and still needs to put on about 5lbs. He is eating Natural Balance. Daisy is 5 and Cash is 2 but their energy levels are approximately the same. She's a low maintenance bc, but he's a high maintenance mutt!

[JohnLloydJones]

So we have interminably discussed what to feed our dogs but how do you determine how much to feed them? Currently I feed Jin 2 cups of Kirkland kibble (the same as Diamond) and a couple of tablespoons of high quality canned food. Abby gets less since she's not as active as Jin. Jin always seems to be hungry but I can't tell if he needs more or if he's just being a foodie.

Senneca gets 1 1/2 cups a day (Kirkland Lamb & Rice) and last time she was on the scale, she was 45lb -- definitely over her best weight, but she always puts on a lb or two in the summer. Rhys bach gets 3 cups a day (twice what Senneca gets) and is about perfect weight (54lb) for his size. They both get a little "topping" on their kibble -- canned food, table scraps, egg... whatever is available).

[Root Beer]

So we have interminably discussed what to feed our dogs but how do you determine how much to feed them? Currently I feed Jin 2 cups of Kirkland kibble (the same as Diamond) and a couple of tablespoons of high quality canned food. Abby gets less since she's not as active as Jin. Jin always seems to be hungry but I can't tell if he needs more or if he's just being a foodie.

 

I periodically feel my dog's ribs. If I can feel ribs, but not too much rib, then I know they are getting the right amount. If ribs are starting to feel too bony, I increase food. If I'm starting to feel less rib, then portions are made smaller for that dog.

 

Dean is the toughest to gague. His weight fluctuates based on his activity level. It's not as crazy as it used to be, but I still have to watch him carefully to make sure he doesn't get too skinny.

 

The older ones are pretty steady, but I do keep an eye on them to make sure they don't start to gain weight.

[WildFlower]

I agree with Kristine.

 

I gauge the amount of food given to Daisy based on look and feel. I should be able to feel her ribs a bit when I run my hands over them and I want to see a nice "tuck" and a "waist". She gets 1 cup of food twice a day (.75 cup kibble and .25 wet).

 

Devon is a pup, so he eats between 2.5 and 3 cups a day.

[sea4th]

You guage what amount to feed by how your dog looks, and adjust amounts accordingly. I've found --- currently feeding 12 border collies --- that the base amount I feed them is 2 c. of kibble and I adjust from there. If I notice they are becoming too thin --- burning more calories , I'll go up in increments of one quarter cup. Lean is nice though. Also, there is an age, around and maybe just past adolescence, that they look so thin, almost anorexic. Usually they grow out of it by 2 or 3 yrs. of age. That's been my experience anyway. And it's OK to allow them to be thin. It all evens out by the time they mature. (all this, provided they are healthy otherwise). At this stage, I don't try to get them "just right", but might crank up the amount I feed them, or get them on another food.

 

I have a little bit of a bitch (there's that word again), Sea, 7 yrs. old, maybe 30 lbs. soakin' wet. When she went through her adolescent anorexic stage, I was feeding this 28 lb. dog 2 1/2 to 3 c. of kibble. My mountain dog, OTOH, Juta, who weighed about 98 lbs. ate 3 1/2 to 4 c. of kibble. You need to adjust to the individual's needs.

 

As far as being a foodie --- my dogs are sharks. They'll eat anything that won't eat them first, but that's different than being hungry. If any of my dogs appeared to be always hungry and upping the ration wasn't really making that much difference, I'd probably look into a more nutrient dense food that would satisfy them in reasonable amounts.

 

I remember a logo from years ago that a dog food company had. The logo made sense. (I don't remember what the food was, but I don't think I'd feed it though) It said: "Well-fed is one thing. Well-nourished is another"

[BustopherJones]

Annie has a sensitive digestive tract, but is very active. She gets 1-1/2 cups of dry kibble (a half-and-half mix of 2 different Royal Canin prescription formulations, Intestinal HE and Hypoallergenic HP) twice per day; for the evening meal, she also gets 1/4 can of Royal Canin moist (Intestinal HE), mixed with some low-sodium beef or chicken broth blended with warm water. Her weight and structure is checked monthly by the vet (she feels Annie's spine and ribs, and adjusts the mount of food if necessary) and hovers around 35 pounds (plus or minus a pound). For treats, she gets Duck & Potato cookies.

 

Do we cheat occasionally, especially when we are having grilled steak, grilled chicken, or some other nutritious human food that we know will not upset her digestive system? NEVER!!! (Yeah, right...)

[desertranger]

Very useful. I knew about checking a dogs ribs but Jins a long lanky dog at this point so I wasn't really sure. Based on what you guys said and my own observations I could up his food a bit and could probably cut Abby's back a bit as well. Need to take them both in to be weighed.

 

Oh yeah I guess he is foodie too.

[Sam'smom]

Sam gets 1 cup of Kirkland kibble ( lamb and rice) with 1/2 a cup of cooked hamburger and rice in the morning and again in the evening occasionally some shredded cheese to spice it up.. Sam is not a food motivated dog in the slightest... have to make it interesting for him to eat... plus it has to be warmed up in the microwave for about a minute.... Sam is pretty skinny as well but he's a very active healthy dog just not food motivated.... kinda frustrating to be honest.. he weighs about 35-40 lbs

[elegy]

Steve is 13 months and he eats 3-3 1/2 cups of kibble a day depending on what I'm feeding, plus a peanut butter smeared bone when I leave for work in the morning and again after lunch break. He's skinny, but healthy skinny.

[bcnewe2]

My dogs will eat anything in sight. I feed 1/2 cup kibble in the am (Mick gets 1c) and raw in evening. I would say it's about 3/4lb raw for evening meal per dog.

I guage by feel too. The old girls have to be monitored closely as they tend to fluff up with any extra but they don't mind the monitoring as it involves loving all over them..

Jazz also claims all cereal milk, guess it's a good thing that it's skim milk.

 

My LGD's get 1lg coffee container of kibble morning and night. So I figure they're getting about 5cups each per day. They are looking skinny but they're about a year old so I think it's time for them to lean out and it's getting cold so I think I need to up the intake.

I would never feed what I"ve seen recomended on the kibble bags. I'd have chubbutts!

[Maralynn]

Another thing to take into account when feeding your dogs is the kcal per cup. It can vary from about 275/cup for some of the senior varieties to over 500/cup in a food like EVO. I've been feeding Diamond Naturals to Kipp and Kenzi the variety I have has about 340 kcal/cup. Kipp who is 30# gets 1.5 - 2 cups/day. Kenzi who is about 30# but needs to gain a bit get 2.5+ cups/day.

 

I'm trying a food with a higher kcal/cup next time - I'm looking at an Eagle Pack variety which has about 420 kcal/cup. I'll be able to feed them about 20% less volume and they'll still be getting the same calories.

[Lizmo]

2 cups of Diamond Naturals per day. With the random table scrap or raw bone thown in when avaliable.

[silhouettestable]

I feed the Kirkland Chicken & Rice. My BC's range in size from about 40-45 pounds up to 58-60. My other dogs range from around 45 pound up to 90. In general, the ones in the 55-90 pound range all get 2 cups/day (except Flurry, the largest BC, he gets 2 1/2 to 3 cups) and the smaller dogs get 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups/day. I split their food into 2 meals daily and I frequently check their body condition and adjust the food by about 1/4 to 1/2 cup as needed, depending on how much work they're doing. When they are working harder I also add extras, often cooking up broth, soups and stews for them, plus they always get leftovers when available. Mine are sled dogs so by "working" I'm talking about training runs and racing, putting in several miles/week, usually 4-6 miles on training runs (about 3-4runs/week), and 8-12 miles over 2 days on a race weekend.

 

ETA: my Flurry is also a very long, lanky dog. Even with the right amount of padding over his ribs his hind end still seems kind of boney - well-defined muscle and bone with no other padding, but if I feed him more he starts looking too heavy on the front end. With him when he's not working much he'll get one cup morning and evening, then as work increases about 1 1/4 cups morning/ 1 1/2 cups evening. When he's working hard he'll be getting a full 1 1/2 cups twice daily, or I sometimes will split it into 3 smaller feedings as during hard work I add water or broth to their food to make sure they're staying well hydrated. 1 1/2 cups of food plus the amount of water/broth I add seems like a large volume to be going into the stomach all at one time and I don't want to risk bloat (especially with a dog of his build), so I'll split it into 3 feeds.

[juliepoudrier]

You guage what amount to feed by how your dog looks, and adjust amounts accordingly. I've found --- currently feeding 12 border collies --- that the base amount I feed them is 2 c. of kibble and I adjust from there.

 

This is how I do it as well. I don't bother reading the bag because generally that would lead to overfeeding. My dogs get anywhere between 1.5 and 3 cups of kibble a day, depending on the dog. I like my dogs on the thinner side--a little ribby, as long as their hip bones aren't sticking up. All things considered, thinner is healthier and easier on hard working joints. So I just periodically run my hands over my dogs to determine who may be gaining and who needs to gain and adjust from there.

 

The pup is eating close to 3 cups a day. He looks huge (fluffy) and is a chunk when you pick him up, but his ribs are easily felt under all that fur. I adjust his food more on how much he consumes in a given period three times a day, but I won't feed him to the point of roly polyness.

 

J.

[pansmom]

Vala is just on the thin side of normal at 28.5 pounds, so she gets 2 cups of kibble + topping (wet canned food). Then in the evening at night she gets a kong stuffed with a tbsp or so of reduced fat peanut butter. I check her ribs too... she's been slowly approaching ideal, so I've been slowly reducing the amount of peanut butter .