Ideal weight for 3 years old bitch

[Bigtrout]

Could you please advise me of the ideal weight my 3 years old bitch should be.She is fed only with dry food as her main morning and evening meals.

[Kate H]

Cavaliers vary so much in size that it's difficult to give an ideal weight. A small Cavalier may weigh a bare 7kg, a tall one could be lean and fit at 12kg. A better way is to go by shape rather than weight. If you look down on your bitch and can see that she has a definite waistline between her ribs and her hips, and you can feel her ribs easily when you run your hands along her sides, then she is about the right weight. If you weigh her then, you have a pretty good target weight to keep her at. I pass my vet's regularly on our walks, so every so often I take my two in and pop them on the weighing machine in the waiting room. Their ideal weight (bearing in mind that dogs will weigh more than bitches) is 10kg. If they go more that half a kg over, I cut down their dry food a bit and give them raw veg as well so that they don't feel hungry (grated parsnip, grated carrot, grated courgette are all favourites) for a week or two until they get back to their target weight.

Watching their weight is especially important with Cavaliers, as excess weight can put strain on their hearts and aggravate a heart murmur.

Kate, Oliver and Aled

[Sydneys Mom]

What Kate said is exactly right..But if you are like me and need a visual description, here's a good place to look.

http://www.cavalierhealth.org/diets.htm