[KeriVit]

Yes, I could Google and get the opinions of vets, dog food companies and biased experts. But, I wanna know what real people with real pets, hopefully healthy, do.

My dogs are not fat but on the cusp overweight. I try not to overfeed. But, I'm not sure a good routine. And what I should look for in food.

I feed the good food, not stuff filled with ash.

Any thoughts?

[davesimondotcom]

We feed our 80(ish) pound black Labrador twice a day. One cup each time, good food - Science Diet Large Breed 7+ Senior. She is 10.

She gets ZERO "people food."

She does get pressed rawhide bones to chew and lots, and lots of love. (It is possible to love your pets without being a sucker who gives in to begging!)

[Railroader]

We use Iams Large Breed dog food for our lab/greyhound mix.

Feed him a little over a cup a couple times a day. If we are at the beach or playing vigorously we will feed him a third meal of about a cup.

I usually feed him at my breakfast and dinner. It helps keep him from being occupied with us while we eat as well.

[KeriVit]

Originally Posted by davesimondotcom

We feed our 80(ish) pound black Labrador twice a day. One cup each time, good food - Science Diet Large Breed 7+ Senior. She is 10.

That's just it, Science Diet recommends 3+ cups a day of that food for that size.

[Sealobo]

Twice a day. Always feed at regular time pattern.

If s/he wouldn't eat, either s/he's unhappy, mad at you or s/he's sick.

[JohnM15141]

I second that! Two times a day and no people food! I feed my dog at 6am and 6pm. He wants more but none of his ribs are showing so he's getting enough. I can barely see one rib, if I see 2 I increase, if I see none I decrease a teeny bit.

Originally Posted by KeriVit

Yes, I could Google and get the opinions of vets, dog food companies and biased experts. But, I wanna know what real people with real pets, hopefully healthy, do.

My dogs are not fat but on the cusp overweight. I try not to overfeed. But, I'm not sure a good routine. And what I should look for in food.

I feed the good food, not stuff filled with ash.

Any thoughts?

[KeriVit]

They always eat when I feed them. I should be more regular about their evening meal because my schedule varies.

But my larger dog, around 50 lb. is completely food-motivated, it's what she lives for and will get into anything while I'm out.

BTW,
Tyler is 11 yo Cairn Terrier 23 lbs.
Blue is 9.5 yo Chow-lab mix 50 lbs.

[Dork.]

We do give our dogs people food on occasion, but rarely. They get two meals a day.

Don't go with what the bag says, they always overestimate meal sizes. Keeping your dog at the proper weight is the best thing you can do to prolong its' life. You should not be able to see their ribs, but you should be able to feel them.

[jay3ld]

I fill my dog dish when needed and water once a day.. and When ever we sit down to eat the dog does to and goes to eat.. even though he wasn't trained to do that.. But he got it from the pound when they feed them at certain times.
He gets lots of "people food" and treats.. And Bones every 3-5 nights when we have Steaks.. He also Gets Dog Biscuts after he plays hide and go seek (he doesn't do hide well but loves to play seek) or speaks (after I say something in german or spanish and he responds right [trilingual dog]).
We spoil our Mut and most likely never will stop.. It all pays back.. Slap me on the shoulder and hes after you with threating barks and poised for attack. (plus if I say one word hes going to take you down next move you make trowards me)..

btw. Some dogs are like people and built skinny so they have naturaly show their ribs.

[houstonmacbro]

1. whenever the bowl is empty

this sounds strange, but my dog is a plate watcher. she will not eat her food until my plate is finished and in the dishwasher. sometimes she does not eat for several (of my) meals. so ... when she is hungry enough, she will clean her bowl. i then refill it at my next meal.

btw, she eats nutro lamb & rice with 2 biscuits (sensitive stomach) per day as a treat.

[mydog8mymac]

Nutro = brand of food.
Twice a day.
At 25-45 minute walk everyday — weather permitting.

[Millennium]

It largely depends on how big and how old the dog is.

6.5lb Papillon, Nutro MAX Puppy, twice daily. 1/2 cup in the morning, 1/4 cup in the evening. Walks are short by human standards (probably not so much for a dog this small), but we also have a long hallway that sees many games of indoor Fetch.

In retrospect, I've been noticing that since we got this dog, my standards for reasonable dog sizes see to be getting smaller. A Papillon now seems like a perfectly reasonably-sized dog, a Sheltie is a big dog, and a standard poodle isn't a dog at all: it's a small polar bear.

[davesimondotcom]

My parents just leave a huge bowl full of food and their Lab eats whenever she's hungry. If I did that with Chinook, she'd eat until she exploded.

All dogs are different. You just have to experiment until you find the right amount for yours. Like the fact that we feed ours less than the recommended, slightly. I went back and measured the actual scoop we use, and it's 1.5 cups, so we give her 3 cups total.

Science Diet recommends 3 1/3-4 cups for her size in that food. But, being older and less active, and prone to easy weight gain, I think this is just perfect for her.

[Cody Dawg]

High protein diets in dogs is not good. Neither is corn.

Buy a rice-based food.

I think Wellness is the best dog food out there.

Just follow manufacturers recommendations.

Dogs really love snacks like whole carrots, apples, etc., and vegetable matter (not corn though) is really good for them. The other thing that is great is buying marrow bones from the grocery store, baking them in sealed aluminum foil for about an hour (just wrap them up inside in a sort of tinfoil envelope and bake) then take them and put them right into the freezer and freeze them. The marrow is baked and then hardens in the freezer and dogs will chew on them for hours - take out one at a time from the freezer and give them as treats.

Treats or snacks are better for dogs than overfeeding.

[rickey939]

Twice a day....

Dog Chow.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by Sealobo

If s/he wouldn't eat, either s/he's unhappy, mad at you or s/he's sick.

Not necessarily. Some dogs won't eat hard food, for whatever reason. Some won't eat anything other than what they're used to.

ON TOPIC: Twice a day. Water all throughout the day as she wants it.

OFF-TOPIC, looking for suggestions:

My dog (we rescued her) wouldn't eat hard food even though she hadn't eaten in who knows how long when we got her. Would only eat out of a can, and solid when it was thoroughly mixed with canned. Once we got her healthy again, I tried to take the canned stuff away. No dice. She went as much as 7 days without eating anything rather than eat the fresh bowl of Purina One (or Kibbles+Bits, or Science Diet) in front of her. She was hungry, sure, but didn't budge away from canned. The vet suggested we try to wean her, but I'm not sure what he'll suggest next time. Any ideas?

The whole thing about "they won't starve" is bunk, at least for this dog. She's a bright one (coon hound, black and tan) but her eating habits are worrying me.

[Millennium]

Two questions:

1) Do you typically heat up the canned food, or do you serve it cold?
2) Have you tried moistening the kibble?

I ask the first question because some dogs seem to prefer warm food. I'm not necessarily saying you should do this every day for the rest of the dog's life, but it may be useful to experiment and see what the dog likes. Once you know this, you can start gently introducing the dog to the type of eating habits you'd prefer.

I ask the second question because I'm forced to wonder if something is wrong with the dog's mouth or teeth. It's possible that eating kibble is actually painful for the dog, in which case it would make sense for the dog to avoid it. You might want to have the vet examine her just to be sure.

[finboy]

Originally Posted by Millennium

Two questions:

1) Do you typically heat up the canned food, or do you serve it cold?
2) Have you tried moistening the kibble?

I ask the first question because some dogs seem to prefer warm food. I'm not necessarily saying you should do this every day for the rest of the dog's life, but it may be useful to experiment and see what the dog likes. Once you know this, you can start gently introducing the dog to the type of eating habits you'd prefer.

I ask the second question because I'm forced to wonder if something is wrong with the dog's mouth or teeth. It's possible that eating kibble is actually painful for the dog, in which case it would make sense for the dog to avoid it. You might want to have the vet examine her just to be sure.

Thanks for the response. I didn't mean to highjack the thread, but I'm at my wit's end.

No to the first one -- I serve it room temperature. Haven't tried heating it yet, but room temp/outside temp has been pretty high down here.

With 2, that's one of the first things we checked, when we picked her up. She likes to chew on bones and stuff, and anything else I leave in the yard by accident. Vet says she looks OK teeth-wise. It has gotten wet before (from drizzle), though, and she still won't touch it.

She's started eating some of the kibble's and bits during the day, this week. I'm not sure why. I just hope that when I find the right combination, it isn't some weird brand.

[PER3]

Originally Posted by finboy

Thanks for the response. I didn't mean to highjack the thread, but I'm at my wit's end.

No to the first one -- I serve it room temperature. Haven't tried heating it yet, but room temp/outside temp has been pretty high down here.

With 2, that's one of the first things we checked, when we picked her up. She likes to chew on bones and stuff, and anything else I leave in the yard by accident. Vet says she looks OK teeth-wise. It has gotten wet before (from drizzle), though, and she still won't touch it.

She's started eating some of the kibble's and bits during the day, this week. I'm not sure why. I just hope that when I find the right combination, it isn't some weird brand.

What about pouring some boiling water on the dried food to soften it up and release the flavours, and then letting it cool?

[PER3]

Originally Posted by Millennium

...but we also have a long hallway that sees many games of indoor Fetch.

Maybe the OP is playing online Fetch.

[Rumor]

This is Lupine.

She's roughly 140lbs. Since she was a pup, she has had her food in a big container and she can eat when she's hungry. She goes through about 35 - 40lbs a month and is now reaching 11 years old. Currently she is being fed Canidae.

I highly suggest reading the ingredients in your dog food. The first five make up about 95% of the food. Dogs typically do not digest corn, wheat and soy very well. They also can have an allergic reaction to it. You'll notice a lot of dog foods use mostly corn, as it is a cheap filler.

Also look at what kind of meat it is. You either want something like chicken meal or whole chicken, or beef, lamb etc. I highly suggest against buying any food that says meat meal, as the meat is not identified.

[Nicko]

Our dog is really quite spoilt. She usually gets lean hamburger or minced chicken breast (sometimes salmon) with rice and steamed broccoli/carrots, topped with a special dog oil for her skin and/or a bit of extra virgin olive oil.

She is a miniature Chihuahua ~5 pounds. Now over 11 years old.

She also has to eat at least 3 times a day because she has hypoglycemia – her body is so small that its easy for her body to run out of sugar in her blood because she processes it so fast. If her levels drop too low she’ll have a seizure.

Still, she is the cutest dog in the world I wager.


Oh yea, she also eats science diet, which seems pretty good.

[KeriVit]

My dogs only get dry, but I had one a while back that was getting older and the doc really preferred her on dry, we weaned her by adding a little rice and oil. (His suggestion) The rice we'd make in a batch and keep it in the fridge at dinner time, we'd add some, enough olive oil to moisten and zap it for 15 seconds. She loved it and live to 19.