View Full Version : How much do you feed your dog?
We have a 35# mixed breed. I would call her a small/medium sized dog.
She was recently diagnosed as hypothyroid.....which we thought was why she weighed alot, even though she didn't eat that much previously.
About 9 months ago I switched to Blue Buffalo dry food (from Purina dog chow), and about 2 weeks ago, I started giving her Blue Buffalo canned stuff or Taste of the Wild canned stuff.
She ends up getting about 1/2 cup of dry food in the a.m., and 1/2 can of food with about 1/4 cup of dry food mixed in for supper.
But now she's acting like she's starving all the time. She is on thyroid med, but we started low and need to have her tested again sometime.
She's about 5# overweight. Even though we've been feeding her less for several months, she doesn't look any different.
What bother's me is that she acts really hungry alot. She eats in the a.m. (6-7 p.m) and again around 4:p.m. Recently, she's been eating all her dry food in the a.m., which she never used to do.
Her activity hasn't changed. She's not a real active dog. Anyhow.........since she's been acting so hungry, I started wondering if we're under-feeding her. I don't think we are.
Just curious how much your dog(s) weigh and how much of what do you feed them? And how many times a day do you feed them?
Thanks!
My dog weighs 10 lbs and is 10 years old so she's less active than she used to be. She eats 1/3 cup dry in the morning and 1/3 cup dry at night. She is at her ideal weight according to the vet.
Our foxhound weighs about 75 lbs and gets fed a cup of dry food each morning and evening. A lot depends on the food itself as I deliberately buy a higher protein type. It is generic so no help with a name. Our dog also gets a treat morning and evening after our 1/2 hour walks totalling about 2.5 miles per day.
What is the weight of your dog?
My dog weighs 10 lbs and is 10 years old so she's less active than she used to be. She eats 1/3 cup dry in the morning and 1/3 cup dry at night. She is at her ideal weight according to the vet. I'm supposed to feed her between 1/2 cup and 1 cup per day total. She seemed to gain on 1 cup and was hungry on the half cups so we went to 2/3 cup and it seems perfect for her.
Tussiemussies
7-10-12, 5:23pm
Our dog is a rat terrier (she really is our little girl). She is at a good weight at 25lbs. We also feed her Blue Wilderness Formula 1/3 of the can in the PM. Then during the day she gets their wilderness chicken treats...
Some days she does seem hungry. But it isn't often. >8)
I noticed you are feeding Blue Buffalo. Blue Buffalo is not connected to Purnia co. BTW. They have several foods and it is important that you are feeding the right formula for your dog's needs. They have high protien, glueten free etc... Picking the right formula may have an effect on how hungry your dog seems.
My dog is 35-40 lbs and stout and I'm not sure if he is fat or not...he just has a very odd body shape. This is the smallest dog I've ever owned. He eats 1 cup several times a day and would eat more if I let him.
I just picked up some Taste of the Wild for my dog at the farm supply. I've heard it's really good for dogs with itchy skin and grain allergies.
I've been feeding him some soft (in a roll in the fridge) food that has lots of veggies and meat but I'm afraid it still has some grain product.
Been adding an oil to his food as well. His skin and coat are getting better but I still think the grain is giving him some problems.
He'd rather I just fed him raw ground up venison but he is always hungry and if I did that we'd never get venison in our chili.
Our pug, the closest one to your dog, is about 24 pounds and eats 480 calories a day. He eats a prepared raw diet so I don't know what the equivalent would be in dry food. You might check out this calculator and see how many calories she needs: http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-food-calculator/
Then you can see how much she's getting by doing the math on the bag/can. That's worked a lot better for us than going by what's printed on the packages -- the "one size fits all" instructions can be way off sometimes.
She could also just be like my pug, who is perpetually within an inch of dying of starvation right at your feet (or at least that's what he'd like you to believe) :)
Suzi weighs about 37#.
Maybe she sees me eating all day and thinks she's supposed to be eating all day too! :~)
I wonder if the old Purina Chow filled her up so much with grains, that she just doesn't feel full anymore?
And I guess its okay to not feed a dog, when they beg. I just want to be in tune with what she needs. I guess dogs can eat for the heck of it too, just like humans do. We used to just leave Purina dog chow out for her all the time, because she seemed to know when to stop.
I'm not sure what's factoring in to her apparent hunger..........if it has something to do with her hypothyroidism/her medication for that/the new food she's been getting. Maybe the canned stuff just tastes so good, she always wants more.
I figure if she's a bit above her ideal weight, then its okay to keep giving her the amount we are..............Meaning that just because she's whining for food, doesn't mean we have to feed her more.
I feel bad that for so many years, we fed her junk............with all that corn and other grain in it. :( We didn't know any better. But we do now.
Maybe we should feed her the same amount, but 3 times a day??
Thanks for your input!
treehugger
7-10-12, 6:14pm
My dogs are much bigger than yours and have very different metabolisms (ex-racing greyhounds), so I can't offer specific advice, but some general feeding guidelines that I have always gone by (and heard from the experts) is that you should feed a measured amount each day rather than free-feed, and you want to give them an amount that they finish within 30 minutes. Food left after that gets thrown away and is a clue you are probably feeding too much.
So, your dog eating all her food when you feed her is a good sign, not necessarily that she is being underfed. And yes, you are right that dogs learn to beg and can always appear hungry, but that is their nature. It's your job as their human to feed them just enough. Be strong. :)
That said, there of course could be medical reasons why your dog's appetite has changed. And the ingredients of the food also play a part. But if all else seems well, I would just keep measuring her food and judge the amount to give her by her weight and energy levels.
Kara
Simpler at Fifty
7-10-12, 6:50pm
Our dog weighs 15 lbs and gets 3/4 c dry food twice a day. He doesn't always eat it. When he goes to the dog park he eats both times because he runs like crazy. On the hot days last week, he would eat it once a day. He just wasn't hungry. He is a Shih Poo almost 3 yrs old and the vet says he is healthy.
...
She could also just be like my pug, who is perpetually within an inch of dying of starvation right at your feet (or at least that's what he'd like you to believe) :)
I've had literally dozens of bulldogs big and small through my house in 20 years and every one of them with only 1 exception suck up all of the food in their bowls and want more, and run around looking on the floor and in the bowls of others for more. Even the tiny little Frenchies have that piggie bulldog appetite.
The one guy who ate leisurely, unlike a bulldog at all, was a total surprise to me, I didn't know how to act with him! And in my house, he couldn't leave any food in his bowl because someone else would come along and snarf it up. He was nice and slim, but not underweight.
Our Frenchies that weigh 16 - 20 lbs eat 1.5 cups per day, half in the AM and half in the PM.
If I had a 35 lb bulldog I'd give 2 cups of dry food.
Tussiemussies
7-10-12, 8:21pm
Hi again Cathy A, we recently too sorted giving our girl the Blue Wildness Formula and she was gobbling it down every day. Now she is a little bored with it so we mix in som chicken baby food and some of her old food -- Nature's Recipewhich is not a bad brand. She is back yo gobbling it down.
general feeding guidelines that I have always gone by (and heard from the experts) is that...you want to give them an amount that they finish within 30 minutes.
Kara
You meant "30 seconds" right? Because I'm lucky if my Penny's food lasts that long.
I make Penny's food and feed her a cup in the morning and at night. I think each cup is approximately 300 calories. I also give her probably 2 peanut butter crackers (100 calories) per day. And of course the last bite or two of whatever I'm eating. Occasionally she barks at the cat's bowl so much I just cave and let her eat whatever's in that as well.
Penny is a beagle and weighs about 28-29lbs but I think she may have lost a pound or two recently.
Penny gets a 1.5-3 hour walk every day--no exceptions so I think this is skewing her natural metabolism. She would eat 5x what I give her if she wasn't stopped. She has no ability or desire to limit her eating.
PS--Ok, I know this sounds like I'm a nut who is way too wrapped up in her dog. I am. But she really is a sweet dog and I REALLY love animals.
Thanks everyone!
Its good hearing about how everyone else handles things.
What drives me crazy is when Suzi still wants more to eat, she stares at me soooooo intently! It drives me nuts! haha She stares at me intently and watches every move I make. If I have something in my hand (NOT dog food) she acts like I'm going to give something special to her and she stares at my hands. It makes me so crazy, I have to start laughing!
I tell her when she's eating that she needs to slow down and savor every morsel...........but she just gulps it down and starts staring at me. hahaha
Our cats do this to Cathy. They add sound effects like begging and crying and all kinds of noises. Imagine having all four of them sitting within two feet of us all looking at us and waiting for food at feeding time.
our pugs weigh about 35 lbs and we feed Blue Buffalo dry food. 1/2 cup morning and night. + a couple of chew treats milk bones ,etc. for the teeth. The pugs would like us to think they are always starved, I don't believe it, they are both overweight.
CathyA, have you thought about supplementing Suzi's meals with something low-calorie, like chopped or raw veggies? Sometimes I can get that trick to work with mine --- they feel more full, get some good fiber, but not too many more calories. Just a thought.
Tussiemussies
7-10-12, 9:22pm
Bunnys, I have treated my dogs the same way with 3 mile walks an did make their food at that time. Did everything for them. Loved tem all so much. We only have one left now. So you are not the only one who loves their dog to the point of wanting to make sure every single thing is right for them... :)
Puglogic.......what kind of veggies? I've tried giving her some in the past and she just chews on them and leaves them on the carpet. haha She does love butternut squash......but that's a carb.
I was thinking of making or buying some chicken stock (no salt or preservatives) and maybe that would make her feel like she was getting more without many calories?
Seems like the more I give her, the more she wants. (Hmmmm.........sounds like someone else I know.) :laff:
Puglogic.......what kind of veggies? I've tried giving her some in the past and she just chews on them and leaves them on the carpet. haha She does love butternut squash......but that's a carb.
I was thinking of making or buying some chicken stock (no salt or preservatives) and maybe that would make her feel like she was getting more without many calories?
Seems like the more I give her, the more she wants. (Hmmmm.........sounds like someone else I know.) :laff:
Green beans are the classic veg for dogs losing weight. Most dogs like them. Mine are iffy about carrots.
The biggest seller at our house is green beans cooked in a little chicken stock. But you'd have to experiment to see what Suzi likes. Ours will pick vegetables/fruits of all kinds right off the plants and eat them, including cherry tomatoes and kale and strawberries. So you can't trust my advice.
And if she won't eat it, she must not be TOO hungry, hm? :D
I also make sure mine get a lot of liquids with their meals. As they've gotten older, they've gotten almost zero tolerance for dry dog food unless there's a lot of liquid in the meal. Could be the way they eat it without even bothering to chew, I guess! (chewing is SO overrated I guess LOL)
LOL! I just don't get not chewing and enjoying your food!
She loves cherry tomatoes too. Raw green beans she just chews on and leaves a pile of it on the carpet.
Yum.....green beans cooked a bit in chicken stock. That sounds like a good idea.............if I don't eat them first! I have some green beans just coming on in the garden, so I'll give them a try!
Suzi and I thank everyone for their suggestions!
have you tried carrots? My dogs love them.
I am so impressed with how careful everyone is with measuring. I have by my own fault had chubby dogs in my past. Vet would say they are not opening the fridge by themselves. Now I feed as much as they can eat in a time period, till they walk away. Twice a day, no more fat dog, no table scraps, only IAMs. Night time one big dog never eats, next big dog will take bite.....then we have Polly the beagle mix. She had been abused and starved when we got her last winter. Vet said she had an eating disorder as a result, let her eat all she wants. Polly lays down with head in bowl to eat, till I take it away. Oh she has the makings of a chubber!
That's interesting ctg.........I have heard that about humans too.
There was a story on the news once about POWs who were starved. When they finally came home, they were obsessed with food and wanted to eat all the time.
Sometimes I wonder if babies who don't get fed when they're hungry, end up being compulsive eaters too.
Interesting!
Suzi was an orphan too........so who knows.
When we had both our dogs, I left food down all day. Our German Shepherd (only 90#) was too skinny (I bought good dog food and I made him food). He probably ate 6/7 C./day . The food was left down for him, unfortunately my black lab (120#) could walk by the dish and gain 5#. She ate maybe 1 C. / day.
catherine
7-11-12, 10:50am
When we had both our dogs, I left food down all day. Our German Shepherd (only 90#) was too skinny (I bought good dog food and I made him food). He probably ate 6/7 C./day . The food was left down for him, unfortunately my black lab (120#) could walk by the dish and gain 5#. She ate maybe 1 C. / day.
That's funny! I had the same experience with my two dogs (I didn't have them at the same time, though). Our yellow lab was SO FUSSY he would only eat Ol' Roy from Walmart, believe it or not! Gourmand he was not! And we could leave the food out and he'd just walk by, like your black lab, and he wouldn't eat it until the family sat down to eat at our table, and then we'd hear him crunching on his own food. He was SO skinny, some people probably thought we were neglecting him.
Our current dog is the opposite--she has a very healthy appetite and our kids are campaigning to get us to feed her less, because she's a bit stocky at this point. She's 67 lbs and eats a cup of dry + 1/3 can of wet food twice a day. However, we do give her treats from time to time throughout the day.
leslieann
7-11-12, 11:32am
Our dog was overweight: weighed in at 87 pounds last fall, doc says time to do something. I also got some advice about diet quality from a dog trainer and changed foods. So we moved him from (gulp) 4 cups of low quality food to 2 cups of high quality food. At the time he was also getting lots of treats because we were trying to get him over his stair phobia. So liver, turkey, stuff like that. Anyway, he lost the weight quite quickly for a dog that doesn't get too much exercise (am and pm little walks of 20 minutes, weekend big runs). He's doing well but he ALWAYS acts like it is suppertime and don't you people KNOW that this poor dog hasn't eaten in days and days, and by the way, it has to be suppertime....If I fed him based on his self report of hunger we'd be feeding continuously. He does look imploringly at the bowl and then at me, but I am hard nosed. Also we do not feel him from our plates because he'd be hanging on us continuously. He is a very food-motivated dog.
He's a Lab, by the way...if you couldn't tell from the description. Actually, there was a period where we didn't think he was getting enough food and we just started making sure the one cup measure was really full. One cup am and pm, that's what he gets now. Four years old. And what an actor!
lol leslieann!
Seems like I have to be careful whatever I do to Suzi..........because then she will expect it forever. Too bad.....'cause there are some things I'd like to let her do/have occasionally.........but she would want it forever and whine about it forever!
When I was reading up on the symptoms of hypothyroidism in dogs, the phrase "tragic expression" came up alot. I don't think she has a tragic expression........more like a desperately hopeful one when she wants something. But now I'm always saying to DH........."Suzi has her tragic expression on!" hahaha
I've never had dogs so I can't directly answer your question. But we had to put one of our cats on a diet. He was at 24 lbs and has a goal of 17. (Yes, I know. That's large. but they're big boned. His brother is 16 lbs and skinny as a rail.) Big boy is down to 20.5 lbs after a year of dieting. They share 3/4 cup of diet Iams dry and one can of friskies every night. Big Boy's always telling me how hungry he is. Every time I walk past the food bowls he's right there yelling at me about how empty they are!
At first the diet was tough on the skinny one. Pre-diet he would just eat a couple of bites every few minutes and his weight was fine. He didn't feel the need to overeat like his brother. Once the diet started he realized he needed to get his share when the food went down, or else he'd go hungry after big boy ate everything in sight. But then skinny boy would puke it up from eating too quickly. So I tried putting a bowl on top of a bookcase that only he could get to. That worked great for a couple of days. Then one day when I was at the computer I heard a loud noise and looked behind me to see the bookcase teetering back and forth precariously with big boy on top scarfing down all the food in the bowl. I guess desperate times called for desperate measures. Thankfully the skinny one's stomach seems to have gotten used to larger doses of food at one sitting.
I'd suggest weighing your pooch weekly to see if she's losing weight. Did the vet recommend that she lose weight? If he did, and she is, then yes, she's likely hungry, but as any human who has dieted knows, that's just part of the game. I'd also tell the vet that she's always hungry and see what he/she thinks. Between the medicine, her illness, and the change in diet it could be a number of things.
Dog food formulations are different and the amount that's recommended for one brand or type may not be the amount recommended for another. Whenever I change types of dry food, I always go by the chart on the bag that tells you how much to feed depending on your dog's weight. On weekends, mine get a can of Blue Buffalo in addition to their regular dry food.
My chow/retriever mix was about 10 lbs. too heavy, according to the vet. She was getting Nutro Max Senior. We didn't reduce the amount of food that she got, which was 2 cups a.m. and 2 cups p.m., but switched it to one cup Senior and one cup Nutro Max Weight Reduction formula, a.m. and p.m. She still got the canned food on the weekend in addition to her dry food. The weight came off and she did fine. Worked for us; YMMV.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.5 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions Inc. All rights reserved.