The Amount of food seems small

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

Am I reading the bag right?  Ginger weighs 17.5 pds...six months... and the bag say between 1/2 and 1 1/2 per day.  That doesn't seem like a lot.

 

Ginger looks at me at the end of the day, like Olivier and says "More, please"

 

She gets some carrots, and green beans and a milk bone type treat, sometimes a kong with peanut butter.

[Lori (Wilson and Woody's Mum)]

Honestly, I never used the bag as an end-all when Wilson was a puppy.  I used a calorie based diet so it could be adjusted as he grew or as I switched foods.  Every kibble has a certain number of calories per cup and depending on your dog's age and weight, the calories needed may or may not correspond with what the bag says.  So I started with the bag guidelines, but fed according to my research.  

 

I also based everything on whether I could feel his ribs.  I didn't want them sticking out, but should be able to feel them with a think layer over. 

 

If Ginger is 17.5 pounds and between 50% - 80% of her adult weight, she needs approximately 979 calories.  Check your bag and see how many calories are in each cup of food.  It should be somewhere near the ingredients list and mineral content.  I used the calorie counter until Wilson was 2 and had stopped growing.  The vet was always very impressed with his weight. 

 

This is just a starting point, but I found it very helpful for my smaller doodle.

http://www.mycockerspaniel.com/mer.htm

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

Thank you, this is great!!!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri only eats a little over a cup a day.  She is 25 pounds and is eating Fromm. Vet says she is at a good weight - better than being overweight, so I am keeping it as is!

[Adina P]

My 90 lb dog and 45 lb dog BOTH get 3 cups per day.  So for a dog more than half their size 1.5 cups seems reasonable.  What food is it? 

 

I use the guidelines on the bag as a guideline...and then if a dog is too thin add a little more or if a dog is gaining too much weight use a little less.  That's why both of my dogs (of vastly different weights) both get the same amount.  Rosco is actually getting a little less than usual and Boca gets the same amount because she's been able to maintain an excellent weight with this amount.

 

I think A LOT of dogs would eat all day if given the opportunity.  It's just the way most dogs are...they are opportunistic scavengers. 

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

You feed less with grain-free foods than foods that contain grains, so the type of food you're feeding makes a difference. With puppies, if you're feeding an ALS formula, the amount is should be higher for puppies than for adults. But the dog's expected adult size matters, too. A six-month-old mini is almost full grown and doesn't need as many calories per lb of body weight as a 6-month-old standard. What kind of doodle is Ginger, and what food are you feeding?

Jackdoodle weighs 80 lbs and he gets 2.5 - 3 cups of food per day; but he eats Orijen, which is grain-free and contains 480 k/cal per cup. If his food contained fewer calories per cup, which many kibbles do, he'd need to be fed more.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Yeah we're having to adjust Luna's food intake as we go, because the bag recommendations aren't the greatest.  Luna also seems to have the tendency to get overweight ><  Right now she gets 1.5 cups a day and she weighs about 37 pounds.

 

She got pudgy in January so we reduced her food intake and she lost it all... now she's starting to get a little pudgy again at 8 months so we are cutting her food some more.  The vet said we could switch her to adult food now, but we just opened a 40 lb. bag of puppy food so we will finish it up, just feed less.

 

I think the best option is to just monitor your dog carefully for their body condition.  Make sure you can easily feel the ribs but with a slight fat cover, their tummy is tucked up much higher than their chest level and you can see a well-defined waist area. 

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

thanks

[Pam and Ginger Snap]

Ginger is a mini/med.. and she eats Blue  Lamb and oatmeal

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

How are you liking that?  We're switching Luna to Blue buffalo for her adult food.  I was thinking alternating between the chicken and brown rice & lamb and brown rice

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper (60lbs) used to eat 3 cups a day (more than the bag recommended). Now she is fully grown and less active she only eats 2 cups a day (Orijen). The bag is just a guideline, some need more, some need less. Go by Ginger Snaps weight/ribs. If they are food motivated, they will always look like they NEED more, when really they just WANT more!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

From your description, I now know I am food motivated :) I am glad my doctor doesn't go poking around for my ribs...LOL!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Pam, I was just looking at the feeding guidelines for the food Ginger's getting, and it looks like you're using the amount for dogs whose mature weight is 3-20 lbs. If Ginger's current weight is 17.5 lbs at 6 months, there's every reason to believe she'll be over 20 lbs at maturity. I'd maybe go up to the next feeding tier, the one for dogs whose mature weight is expected to be 21-50 lbs. Stay with the lower end of that scale, which would be one cup twice a day.