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Am I supposed to go by the serving suggestions on the bag or is there some trick to this? I've always heard that feeding the good, more expensive stuff works out fine in the end bc you feed less...but I there was hardly a difference in serving suggestions when I switched. Am I missing something?
I never fed what the bag said, it's usually way too much food. The better companies have 2 charts, one being for active dogs and one for not so active. A 50 lb. active dog would get 3 cups of that particular food a day, while the not so active 50lb. dog only 2. Look at the calorie content per cup and go from there. If your dog is gaining weight, give him less food. If they're losing, you're probably not feeding enough.
Am I supposed to go by the serving suggestions on the bag or is there some trick to this? I've always heard that feeding the good, more expensive stuff works out fine in the end bc you feed less...but I there was hardly a difference in serving suggestions when I switched. Am I missing something?
I have an open bowl policy with my dogs. Every morning I give them fresh water and fill their dog bowls with kibble. They nibble on it during most of the day, and usually only eat at the same time I eat.
Dogs will eat less of the good quality kibble because they will be able to digest more of the food, and therefore need less. My mastiff and husky combined go through just about 70 pounds of Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover's Soul per month.
I generally use the recommended serving size as a guideline. If the dog gains weight I back it off a bit, if it is still hungry I increase the portion size. I always have fed my dogs twice per day, morning and early evening to decrease the chance of bloat.
My opinion only, don't do any of this. No fancy food beats real food.
Give your dogs real beef, I have been doing that and have clearly seen the difference for years.
I completely agree with you. Mine is on raw. But, I realize that reaching into a bag of pellets is most convenient and very few are actually willing to try raw or even a cooked diet due to time constraints. And yes, raw is much, much cheaper than kibble. The savings are significant so the "it's too expensive and not everyone can afford it" line I keep hearing is getting very old!
MAK, both my Maltese and PC are just too wonderful for cheap, low quality food.
I am sure all other dog lovers agree their friends are special (I agree every dog is special!) and deserve the best possible too.
Even if real meat were a bit more expensive, you spend at the grocery store and save (money and health issues!) at the vet's office and the drugstore. To me, this is a no-brainer.
I am not even going to discuss the "easier to prepare" thing, I think it is just not worth it.
I'm a vegetarian and I get grossed on on the rare occassion I prepare meat for a meal for my BF, so no, I'm not about to prepare raw meat for my pup. He'll do just fine on Taste of the Wild. I was just curious about the serving size.
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
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Originally Posted by lacey3eb
I'm a vegetarian and I get grossed on on the rare occassion I prepare meat for a meal for my BF, so no, I'm not about to prepare raw meat for my pup. He'll do just fine on Taste of the Wild. I was just curious about the serving size.
Hi Lacey,
Artie also eats Taste of the Wild. Feed according to the package. If you see that Chase is gaining weight, give him a bit less. If you see that he's still hungry or losing weight, give him a bit more. You'll be able to judge this after a few days or weeks. A lot depends, really, on how active Chase is and how many calories he burns during the day.
Artie is very high-energy but he's not a big eater. He's an adult dog, and weighs 35 pounds. I give him one cup in the morning and one cup at supper time. He rarely eats all of it. And the morning serving, he typically eats while I'm having lunch.
You and Chase will figure out what works for you, you'll see.
If you really don't know--Take a look at your dogs condition, level of exercise, age-- and feed slightly less than suggested serving size (they usually inflate the portions on bags). Readjust if your dog appears to be losing or gaining weight.
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