How much do you feed your Yorkie?

[alaskayorkie]

Eddie is on a diet. He gained a pound and a half over the winter, and he's up to 11 1/2 pounds. He had never been a voracious eater, but I'm guilty of overtreating him.

I'm determined to get his weight down, but I'm struggling with a plan. I've cut way back on the treats, and I've put him on a Canidae senior/overweight kibble. The instructions say 1/3 to 3/4 cups a day for weight loss on a 15-pounds-or-less dog. I've settled on 1/3 cup twice a day. As part of the 1/3 cup, I recently started adding a teaspoonful of Merrick canned. I'm doing that for all the dogs so they eat it in once shot and I don't have to worry about Eddie cleaning up after the other ones.

My problem: Eddie is acting like he's starved for the first time in his life. He whines by his bowl in the evening. So far, I've ignored it because I haven't seen much difference on the scale. But I'm a little afraid I'm underfeeding.

Hence the poll. It's difficult to compare all foods by volume. I'm sure a half cup of canned has more calories than a half-cup of kibble. But I have to start somewhere. So, in volume only, how much do you feed your dog in a day. Feel free to explain below.

[Maxi]

I feed Maxi 1/2 a cup. In fact he will stop eating after he is full and leave the rest in the dish I have never seen a dog like that
He only eats when I eat. I guess he likes to keep me company lol

[nygee]

Nygee had gained lots of weight, exactly 3.5 lbs after her cystotomy, she was put on Hills Prescription u/d Diet, But last Aug she was having difficulty walking and standing, we thought she might've had broken bone or torn ligament, so we got some X-rays, which revealed none was the problem, but she has developed bladder stones once again and was weighing 8.4 lbs ... So her vet put her on r/d to reduce weight, since she's lost 2.5 lbs... Now I recently took her back to get X-rays so he would do a second cystotomy, but now she's developed Kidney stones... I put her back on u/d, but I've reduced her portion... I use to feed her 1/2 cup...Now I feed:

6 lb Nygee: 1/4 cup of u/d kibble and incorporate 1/2 cup of warm water
11 lb Gizmo: 1 cup of Eukanuba Lamb & Rice kibble
4 lb Gypsy: 1/2 cup of Eukanuba Yorkshire specific kibble


Well, you might ask why add water to kibble:
Another member advised me to add the water to keep Nygee's moisture intake up, obviously because of her kidney stones, this has really worked, her urine is not as concentrated as it use to be and she's taking in more liquid than she ever did before, so I decided to incorporate this for my other furbabies, and needless to say,
Nygee,Gypsy & Gizmo love their warm soupy meal...

[alaskayorkie]

Thanks, you guys, for the replies. As I suspected, it looks like it varies depending on the dog. I'll see how his weight goes after a couple weeks, but it's obvious I'm not starving him based on what you guys are feeding.

Again, thanks.

[huami]

I feed Iams. I leave food out at all time but she eats twice a day and never much at a time.

[BubblPopElectrc]

I think it also varies according to brand. The better the quality of food, the less you feed. The lesser food, the more you feed.

I feed 1/2 c. per dog, per day.

[Lexi Rae]

ive had lexi on a diet seems like for 2 years... shes always hungry, i feel
terrible..its so hard to get her weight down... she gulps her food down in
the morning, she never used to do that.. she must be soo hungry from the
night before.. i try to give her more veggies in her food, mostly stringbeans
because they are supposed to fill her up as far as i know... i stopped giving
her little treats, only on weekends.. instead i give her celery, carrots.
i also try and walk her as much as i can, but shes lazy... i feel as if shes gaining no losing and starving .. beats me

[MinMuf1]

I free feed so I am assuming about a half a cup per day per dog.

[Toppersmom]

I am anxious to see the results of this poll. I have been having problems with Topper eating. Couldn't find a food he liked well enough to eat so I decided to try homecooking again. For the past few days he has been eating about 1/3 of a cup in the morning, snack in the after noon of a couple of tablespoons of the food, and another 1/3 cup in the evening. He also gets treats during the day especially when he actually uses the pee pee pad!! Now that I have found a food mixture that he likes he is wolfing it down and sits and stares at the plate like he is starving. Weight hasn't been a problems so far because when I got him he was under weight. So I am curious to find out if I am feeding him enough or is he just being a little piggy? He weighed 4.5 pounds when he went to the vet at the end of April.

[Ellie May]

It won't let me vote but I wouldn't know what one to choose anyway.

Ellie was on Science Diet () and was free fed. She ate somewhere around 1/2 cup per day and was slightly underweight (about 5 pounds).

Now she is on homecooked and I have fed varying amounts.
Her metabolism is so fast that nobody else could go by how much she eats.

Kibble has more calories per cup than canned because canned is almost all moisture.
If you want to compare (brand to brand), looking at calories per day is probably the best way.

If Ellie needed to lose weight I would feed her raw vegetables all the time.

[rrosenberry]

I fill Bailey's bowl up with 3/4 a cup of food.. the scooper is a measuring cup so I know that is the amount.

But he rarely ever eats in the day.. he will go over and eat it all about 8 or 9 at night.. it's weird. Occasionally in the day I'll see him grab a piece or two..but not often.. Anyone else have that?

[Breny]

I free feed

[alaskayorkie]

bump#*

[Yorkiedaze]

Originally Posted by alaskayorkie

Eddie is on a diet. He gained a pound and a half over the winter, and he's up to 11 1/2 pounds. He had never been a voracious eater, but I'm guilty of overtreating him.

I'm determined to get his weight down, but I'm struggling with a plan. I've cut way back on the treats, and I've put him on a Canidae senior/overweight kibble. The instructions say 1/3 to 3/4 cups a day for weight loss on a 15-pounds-or-less dog. I've settled on 1/3 cup twice a day. As part of the 1/3 cup, I recently started adding a teaspoonful of Merrick canned. I'm doing that for all the dogs so they eat it in once shot and I don't have to worry about Eddie cleaning up after the other ones.

My problem: Eddie is acting like he's starved for the first time in his life. He whines by his bowl in the evening. So far, I've ignored it because I haven't seen much difference on the scale. But I'm a little afraid I'm underfeeding.

Hence the poll. It's difficult to compare all foods by volume. I'm sure a half cup of canned has more calories than a half-cup of kibble. But I have to start somewhere. So, in volume only, how much do you feed your dog in a day. Feel free to explain below.

In between meals give him fresh carrots and celery to tide him over. Make those his snacks.
Mine get 1/4 cup of food twice daily and they don't get their "cookies" every day that I make for them, but instead get carrots & celery.
You could also add about 1/8th of a cup of cooked oatmeal instead of canned dog food. It's healthy, fills them up and sticks with them.

[jencar98]

With Ruby her weight has never been a problem. Reno however is a different story - he's developed a small weight problem and is 1/2 pound overweight. I didn't want this to become a bigger problem for him so decided to get the weight under control now.

In talking with his breeder I realized I had been feeding too much at 1/2 cup per day. She says only 1/4 cup per day that seemed a bit extreme to me, so I compromised and am currently feeding about 1/3 cup per day. FYI, Reno is a little over 5 lbs and should be in the 4 to 4-1/2 pound range.

We have also started to be more active now that the weather is nice enough to be outside everyday. By becoming more active and reducing the calorie intake, I think he will lose the extra in no time.

My inlaws fox terrier had a significant weight problem. Their vet suggested letting her eat green beans to satisfy her need to eat more. So, they give her 1/2 cup along with her normal food in the morning and the same in the evenings.

Reno has been on his diet only for a few days. I can let you know his progress here in a couple of weeks, if you're interested.