how much do you feed you dog

[Pudding]

I feed Bob JWB adult Duck  as i have found this better for his digestion
to me he is in good health and body weight, i have just weighed him and he is 13kg and is 5 years old
I feed him twice a day for his first meal at 8.00am he has about 75g i do take some out to put in his kong along with some cream cheese which he has at about 10.00am
than at about 4.00pm he will have a bonio and then his next meal of 75g JWB with some bi yogurt and a slice of Chicken, and later he may have a carrot and at bed time he will have a gravy bone
but on the JWB packet it says he should be having about 210g a day
so Bob has about 60g less
i was just wondering what your dogs weight was and how much you give them through out the day

[Jessie_Pup]

Dylan has about the same he has 70grms in the morning and the same at night  he has just gone on to a senior food.  He weighed in last time at the vets at about 12.7. kgs.

[black taz]

I think you will find that very few dogs eat the recommended amount (without putting masses of weight on!).

Taz is on Hills Scientific, and he has about 50 gms less than recommended (about 25% less). He is a big cocker (though not overweight) at 16kg.

Kelly (who i lost earlier in the year) only every ate about 50% of the recommended daily amount and her weight stayed constant for 12 years.

[jann]

I don't think it is an exact science, each dog is an individual and requirements differ quite a lot.

The amounts given by the manufacturer are a guide, I personally judge by how my dogs look, and adjust the amounts accordingly. I would say that if  you are happy that Bob doesn't look under or overweight then you are giving the correct amounts.  Flo weighs  13.2 kg  at the moment and Barnaby is only just 12.6 kg although he is slightly taller.  I'd say Flo is slightly heavier than she should be so I will just give slightly less kibble for a week or two. Most vets are happy for you to just pop in and have them weighed to keep a check 

[Hurtwood Dogs]

Definitely trust your instincts... If you're happy with the way he looks then you're doing the right thing. I don't actually know how much my two get in terms of weight - they're on Healthy Paws and Dave gets about a cupful a day and Normy about 3 cupfuls (Normy is about 28 Kilo's and Dave is about 12 Kilo's now so although she's not quite 3 times heavier than Dave, she does seems to burn it up more than he does.) And I'll add a bit of 'stuff' to it as and when (raw veg & a bit of meat or fish etc). They tend to get a few gravy bones as recall treats at the moment - mainly because they don't make my pockets disgusting

I just keep an eye on them and adjust it if I need to a little - Normy is prone to loosing weight a bit if we do even a tiny bit more exercise than normal, and I'm guilty of not noticing her loosing weight because she has such a deep chest she always looks quite well fed - it's only when she's in action I tend to spot a few more ribs than usual Whereas Dave seems to be pretty steady whatever he eats or does . They tend to get a bit less exercise in the winter - purely logistics with small kids, but actually, because it's colder, they don't really need less food to stay at the same weight.

Trust your instincts and use your eyes - that's definitely the best way to feed IMO

[dogsgalore]

We had Skye weighed 2 weeks ago as part of her 6 mth check (although it was 7 months  ) and she weighed 11 kgs.  We did wonder if she was a little overweight but the vet said she was fine.  We then had to take her back last weekend cause she was limping (which miraculously disappeared as soon as we got in the vets  ) - she got weighed again and was still 11kg but that vet said she was maybe very slightly overweight   She is fed JWB chicken and rice and although the recommended amount is 200g, I only give her 90g x twice a day.  She does have a little bit of meat or tuna added and then treats for training, so I am going to cut down to 80g and see how she looks on that.

I think that how they look is the answer too, Skye doesn't have much of a "waist", that is the only concern really, she isn't fat as such, just "stocky".  I would like her to lose a bit, particularly before she gets spayed after her first season.  She is a greedy pupster and always lets us know at least 20 minutes before grub up time, lots of squeaking and big puppy eyes!  But it won't work - diet starts today 

[lindseyp]

I just switched my 3 over to a complete BARF diet & it seems to be going really well (paws crossed)
The ratio is approx 150/200 grammes raw meat (inc offal & bones)/fish + 300/400grammes blixed veg to every 10kg of weight - split into 2 meals a day.
I must admit when I started to introduce the diet, it did look very small portions but now they are on it entirely, they do seem to be doing really well, enjoying it & appetites appear satisfied too. It is early days but dogs on a BARF diet do look on 'the leaner' side but you just adjust the portions accordingly....if they appear to loose weight you up their feed & if they gain, you reduce it . Hopefully it will benefit Purdey, who although is a quite acceptable 14kg, does look on the portly side     Livie is 12kg & we'll try to maintain that but Tiny Tinker is about 10 kg (but in proportion  ) so will monitor to make sure she doesn't loose.
As others have said though - trust your own instincts    Some people (inc vets) have a preference on how a dog should look i.e leaner or fatter but if you are happy with how your dog looks & he is healthy & happy, then that is a good judgement to go on 

[waggytails]

I feed Hattie JWB adult, she get 70g at around 6am and her next feed is at 4pm and she then gets 130g, last time she her weight was 11.4kg.  She has a few gravy bones through out the day and liver bread for training/bribing but i do reduce her food intake if she has had more than normal.

[dkirkuk]

I moved Daisy onto Royal Canin Cocker Kibble a few months ago. She weighed just over 13kg last time she was on the Wii Fit (yes, they now have a programme for dogs!) and she gets between 75 and 80g twice a day. I tend to adjust according to how she looks, and if I give her a chewy bone thing as a treat I cut her kibble back accordingly.
Oh, and she occasionally has some brussel sprout leaves as a treat. Don't know why but she goes nuts for them.

[tigs71]

I feel Mason 70g Arden Grange in the morning (which he sometimes leaves) and either 160g raw meat & bones or 2 chicken wings for his tea.  He weighs 13kg and has been around that weight for months now.  Since changing Mason onto adult food I have fed him less than recommended and it seems to be more than enough for him.  He does have a gravy bone at bedtime and a few small treats each day when we do our training.

[Toni-UK]

I feed Ruby 50g's of Burns twice a day,she weighed 11.5kg six months ago.

She has fish or nature menu nuggets of veg added to her dinner,and she has training treats and dried tripe or a carrot every day too 

[Emma xx]

Meg has about 65-70g twice a day of Arden Grange Light although when this bag is finished we are going to change her to JWB senior/light. She weighed 14kg last time at the vets although like lindseyp's Purdey is on the portly side . We use what it says on the bag as a guideline but Meg has always had much less than what it says. Alfie at the moment is on about 70-75g 3 times a day which is what it says on the bag (210g) so he is in the minority xxx

[Abbi]

Abbi is on JWB kibble and has 80g in the morning and another 80g in the evening. She is 1 on Tuesday and weighs only 9kg. She sometimes leaves her morning meal completely and doesn't always finish her evening meal (if she's had all her breakfast). She has training treats through the day (livercake/coachies) but not in great quantities. She always looks very slim compared to most cockers we meet but you can't see her ribs and she has been to the vets and they don't think she is underweight.

Should I be making her food more interesting or will she eat if she's hungry? I'm keen to keep her to dry kibble if I can.

[Karma]

Should I be making her food more interesting or will she eat if she's hungry? I'm keen to keep her to dry kibble if I can.

You can add stuff to make it more interesting if you want, but you may find she just eats the added stuff and leaves the kibble!!!
If she is not underweight, I wouldn't worry... Honey occassionally decides she isn't going to eat a meal...

Honey is raw fed.... she gets about 275g of bones and meat split into 2 meals.  Plus about 50g of tripe in her Kongs.  She sometimes gets veg mixed with her tripe.
For treats she gets dried fish, chicken feet and sweet potato chips.  Training is cheese and sausage. 

[SkyeSue]

Chloe is on Burns; at present its the duck and brown rice, for no other reason than the suppliers didn't have the chicken or venison! She has mostly been fed on the Chicken one though. She gets a cupful twice a day mixed with either a tablespoon of Naturediet, or a bit of sardines, or a raw egg. Sometimes I give her chicken wings in place of her meal (or drumsticks, as chicken wings are impossible to come by here, unless you buy a whole chicken!) She often has to search for her meal, as I hide it around the house in cartons, or I feed it in a plastic bottle, which she has to work hard at getting it out! For treats, she gets livercake, cocktail sausage, cheese, tunabread, tripe sticks, and gravy bones. She never gets a treat without doing something for it though. As cocktail sausages are her favourite, I keep them for recall.