Zorro13 Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 My BC/Aussie pup has been doing very well on Canidae ALS Formula. He just reached 6 months which is when the feeding guidelines say to switch to the adult portions. The only thing I'm worried about is there is a pretty big difference between the puppy and adult portions. He's just over 30 lbs right now so he gets about 2.5 cups per day per the puppy portions. If I follow the guideline I should go down to around 1.5 cups. Is this a reasonable amount to work down to or should I split the difference and watch his weight (he's long and awkward right now!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shetlander Posted February 19, 2014 Report Share Posted February 19, 2014 That sounds reasonable, though I am not familiar with that diet. Keep a close eye on his weight and condition. What is the right amount for one dog is too little or too much for another. You really need to go by the dog in front of you. And as he matures or his activity level changes, you may need to adjust portions to keep him at a healthy, lean weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gloria Atwater Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 With any dog and any food, I prefer to just go by what I see in the dog in front of me. Within a week I'll be able to tell if a dog needs a little more or a little less and it's easy to adjust accordingly.Written directions are only a guideline. They can't take into account the myriad variables of activity level and metabolism and such. My Aussie girl and BC girl are a year apart in age and close in weight, both spayed ... but the Aussie is a couch potato and gets by on 1/2 a cup twice a day, while the busy-busy BC gets 1 cup twice a day. Double the amount, but she burns off more than her adoptive sister just by virtue of who she is. ~ Gloria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alligande Posted February 20, 2014 Report Share Posted February 20, 2014 What Gloria says... just judge the condition of your dog, if they are getting chubby cut back, my dog who is 4 eats close to 4 cups a day of quality kibble, plus extras, he just has that type of metabolism when he was a year old he was eating 5 cups a day. My late GDSx cross who weighed 68lbs lived on 1 1/2 of kibble most of her life and could still gain weight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorro13 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Just a little paranoid.... Based on everything I've read my guy is a good weight for an 8mo puppy. He's 20-21in and a hair over 36 lbs. EVERYONE that sees him though comments on how skinny he is. I tell them he is a puppy and should skinny but the final paranoia straw came when someone asked if he had some greyhound in him! So...am I starving this poor guy? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gcv-border Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Naw, I think he looks fine. My adult BC is 21" at the withers, and I try to keep him within 39-41 lbs. He was slimmer than that as a 'teenager'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sue R Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 I've had people insist Celt was "part Greyhound" when he was a younger dog. I guess they'd never seen a lean dog otherwise. And Celt's pretty classic in build, not looking a bit like a lurcher like Dan appears. I had a vet feel Celt's abdomen during an exam and exclaim that he'd never felt a dog with such "a tense, striated abdominal wall" so I did a little informal survey here and elsewhere - to find that it was common to the point of being the norm in these lean, fit dogs. I guess the vet just didn't run into too many dogs that were fed right and exercised right. Too bad I don't do the same for myself that I do for my dogs in terms of fitness and weight control... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liz P Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Why switch formulas? Wish people would stop listening to what's written on the dog food bag. So much is marketing... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Hard to tell from pictures on a rough coated dog, but at first glance he looks fine. It's not unusual for people to think fit border collies are too thin. Many of them carry little or no extra fat and score more like a sighthound (or lurcher) than many other breeds. That's why they often need the same anesthesia protocols as sighthounds do. Here's a body condition scoring chart used by vets to assess condition. http://vet.osu.edu/vmc/body-condition-scoring-chart Don't be surprised if you dog scores a little less than "ideal." Many years ago, I had a dog who was very thin, but very fit and completely healthy. I'd have had to force feed him to get him to eat any more to get to what the "ideal" weight for his size supposedly was. He was just fine as he was. As for the amount of food to feed him, as others have said go by the dog, not the recommendations on the bag. Lots of dogs are way too fat eating the recommended amount, and their people can't figure out why. Like Liz, said, it's marketing. The dog food manufacturers want to sell more dog food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maralynn Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 BC teenagers can be akward, scrawny, gangly creatures. My youngest looked anorexic when she was between the ages of 1 and 2 despite eating more food than the bag recommended. Her activity and energy level was great so I was just thankful she was rough coated and it made her look a little more filled out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gideon's girl Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 I had to increase my dogs' ration as they became adults. Both of them became so much more active than I would allow a growing puppy to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zorro13 Posted April 30, 2014 Author Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 Ok, good to know. I'm still feeding him more than the recommended amount, I just couldn't get over the greyhound comment! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentleLake Posted April 30, 2014 Report Share Posted April 30, 2014 LOL My ex-in-laws were always trying to make me feel guilty about how skinny Mirk was, especially when he was an adolescent, but really for all of his life. (ETA: I actually almost lost him once to anesthesia for a minor procedure. Fortunately, the vet never injected the full amount of anesthetic based on weight unless the dog started to wake up, which was the only thing that saved him. As it was, it took him 3 days to fully come out of it, and that was only a little more than a half dose based on weight. It's why I'm always very careful to tell vets now that they must use the sighthound protocol for my dogs.) Like I said, I'd have had to tube feed him to get him to eat more. You just could.not.make him eat more than he wanted. And treat? You'd have thought they were an insult. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patches03 Posted May 2, 2014 Report Share Posted May 2, 2014 I think he looks fine. I don't ever even look at the bags measuring guidelines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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