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Karen 19 years, 6 months ago.
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In my internet search, the only thing I’ve found is that the recommendations on dog food containers is usually too much and that dogs need far less food than people imagine. I have 2 dogs: Simon is a 7 year old border collie/blue heeler cross and weighs 50 lbs. I think that is about 10 lbs overweight. We just started him on Science Diet Light – canned and dry. Bonnie is a 7 month old coon hound/beagle cross. We just got her from the shelter 2 weeks ago. She weighs 40 lbs, and is not overweight at all. She is not supposed to eat puppy food as she is unable to tolerate the excessive nutrients associated with puppy food. She is fed adult Science Diet and regular canned. I’m not sure how much to feed them. We now keep treats to a minimum, like maybe one cookie 3 times a day. It does seem like the dry food recommendations on the bag is a lot. But I don’t want to underfeed them. Any help would be appreciated.
Figuring out how much to feed each dog is a game of adding and subtracting food based on how the dog looks and feels. There is no magic formula based on breed or size. For example, I have a 11 1/2 year old Sheltie who is 15 1/2" at the withers and 24 lbs who gets 1/2 cup twice a day (healthier to feed dogs two smaller meals a day). I have a 4 year old Sheltie who is 18" at the withers and 33 lbs who gets just slightly over 1/2 cup a meal. He is not as energetic as my senior dog and does not require that much food to keep him at ideal weight. My approximately 10 year old cross bred Australian Shepherd/Newfoundland cross who averages about 75- 80 lbs gets about 2 cups each meal. Though he is cutting back because he is older, has joint issues and we need to make sure his weight stays down to the lower end of normal for him. He is slower and does nto need four cups of food total a day any more. My four year old, 85 lb Great Pyr who is 27"at the shoulders gets 1 1/2 cups a meal. However, I know people with larger dogs who go through 5 – 6 cups of food a day between two meals. When I had Lbas in the house regularly, I went through about 5 – 6 cups of food a day. What I would do is look at the bag recommendations per food intake per day. Yes, they are often high. Remember, the bags often give daily totals and not meal totals. So, take that recommended amount and cut it is half for each meal total and then cut that back by a bit. If your dogs start to look to heavy, you know you are feeding too much (many dogs will happily eat themselves into oblivion and morbid obesity and not regulate their own food intake to what they really need for a healthy weight). If your dog starts to put on a bit extra weight, cut the amount back a bit and keep doing that gradually until the dog hits ideal weight. If the dog starts to look or feel too thin then you need to slowly increase the meal amounts. You will be doing this over the life of your dog. Puppies and adolescent dogs often eat more comparatively than an adult dog. A dog at two years may eat more than the same dog will at seven years. Active dogs will need more than sedentary dogs. How much to feed is a game of adding and subtracting food, monotoring the dog’s weight and adjusting the amount of food as needed throughout the life of the dog. Even within a breed or even within littermates you will find a range of how much the individuals need. I know this is not a concrete answer, but it is how feeding amounts go. The other thing is make sure you are feeding a quality food without a lot of fillers or chemicals such as BHT/BHA, Ethoxyquin, added sugars, etc. Check out this link as well for more information http://muextension.missouri.edu/xplor/agguides/pets/g09920.htm
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