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Diet Questions

vgaffney83

Well-known member
OK quick background.....

My boy Lucky Day is 14 mos old tomorrow. He is long and lanky and has always been very slim and always been a very picky eater. He'd eat maybe 1 cup of kibble (Blue Buffalo, very high quality) every other day total. When he was the vet for his check up earlier in March he was 13 lbs. She said that was ok for him.

For the 4th of July holiday we went camping and took him along. He LOVED it only had a very upset stomach when we got back. Vomiting and diareha (sp?) for about 6 hours straight so I took him to the vet that day. He had lost 1 pound and she said this was now too skinny. So we got him on antibiotics and special canned food until the diareha was gone. Once it cleared up about 48 hrs later, she told me to mix a tad of the wet with the dry kibble to get his weight back up. As of today he's a stunning 14 lbs and looks great. I've been feeding him about 2 tablespoons of wet with a half a cup of kibble in the am and the pm for a total of 1 cup of food per day.

My question is, now that he weight is about where it should be (I was told he shouldn't be any heavier then his father who is 15 lbs) how do I contine to feed him? Go to once a day of 3/4 cup dry and 1 tablespoon wet?

I'm now concerned with him getting overweight after I just read an article on here about slowing the progression of MVD by maintaining a healthy weight, so I just want to know what's best for my little man!

Thanks!
 
I feed both of mine: 1/2 cup in the morning, and 1/2 cup late afternoon. It is dry kibble, no wet. They both are a perfect weight. I also give them a little lamb biscuit around noon while I eat my lunch. :)
 
I feed all of mine twice a day. My Ollie who sounds like yours as far as body type, eats 1/2 c in the morning, and a little less than 1/2 c for dinner. I also pour a tablespoon of Nupro supplement on top, and add a little water so it makes a gravy. They love that stuff!
 
Don't feel bad about being uncertain about amounts -- feeding isn't an exact science and really, there's no 'right amount' -- every kibble and food varies in calorie content, and dogs vary in the amount of exercise they get and their individual rate of metabolism, with this changing throughout their life as well.

I have a volume amount that *generally* works for each of my dogs (and the two smallest eat less than the two larger dogs). If they start to put on a bit of weight I cut back. If they are looking a bit thin, I add some more to the dish. As with people, older dogs tend to need less food (though they will likely want to eat just as much or more!). Neutered dogs need about 10-20% fewer calories daily.

For a lot of cavaliers, especially a dog at the smaller end of the spectrum like yours, a cup of food might be a lot (and when I was half through your post I was just going to post back that he sounds like he doesn't need a full cup of food a day... and is self-regulating what he needs and wants). None of my four would eat an entire cup of food every day and two of them get only about half a cup total per day. It sounds like you have a high metabolism dog (or it may be that he is still fairly young) to be eating a full cup if he only weighs 13-14lbs. I'd just keep an eye on his waist.

Great cavalier feeding info plus pics of correct waists here:

http://roycroftcavaliers.com/manualfeeding.htm

NB in my experience a lot of vets are so used to seeing fat dogs that they won;t even pass a comment to the owner when dogs start to get overweight and many will view a fit lean dog as too thin.

Also note that you still have a young male and he will likely fill out a bit more over the next year or so. Also -- if your dog had lanky lean parents then he is probably his correct body shape for his parentage.
 
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