FOOD PORTION REDUCTION IN PUPPIES

[cathynu]

Hi there guys. Lilly will turn 7mo's old on Dec. 17th. I have both my guys on Canidae Pure Blue Sky which is an all life stages food. She presently gets 1 cup of dry kibble for breakfast followed by 4 cups of kibble enhanced by 1/4lb of ground turkey, 2TB cottage cheese & 2T yoghurt at dinner time. Since she arrived here on 8/3 she has gained roughly 10lbs per month - some months its been slightly less and she presently weighs 64lbs and is 25" tall. At her last weigh-in at 6mo's she was 59lbs and 24" tall - which means she has picked up 5lbs this month - so she is not growing near as quickly as she had been doing up to the 6mo mark. Her father Leo is roughly 95lbs and her mother Copola is about 75lbs ..... At what age should I start to cut back on the amount of food I give her??? The reason I ask this is because I have her on an all life stages food and I have also been extremely careful about the amount of food I give her, as I have always been terrified of over feeding .... and she's a real foodie .... if she could, she'd eat, and eat and eat till her stomach exploded ;D

[Nellie]

It has been my experience that it is not an age thing. Each dog is different. Just watch her, if she starts getting 'fat' cut her back.

If you are not sure what 'fat' is, most vet offices have a chart that shows you what the dog should look like at their ideal weight.

Good Luck!!

[cathynu]

Thank you Nellie I will keep my "hawk eyes" on her then

[trinitydobes]

Cathy,

I echo what Nellie said - I let the dog tell me - right now Dream - little 4 month old Dream is eating 6 cups a day 3 cups in the AM and 3 cups again in the PM she is not heavy - but she is perpetual puppy in motion - if this amount did not keep her in acceptable weight I would add another meal at mid day.

There seems to be a point in time, different for each dog that one week you will look down and notice, hmmmmm you are looking a bit like you have your puppy fat back LMAO - and that is when you need to start cutting them back - I usually up a 1/2 cup at a time per meal and I cut back at the same rate

I know - clear as mud right lol

[von Cosack]

Shes not a little pup that strictly needs food for her bone growth shes entering energy burning as well. If shes very active and needs lots of exercise her consuption should stay high. With most Dobermanns I look at the last ribs and they normally a present and then count in one. After two ribs showing the dog could be underweight just as if their all covered the dog could be overweight. Check the calories in the dry and the wet food too and see what her daily intake comes out to be. Her height and weight sound normal and remember she could look like an uncle or aunt or granddam. They don't have to look like their Dam & Sire. Hopefully shes not gonna be a 95lb Dobermann hahahaha!!
Von

[cathynu]

Thank you so much for your input here guys. I now have a better idea. At the moment because of the cold weather, we aren't going out as much during the day to exercise. I let her out into the back yard to go run around and "talk to the neighbour's dogs" - which she does - I work her on her show conformation program roughly 45 min's per day but she also comes in for a good part of the day and slobs around on her bed and sleeps and then goes back out around 3:30pm to run around. When Dave gets in and if the weather is nice, he takes her out and lets her chase down the frisbees for about half an hour - in the summer the guys are a lot more active and we are able to get out there in the late afternoon and make them work really hard at running down the frisbees - sadly its pitch dark at 5pm right now - so our window of opportnity is pretty small.

I will be watching her, and take into account what her calorie intake is.

Heaven forbid she EVER GETS TO WEIGH ANYTHING NEAR 95lbs!!