Hungry or Foodie??

Mary Alice is on 1/3 cup of Evo twice a day + some treats.

She's gained nearly 2 lbs since we got her, she was not malnourished, so 2lbs is a lot!

She's a small doggie, is very muscular and just at the 18lb mark.

The problem is that she seems to be hungry.....when we had her microchipped, our vet nicely told me about the weight gain and said "at that rate, next year, she'll look like a Bassett Hound"!!!! oh,oh!

She isn't fat at all...all muscle, quite "ripped" actually.

Should I give her a bit more food?? Or is she just a "foodie"??

I don't like her to appear to be hungry all the time....but I don't want her overweight either. :flwr: :flwr:

2 lbs is a lot on a cavalier. It seems like your vet has indicated that she is now overweight. You might want to cut her back to 1/4 cup twice a day with only vegetable treats to get the extra weight off her.

When we first got India and Geordie, it seemed like they were always hungry, and we mentioned it to another breeder we met at a dog show. She laughed and told us a healthy cavalier is a hungry cavalier! They are always interested in food, but we don't have to feed them more.

I have read in both Dog Fancy and The Bark magazines that many people don't know what a healthy weight is for their dog and they tend to overfeed. Karlin has some good 'feeding' topics for reference in one of the library forums. :flwr:

Hey Zippy

Kosmo is on 1/2 cup of Evo per day. He is not really a "foodie" either as he will only ever eat his full 1/2 cup every third day or so. He still seems to maintain his weight and be full of energy though so I think he's fine.

If Mary Alice is still hungry and you're concerned maybe you should try giving her some fruits and veggies with her meals as "fillers?"

Good luck! :flwr:

Mine always act like they are starving around food. :lol: We give them frozen or raw veggies as treats and they are maintaining their weight OK when we do that. When we do training with other treats we try to subtract that food amount from their regular food. The weight can creep up on them really quickly. A 2 lb. weight gain is alot. Like a 200 lb. man gaining over 25 lbs.

Zippy

Dudley is also overweight, I have him on just a tad less than 1/4 of EVO twice a day.

Only Veggies and Fruit and Plain Cheerios for treats at the moment.

I am happy to say that Dudely has lost almost 1 lb since the begining of November.

He now only has 2 lbs to go and should be at his goal weight before seeing the Vet in the Spring.

If she retrieves, throw the ball or toy in the house up and down the stairs.
But we are having such lovely weather right now with the exception of the rain you could walk her on short intervals.

Almost every cavalier in existance is 'always hungry'. :lol:

They are one of three or four breeds that seem to be genetically programmed to eat themselves to obesity if allowed and have serious problems with weight gain -- they are actually on a chart of about four breeds with obesity problems at my vets. :shock:

Two lbs is a LOT for a small dog -- consider that is like a 25 lb weight gain for a human of 140 lbs. Good advice to cut back to 1/4 cup twice a day or consider half a cup once a day and rein in the treats -- veggies or fruit only. Some breeders recommend feeding once a day (that's what I do) as people find it very hard to feed 'only' a third or fourth a cup twice a day and always add a little more to top up the bowl.

There's a whole obesity post in the Caring for your Cavalier section that offers advice on low cal treats and feeding.

Obesity is the number one risk for seriously cutting short a cavalier's life, not only for all the usual problems associated with obesity, but especially as most will eventually have a faulty heart valve and a heart valve only has so many times it will open and shut. A fat cavalier works that valve much harder as its heart beats faster to support that extra heavy, unfit body; and thus the valve is more likely to give out sooner, and life is cut short. You can figure a couple of extra pounds on a cavalier is a couple of extra years of life removed from the alloted lifespan, all else being equal, just as with humans (but less weight takes off more years for a cavalier, as they are much smaller to start with and have a shorter life span).

So keep them lean.

During the month of December Tucker gained one pound. Until he gained that pound I worried he was too thin, and with all the upset tummy issues he had, I thought if he were a bit more robust he'd be healthier.

He weighed 13 pounds, and went down to 12.5 during his tummy troubles. I was feeding him rice and boiled meat lots during that time period. I noticed a couple of weeks ago, he wasn't able to jump up on my chair so easily. I put him on the scale here, he weighed 14 pounds. A weight until he'd achieved it I thought would be healthier for him. I started cutting back on his food a little, because it seemed like a rapid weight gain, and the fact that he was having trouble jumping up on the chair.

I love his fluffy coat, but it does make it a bit more difficult to see how fat or thin he is.

Tell you what, when they make out they are hungry, they're not. Cavaliers are just walking eating machines :lol:

Maxx will scoff his dinner and ten minutes later he's out scratching the kitchen cupboards, trying to open them :roll: If we close the kitchen door he just goes off and finds some other entertainment - that's how 'hungry' he is :roll: :lol:

I would weigh every week and monitor this way. If your dog is losing weight it is possible they are actually hungry and obviously if gaining you need to cut back. If staying the same keep up the good work. If just a foodie distraction is a wonderful technique for making them forget to beg for food.


I had this problem with mine and now have to feed Digby a bit less than Harry due to difference in metabolism, Digby was gaing weight and Harry losing. Both were telling me they were hungry and I ignored them. When I had them clipped I realised how skinny Harry was and Digby maybe 1/2 a kilo overweight. Now I weigh them every week or fortnight to check.

Honey is the same way - always hungry!

We give her vegtables and fruit and also fill her treat ball with some of her dinner. That way it takes her longer to eat her meals and keeps her occupied. Its also great excercise for her

Much too Much

Hearing how much you feed your dogs I'm a bit concerned- My just shy of six month old eats 1 1/4 cups of Nutro Ultra puppy food total a day divided into three meals. When she was microchipped last week the vet claimed she was 11.8lbs (I truely doubt she weighs that much, their scale is tempormental dependent on where on it she sits and she's just over 10 lbs on our home scale) and she feels right to me.

When did you all switch to grown-up dog food? Did your dogs always eat so little? Can anyone recommend some healthy snacks for the treatball that are easy on a delicate stomach (or even might harden her stool)?

Mommybelle

I would not worry about comparing amounts to what others feed their dogs. I feed mine one cup of eaglepack over 2 meals and some fruit or veg treats with half a dentstix a day. They weigh around 23 lbs (10.5 kg) and are not overweight. They are very big cavaliers (aussie ones are)Harry is a perfect peanut shape and his heart specialist said he is in prime body condition along with our regular vet. Digby is a bit chubbier and I'd like him to have a bit more of a waist but he is not overly over if you know what i mean and still has a waist. What i am getting at is every dog is different with metabolism and energy levels etc so you really have to go by look and feel and what your vet says re the shape not the weight. Just my opinion.
Can't remember when I stopped feeding puppy food ? I think around 6 months ??
With the treat ball you could always hold back some of the kibble from a meal and pop it in. Otherwise no ideas sorry.

Can anyone recommend some healthy snacks for the treatball that are easy on a delicate stomach

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It depends what type of treat ball you use. I put some of Honeys meals in the treat ball as nothing else would fit inside. It is hard to clean inside so you wouldn't want to put anything messy in there. Kong have different treat toys that you could stick biscuits or veg into.