How much food?

[aliash]

I have a little one year old girl who weights 7 pounds. I feed her a quarter of a cup of Nutro small bites in the am and 1/4 cup in the pm. She wakes every morning at 4:00 a.m. and wants to eat. Am I not feeding her enough. She seems to inhale her food. She doesn't even chew it. Maybe I should get a larger kibble so she has to chew? Any suggestions.

[BuffysMom]

I just had my "Porky" Yorkie to the Vet and he said she's grossly overweight. She's 9 lbs but should be closer to 7. I was giving her 1/4 cup in the am and another 1/4 in the pm but he said to cut it in half. It comes out to about 2 Tablespoons twice a day . She's having a hard time - barking at her bowl and trying to get me in the kitchen. I feel awful because she seems sooooo hungry but since the Vet said that if she was human she would be 350 lbs, I'm determined to get her down to a healthy weight. I've also started taking her to a park for walks. I figured this not only would help with her weight loss but might also tire her out so she doesn't bark for more food.

[Amanda7]

Originally Posted by aliash

I have a little one year old girl who weights 7 pounds. I feed her a quarter of a cup of Nutro small bites in the am and 1/4 cup in the pm. She wakes every morning at 4:00 a.m. and wants to eat. Am I not feeding her enough. She seems to inhale her food. She doesn't even chew it. Maybe I should get a larger kibble so she has to chew? Any suggestions.

You might try feeding her a light snack before bedtime, if she isn't overweight. She is still a young dog so probably burns up a lot of calories. My vet told me that dogs are just like people. They all have different metabolisms.

[dezertblu]

Moe isn't underweight, and I don't feel he is over either, so I will share his food regiment if it helps.In the morning he gets a few milk bones for puppies, the lil white ones, then in the afternoon he gets lil bits off my ham sandwich, or a bit of whatever I am eating, LOL just because his eyes are quite effective when staring at me.Then at about 2 or 3 o clock I give him a mixture of the dog food, about a cup and the wet food pouch, chicken or turkey, later on when I have my meal he gets some more snacky type stuff like markees or milk bones, but not too many....I was giving him his main meal earlier, but he just didn't want it, so I worked with it and found out when he tended to be hungry.Thats Moe's eating for the day, hope it helps..he weighs about 5 or 6 pounds at 9 months old.I have included a pic so you can see his size.

[Patti]

Moe is so darn cute! Cali is starting to gain weight after being a problem eater. She jumps at me while fixing her food now and gobbles it all down. She is at a perfect weight now 4 1/2 lbs for her and I am going to start cutting back on her food a little each meal. I feed her 3 times a day.

[SnowWa]

I don't pay much attention to the amount of food my dogs eat. Neither are overweight. So, I just let them eat as much as they want to get full....then they are off doing different things... I feed my dogs in the morning and again in the evening. They do have "dry food" out all day, but don't seem to care for it very much and eat very little of this.

Carol Jean

[romeos mommy]

i do a free feed. i leave plenty of dry food so he eats as much as he wants. i do control his treats. if he had his choice he would eat all treats and no kibble.

[MinMuf1]

I was wondering if any one has their young furbabies on feeding schedules. I have an 8 month old and a 6 month old that "were" on free feeding schedules. I left out dry kibble out all day and a separate mixture of wet/dry/vanilla yogurt - Which they preferred. Well, just recently my Vet advised to put them on a twice a day, five minute feeding schedule - Which is to supposidly ease them into their twice daily feeding schedule in a few months when they are a year old. And, assist in the housebreaking saga - Which has been quite testing of sorts... But, that's whole different post entirely!

Okay...Trying to follow doctors orders, just yesterday I started putting both foods down for a "ten" minute interval and removing what remained for their next "scheduled" feeding four hours later, etc. Needless to say... Neither of my babies are happy about this arrangement! They rumble, play and head straight for the food area... Just to find water! They sniff, whine, circle the area and sulk! Today Biscuit even started dragging the bowl over to my feet... BOY, do I feel like a MEAN MOMMY because lunch isn't for another few hours.

Any ideas? Or, should I give this new arrangement more time? I'm really starting to weaken with their sad sulking eyes as I've given them each a medium sized milkbone to chew on.

[rxybabe17]

I have a 4.5 month old baby and a almost 2 year old. They both get fed twice a day. Summer my youngest eats what she wants and then I pick her bowl up so Abigail will not eat it and then I leave it in the bathroom during the day for her to finish eating it and then they get fed again around 6 or 7. Abigail use to be a pig and she sometimes acts like it but she eats what she wants and the vet told me she was a good weight. I just free hand feed them.

[ditsy]

Originally Posted by MinMuf1

I was wondering if any one has their young furbabies on feeding schedules. I have an 8 month old and a 6 month old that "were" on free feeding schedules. I left out dry kibble out all day and a separate mixture of wet/dry/vanilla yogurt - Which they preferred. Well, just recently my Vet advised to put them on a twice a day, five minute feeding schedule - Which is to supposidly ease them into their twice daily feeding schedule in a few months when they are a year old. And, assist in the housebreaking saga - Which has been quite testing of sorts... But, that's whole different post entirely!

Okay...Trying to follow doctors orders, just yesterday I started putting both foods down for a "ten" minute interval and removing what remained for their next "scheduled" feeding four hours later, etc. Needless to say... Neither of my babies are happy about this arrangement! They rumble, play and head straight for the food area... Just to find water! They sniff, whine, circle the area and sulk! Today Biscuit even started dragging the bowl over to my feet... BOY, do I feel like a MEAN MOMMY because lunch isn't for another few hours.

Any ideas? Or, should I give this new arrangement more time? I'm really starting to weaken with their sad sulking eyes as I've given them each a medium sized milkbone to chew on.

My boy gets an hour in the morning and a hour in the early evening to eat his food. He gets minimal snacks during the day (but then I am a mean mummy ).

Perhaps try cutting down the periods they can eat to an hour at first and then cut that down by 15 min intervals over the next week or two ?

That shouldn't be too much of a change for them, and will probably ease your guilt a little.

[vainchick5]

I like to free feed my girl. I truly believe that it helps keep their weight stable or down because she isn't gorging on her food. She knows it's there at all times and no need to eat all of it at once. She does great with it. I give her a mixture of Innova dog food and Innova Evo.

[Nikki in bkyn]

i believe im overfeeding my pup is 12 wks and i give him a quarter cup n the morning eve and nite sometimes he eats it all in a minute and then looks for more other times he wont eat it unless its fresh, im not sure how much he weighs but when he walks his stomach moves side to side

[i_love_my_yorki]

I leave Minnie & Scamps food out 24/7....they eat whenever they want & both are tiny

[LuvMySissy]

Sissy is 9 months old and 4 lbs. She gets 1/4 cup dry puppy food in her bowl when she goes to bed in her "room" downstairs at night. She usually eats a little then goes to sleep. What she doesn't eat gets left there for when she goes back in her room when I teach during the day and have to leave her. It is rare that she cleans out the bowl.

She also gets small pieces of her Old Mother Hubbard's bones after going potty outside and pieces of fruit, cheese and other snacks I eat during the day.