Quote:
Originally Posted by rachelanne820  On their bag of food it says to feed her weight 1 - 1.5 cups. I put down 2 cups a day and from what I can tell Nick, the little yorkie, eats about half a cup and Daisy, the bigger mix, eats about 1.5 cups.
She is not over weight by any means, though. Myabe it is because it is a low quality food? I don't know...I just wish the good stuff didn't cost so much. She has been on higher quality foods and always seems to eat about the same. They don't get any treats, either. 100% of their consumption is kibble. |
The bag often way over-estimates. Most of us never follow the guidelines on the bags. Even an employee at my specialty pet store I shop at told me 1 cup would have been way too much for my 15lb dog.
It is true that poorer quality foods = more food often times. Which is why it ends up usually costing people just as much, if not less, to feed a high quality food than a low quality food. I buy a 5.5lb bag of Acana for $13.99 and it lasts us well over a month for one 15lb dog -- which, to me, really isn't a big deal.
The problem with free feeding with multiple dogs is you often don't know how much each one eats. I used to free feed, and I still sometimes will leave kibble in the bowl all day, but it's just Jackson. He gets 1/4 cup dry/wet in the AM, and 1/4 cup dry/wet in the PM. Sometimes he'll get a total of 3/4 cup a day (I'll just up the amount of either dry or kibble) if he was really active for the day. Keep in mind, he swims, runs alongside the bike with me, runs runs runs, dog parks every week, walks daily, etc. Acana is a more calorie dense food so you can feed less of it.
Since we switched to more scheduled feedings, I really am liking it. I like knowing the exact amount he's eating every day. I can know if something is wrong with him because if he doesn't want to eat his dinner, I know he must be sick or not feeling well. I'm not against free feeding either though. I think it just depends on the dog.
All we're trying to say is just because she
will eat the same amount of food on high quality doesn't mean she
should, lol. You have to measure it out. My dad has 2 dogs and over there, they will put 1 cup of food in the bowl per day (their dogs are around 12 and 13lbs) and they each approx. eat 1/2 cup per day. So you can still measure out food and free feed, just put less in the bowl and once it's gone, it's gone.