Over Eating Doodle Pup

[Larry]

Most folks know we rescued a 3 month old Doodle pup a short while back, Her eating habits have not changed much since we got her, We literally have to lock Henry in the kitchen with baby gates so he can eat in peace, She will inhale her bowl and immediately head for his bowl.

We are giving her 1 cup of kibble and a small bit of canned food mixed in so in all she is getting about 1 1/4 cups, 2 times a day and plain dry kibble for lunch.

We remove the gates and let them both go out, the first thing she does once she comes in is head for Henry's bowl again!

She has put on about 7-lbs in 3 weeks between vet visits, (Henry put on 6-lbs) so I feel like we are feeding her more than enough.
She is 4 months now and 35-lbs

Henry has never been a big eater, he will simply eat what he wants and leave it be.

Any thoughts?? should we feed her a bit more? Does anyone else have a piggy pup?

[MySweetDoodle]

No "piggy pup" here, Lily is more like Henry. When she's really hungry she'll eat her whole meal - but never all at once - she's got to play with her toys between bites!

Does your vet feel that your puppy's weight is good? If she needs to gain weight, I'd go ahead and increase her meals by a little. If she's at a good weight you might want to consider (or discuss with your vet) a change in whatever food you are feeding. Maybe a less *calorie dense* food would allow you to give her more quantity to satisfy her appetite without adding any more calories to what she gets.

Another thing is - has she been checked for worms? Sometimes when a dog has worms their appetite seems to increase. Puppies often have worms and since she is a rescue, who knows whether or not she was ever on a good deworming program. And even if she has had a worm check, some types of worms are cyclical and only *shed* periodically and so are often missed in a worm check. You might want to have your vet do a recheck.

OR - she might just have lots of Lab in her, in which case, if she's anything like most Labs (our Lab included), you will never satisfy that appetite!

[blueteal]

Ryder eats double that amount and the vet likes his weight and progress so far........so maybe give her a little
more................Denver inhaled food till he was 4 months old and then dropped his intake and stopped eating so fast.
Ryder definately has more lab in him and will overeat very easily so we will have to watch him. I too feed them
seperately but now if he goes for Denver's bowl, Denver corrects him which he did not do in the past so I just let Denver tell
him back off.....................Ryder is always hungry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mtd885]

Originally Posted by blueteal

Ryder eats double that amount and the vet likes his weight and progress so far........so maybe give her a little
more................Denver inhaled food till he was 4 months old and then dropped his intake and stopped eating so fast.
Ryder definately has more lab in him and will overeat very easily so we will have to watch him. I too feed them
seperately but now if he goes for Denver's bowl, Denver corrects him which he did not do in the past so I just let Denver tell
him back off.....................Ryder is always hungry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey Sue! Ima Buttinski sez, consider that Denver can become food aggressive if you let that continue. It will only take a day to teach Ryder to "leave it" make him wait to earn his food. .02
Larry, I'm wondering what kind of food you are feeding? I feed a RAW diet so I cannot suggest a particular Mckibble. There are new foods on the market that are human grade. Dog food is like people food insofar as if you eat at McDonalds all the time it's likely you will have weight and health issues. If you eat a Mediterranean diet you'll be healthier not as weight conscious. Checking the nutritional value of what you are feeding is important. Some foods add nothing but weight to your dog. It sounds like she puppy(name) is not getting what she needs nourishment wise.
She may also have had to fight for her food in the past and all she see's is the Buffet Either way her job is to earn her food and it's the basis of training to instill in your pup the thought that EVERYTHING goes through you. Check out http://www.raisewithpraise.com there's lots of free info.

[tuffystar]

Piggy puppy here!!

Tia would eat just because Buddy would. There were two bowls out of food but Tia did not let Buddy eat out of either bowl. Buddy never got his food and Tia got chunky! We were forced to stop leaving food down for either dog. We have to use baby gates to separate them because Tia doesn't want Buddy to eat something she doesn't have (they get exactly the same food). We feed Tia 2 cups 2 times a day and Buddy 1 to 1 1/2 cups twice a day. Tia is 84 lbs abt.(loosing) and Buddy 54 lbs.(and gaining). They are beginning to even out and look so much better. Tia did gain 12 lbs. in 2 weeks one time! The vet told us she was 5 to 10 lbs over weight so free feeding (when ever they wanted to eat) went out the window. Buddy is a grazer but he has had to change to survive Tia's piggy attitude!

[blueteal]

Hey Sue! Ima Buttinski sez, consider that Denver can become food aggressive if you let that continue. It will only take a day to teach Ryder to "leave it" make him wait to earn his food. .02

Denver will never become food agressive as he still allows any and all cats to eat from his bowl.
He just gives Ryder a warning and Ryder backs away and Ryder will continue to learn from Denver but keep the opinions coming as I value them all..........

[mtd885]

Originally Posted by blueteal

Denver will never become food agressive as he still allows any and all cats to eat from his bowl.
He just gives Ryder a warning and Ryder backs away and Ryder will continue to learn from Denver but keep the opinions coming as I value them all..........

Smart Move Denver!
Here's one way to teach 'leave it'. Guaranteed to slow the heartiest chow hound down

[blueteal]

Originally Posted by mtd885

Smart Move Denver!
Here's one way to teach 'leave it'. Guaranteed to slow the heartiest chow hound down

bahahhaaaaaaaaaaaa
Good one that is exactly how Denver looks when the cats get in his bowl............

[Larry]

Zoey did have worms when we first got her at 3 months...We thought that was contributing to the inhalation of food. We have the worm issue under control, All was well as of this past Wednesday, free and clear of worms. I was wondering if the "habit" of gobbling her food down for the first three months has stuck with her??

As for weight, she is good...maybe a bit heavy if anything, I have read that a growing pup will put on an average of 2-lbs per week and she is on track for that..

We are currently feeding both Doodles "Merrick" Puppy Plate it has a "5-star" ranking here,
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...duct=164&cat=3
And adding a bit of canned just because. http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...uct=602&cat=12 They both get 1/2 can per day...

[lmtoth2]

Your puppy may still be hungry or may just have a lot of lab in her. I would think about upping her food and/or splitting what you feed her into more meals.

Dex is a huge hog and I swear would eat 8 cups if we put it in front of him. He goes back to check his and Kirby's food bowls at least 3x after a meal.

We have started very recently to give both doodles 1 1/4 cup at dinner time and then another 1/2 cup just before bed because Dex was waking us up by 6 am every morning (I think he was hungry). It seems to help - Dex has been sleeping much later in the morning (today till 8 am). Just some thoughts

[MySweetDoodle]

It sounds like you have all your bases covered – feeding a good food, puppy at a good weight, and current negative worm check. So, it looks like Zoey (love the name!) is just a very hungry, growing little girl or one who had to fight for food in her last home.

The suggestion of splitting her food into more meals is a good one. Maybe she is just getting too hungry between meals (if the time frame is too long) and then when you do feed her, she just gobbles it down because she is so hungry.

And then there’s the Lab part – you can’t do anything about that – Labs just seem to love to eat! Our Lab inhales food – he has no idea what he is eating half the time. He just adores food! We’ve taught him to “wait” when we put his bowl down. He waits for the word “okay” before he touches his food but sometimes he is hardly able to contain himself, he is so exited that he’s getting to eat. And he’s certainly not starving – he’s too FAT (and now has had his quantity cut a little to try and trim him down a bit). He hasn’t noticed though, he gets just as excited by one small dog biscuit as he does for a whole meal.

[anny51]

Zoey sounds very similar to Charlie....he's now five and a half months, but it's only in the last few weeks that he's not zoomed in on the other dogs' food when I put it down. He would do 4' standing jumps while I was dishing out the food, then, altho I would put the dish right in front of one of the dogs, Charlie would swoop in and grab a mouthful before we could react, even tho we were expecting it...he is VERY quick! I put this down to puppiness and being a Labrador type....we've also got a pure Lab and she is very piggy. I decided I could either lock him away from the others and feed him separately, which didn't really teach him anything, or teach him to fit in with the household routine of feeding them all at the same time in their own bowls in the 4 corners of the kitchen. I chose to take that route and did loads of work on 'leave' and 'wait' with him. At first, I only knew he was learning by a slight lessening of pulling on his collar, which I was holding when I put down the other bowls. But gradually I could get him to sit and leave until his bowl went down. He still isn't as good as the others, but then they are 7 and 9 yrs and have had a lot of practice, but he hardly ever jumps up now, and usually leaves the other bowls alone...at least until they've been emptied by their owners...then ALL my dogs go and lick out every bowl, in case something's been missed!

it's probably a good idea to feed her more often too, if she's worried about whether she will get another meal at least it will reduce her 'worry time'. As far as quantities are concerned, Charlie is on 3.5 cups of NutraGold a day (just put it up from 2.5) and he weighs 10.6kg (but the vet said he should be about 12.5kg) and I'm working him up to 4cups a day over the next week.

I wouldn't worry too much about this...as long as you've eliminated any health problems she will probably calm down as she gets a bit older. I didn't think I'd EVER see Charlie sitting down nicely and waiting for instructions to eat!

PS if we sat down to eat with a tray on our laps, he'd grab that too....that's a 'quirk' we're still working on!

Sadie is a chow hound. She eats every meal like she has never seen food before and never will again. She has to sit and wait while I put her food down and then put Maya's down and then fill the water bowl etc. When I release them she is allowed to eat. A few times after she first started eating with Maya she tried to take Maya's food. Maya would just let her. Sadie was corrected (she hates getting in trouble but finds herself in it a lot...that's a story for another time) and she still tries every now and again to get Maya's food. I have to stand watch and if she goes near Maya's bowl I take a step towards her and say uh uh in a growly voice and she turns away. You are alpha....Maybe let your other dog get ahead start on eating and then release Zoe or feed Zoe in her crate or "gaurd" your other dogs food like I do. Lay down the law Zoe will learn quickly to only eat her own food.

[MaxandMe]

Max as a puppy ate 5 to 6 cups of food at one time and never has been heavy.
he went down to 3 cups a day but during the winter and/or cold weather he does require MORE FOOD
he's now up to 4 cups to 4.5cups a day BUT i feel both kibble and homemade food...he's 2.5yrs old right now

peanut eats about 3.5 cups a day

I know when mine were both puppies, if they acted that hungry i'd give them more as they're quite active during colder seasons
thus they don't gain weight as they're burning up lots of energy wrestling, doodle runs and playing fetch


MINE both sit and wait till i say "OKAY" to eat their food
only time was when peanut was 6mos old she tried to be territorial with her food and bones...Max like Denver corrected her a few times
and Peanut learned back off. NOW they share food

PS at 3 to 5mos old I think both doodles ate about 3 to 4cups a day

[lmtoth2]

When I release them she is allowed to eat. A few times after she first started eating with Maya she tried to take Maya's food. Maya would just let her. Sadie was corrected (she hates getting in trouble but finds herself in it a lot...that's a story for another time) and she still tries every now and again to get Maya's food. I have to stand watch and if she goes near Maya's bowl I take a step towards her and say uh uh in a growly voice and she turns away.

I got a good laugh at this. Kirby has finished before Dex before and then just pushed Dex out of the way and started eating his food which Dex totally allows (he's such a wimp) - we do the same as Heather.

We generally feed them in separate areas just to try to avoid any issues. If Dex tried to go into Kirby's bowl he would get a very strong correction from Kirby! We still do the "sit wait", prior to eating but just in different areas.