[Britster]

So, I went to a pet store near me the other day and they carry all the high-end brand names, and have a whole freezer full of raw food. I asked a few questions about raw, and the lady was kinda pushy w/ it... I told her I was concerned about cost, and she asked how much Jackson weighed (he was with me in store) and told her 16lbs... I told her I pour 1 cup a day into his bowl but he rarely eats it all, and she acted stunned! Like that it was wayyy too much food.

He eats Acana Grasslands and Prairie (rotates between the 2). She told me he would only need 1 patty a day if I fed him raw food and I was like whhaatt?!? There is just NO way. When I used that calculator thing on the site, it told me 5 patties a day, so I didn't know where she was getting this. Also, the bag of Acana says dogs between 12-22lbs can/should be fed 1 cup-1 1/2 cup of food per day but she still told me it was way too much.

I used to leave dry food out all day for him and sometimes he would go nibble and sometimes he wouldn't... but every night at dinner-time (between 5-7pm) he would get about 1/2 cup of kibble mixed in with a bit of wet for dinner and I would always just leave whatever dry kibble was left in his bowl.

Because of the ant problem (ew) we have here especially in the summer, I can no longer just leave food out so I've started him on a schedule. Today I gave him 1/2 cup of dry mixed in with maybe 1 tbs of wet in AM, and at dinner I did the same thing. By the way, both times I didn't fill the 1/2 cup ALL the way up, so technically he probably ate a tiny bit under 1 cup of food per day.

Is this okay, too much, too little? He's still got the same body frame he did when he was at 12lbs (he stayed at 12lbs from 6 months old to a little over a year, and never outgrew any harnesses, clothes, or collars, but the last vet visit said 16lbs so I think it's mostly muscle?) but he's at a healthy figure/weight.

Sorry this is so long- it just bothered me that the pet store person was sooo shocked about 1cup of food per day?!

PS- he's a pretty active dog as most of you know!