Over Eating Doodle Pup

[sdrudge]

Ok Beau is a little over a year and eats about 4 cups a day. Cacao is under 50lbs and eats 2 1/2 to 3 cups of food a day. Beau just had his vet appointment a few weeks ago and the vet said he was in Great shape. Cacao doesn't go in till Feb. But i thought I feed Cacao more then a cup of food when she was a puppy. But that seems like forever ago. I would say talk to your vet and see if they have any ideas.

[Linn]

Chance is a piggy puppy too. At first I was trying to feed him the recommendation from the bag, but he was always barking for more food so after getting advice from the forum I upped his intake to about 5 - 6 cups a day. Now at almost 7 months old, he's down to 4 cups, spread over 2 meals, which is still slightly more than the California Natural bag suggests. I'm trying to cut back slightly again to see if he notices. He eats at 6 am and 4 pm, gets a peanut butter kong when I leave for work at 7:45, and sometimes an extra 3/4 cup in the evening if he's really hungry. He's about 55 lbs now. Knowing your baby is a growing girl, my advice would be to try feeding her more and she if that makes a difference. Once her growing slows down around 6 months or so, you can cut back again.

Oh, and I also used to separate Chance and Davy by puppy gate when it was meal times. Now I still put their bowls on opposite sides of the kitchen, but no gate is necessary. They usually finish about the same time, and neither tries to move in on the other one's dish unless he walks away. Hope this helps!

[deepnite10]

some of you are so luckyt..Toby is so picky that sometimes i have
to get down on my hands and knee s and beg for him to eat..

this past Thanksgiving he did eat better though since i cut up some
prime rib for him..

[anny51]

I'd be interested in what you guys think of how much i'm feeding charlie....at the moment he's about 19" at the shoulder and weighs approx 11kgs (x 2.2 = 24.2 lbs I think). I did have him on 2 cups Nutra Gold a day, plus half a cup or so of cottage cheese, chicken, egg etc. When he saw the vet last week I was told he needs to be about 13 kgs (another four and a half pounds) and he should be eating 4 cups a day. I've upped his food to three and a half cups, and that looks loads,,,but he should be getting another 1/2 cup still. Looking at what some of the other, bigger doodles are getting, I wonder if this is a bit much...or would I expect to drop it back as soon as he's put on the weight?

I'm very conscious of possible problems jointwise etc of him being overweight, but don't know if being underweight is as bad or not

[tuffystar]

Now that we are only feeding our dogs 2 times a day Tia is looking less chunky. She is 25 inches and at last weight it was 84 lbs. I think she is about 81 lbs now. We feed her 4 cups a day and late at night I put a tad dry food in their bowls (not even a half cup all together) She is doing well with this. She isn't loosing too much and I think she will even out soon. Buddy is part boarder collie and he gets about 3 cups a day. Our vet said that for a dog his size that is ok as long as he doesn't loose anymore weight. Buddy weighs 54 lbs about. He won't eat any more than 3 cups a day. If I give him too much he just walks away. I hope this helps.

[anny51]

Thanks, Kathy...Tia and Buddy are both considerably larger than Charlie, so I wonder if he should be eating as much as them (though he would be horrified if he heard me questioning it...he's in 7th heaven with the increase!!)

[tuffystar]

Is he chunky? Can you feel his ribs with a little padding? Go by how they look and act. You could space out the food into little meals fed often. In a few months I will let you know if feeding them like I do pays off. We will be checking with our vet to see if they are the correct weight. That is the other thing I forgot and that is I called and ask my vet and wemt with how much he said and how much was on the bag of food. Good luck!

[Tink]

Having both Labs and a poodle, I can vouch for the fact that labs are major chow hounds.
I free feed all of my critters, and see my Labs eat considerably more than my poodle does.
Once my Labs learned to trust that they will always have food in their bowls, they just graze and nibble rather than gobbling when I fill the dishes. They all maintain a healthy body weight this way according to my vet.

What I like best about free feeding is that they're less likely to suffer from bloat if they're not overeating at any one meal.