How much do you feed? - Page 1

I am curious how much everyone feeds and what? I have seven dogs from ages 8 months to 9  years and have heard variances of people feeding from only two cups a day up to three or four cups twice a day. Each of my dogs get something different and it seems like I am always trying to figure out just the right amount to keep them not too thin and not too fat. I feed raw to my dogs occassionally, but they mostly get kibble. I feed Canidae All Life Stages and Eagle Pack Holistic Select kibbles, both the chicken and the Anchovy/Salmon varieties. Just curious what others are doing...

I feed my 3 y/o female a mixture of Acana Sport ME and Canadian Naturals Turkey and Salmon formula.

My boy is eating Orijen Puppy formula, but I will be switching to the adult maintence forumla shortly.

They get raw beef bones a few times a week and the occasional can of tripett added to there food.

For treats, they eat Carrots, Celery and Happy Hips Chicken Jerky, I also get raw beef strips from my neighbour (a butcher) and cook them up until they are hard beefy chews.
 

My two oldest only get about 2c a day.  My middle GSD gets about 3-4 cups a day.  My very active and hard working 2 year old must have a super fast metabolism - she usually needs about 6 cups a day, sometimes more.  She also gets a scoop of K9 Superfuel supplement.  I can't say I notice a diffence in her on it, but I have a big bucket of it that I'm not going to waste :P

So unfortunately there's never really a set amount of food.   I am always feeling my dogs ribs, hips and along their back to make sure they are the right weight, and then increasing or decreasing the food accordingly.  I'm feeding Taste of the Wild High Prarie right now.

I forgot to add the amount I feed.

I give my girl as much food as she will eat, like phgsd's girl, my baby has a very fast metabloism and is very very lean. She is also extremely picky so overeating is never a concern with her.

My boy eats 3 1/2- 4 cups a day. He eats like a horse and will consume anything he can....so he is on a bit stricter of a diet!

Fortunately my youngest is a PIG and will inhale anything I put in front of her!  If she was a picky eater I'd be in trouble!

One of my older girls was a picky eater, and was always skinny.  She was spayed a couple years ago and since then tends to get chubby on very little food, and is very excited to eat every day.  The other one that eats very little is also spayed so that must have something to do with it.

rockinrkranch,

I also feed everyone Canidae all life stages, I guess I'm feeding them

about 3 cups a day, they range in ages 8 months to 7 years, and a couple
of the girls are nursing pups, so they are getting double and then some, I can
tell when the girls what more food, they come over and give me a look, and I
always feed the mother dogs alot of different good foods, like raw chicken,
canned Salmon, everyone gets a teaspoon of olive oil, my girl Bonnie has jaws
like a steel trap, whatever I throw to her disappears fast, she loves the ends
of the lettuce, not to much is ending up in the mulch pile these days.

They also like those little cherry tomatoes, and chic peas are good training treats!

When Star was about 6-7 months old, she was getting 5 cups of premium grade puppy kibble a day. I took her to a handling class, and the instructor said she looked too skinny The instructor was also a breeder of golden retrievers, with many years of experience, so I trusted her judgement.

So, I upped her food to SIX CUPS A DAY!

She stayed at this amount until shortly after her first heat at 12 months, when I noticed her gaining weight. At that point, I gradually cut her food back, then switched to adult kibble (less fat, less protein, fewer calories.) She now gets slightly more than my adult male GSD, maybe about 3 1/2 cups a day, while he gets 3 cups.

It ALL DEPENDS ON THE DOG. Each one is different in their needs. Just watch their 'figure', check how much flesh is on their ribs every now and then, and you'll be able to tell if they're getting what they need.

My picky girl (20 months) needs a good 4 cups a day (she's the active one) however, I'm having a harder time getting her to eat lately.  The younger (16 month) does well on 2 1/2 to 3 cups ...she's much more sedentary and picks up weight easily.

My 80 plus pound male eats about 4 cups per day in order to maintain his weight.  I recently switched him to a grain free product, was on Eukanuba performance before.  And he picked up some weight, eating a bit less of the grain free stuff.  Taste of the Wild.  My older girl is eating about 2 cups per day, but would really like to eat about 10 cups and weigh 100 pounds!  Then my younger girl eats about 2 1/2 to 3 cups per day, if she's doing a lot of training, ie: herding especially I'll bump her up to 3 cups per day.  She too would eat more than that too.  I've never really gone by what the bag says, I go by what the dogs look like and what they are doing.  ie:  couch potatoes don't get any extras! 

My dogs get between 2% and 3% of their adult weight, once a day, of fresh meat, bones and organs and they get lots of fresh water, but actually need to physically drink less because the fresh meats provide a majority of the water in their diet.

The different versions of pet food - puppy, adult and senior - vary in amount of protein - senior having the least.  So, in order to provide less protein the manufacturer adds more filler, which tends to be species inappropriate food - basically foods that aren't needed by carnivores.