Do you follow the bag instructions?

[Fran101]

I am feeding Fromm Large breed puppy (I just like the ingredients list, not that I think he's a large breed puppy) and I've heard everything from "feed what's on the bag!" to cut that amount in half etc..
what do you guys think?

The bag says 3 cups per day. Which would round off to about 1 cup per meal..sound about right?

[*blackrose]

I'd start with what's on the bag, then adjust to what your pup's body tells you.

I feed Chloe half of what is on the bag, or else she'd be a tub of lard. I didn't even look at the bag when I decided feeding amounts for the three munchkins, but since I've worked at a boarding kennel for so long I just thought, "This is what I would feed a dog of this size...", fed that to them, and went from there. The only one we had to adjust was Gracie, as we were trying to get her to loose weight then had to even her out when she got to the weight we wanted.

[Shai]

Originally Posted by *blackrose

I'd start with what's on the bag, then adjust to what your pup's body tells you.

This. It's a starting place.

When the pups were on kibble for a year, Web ate pretty much the recommended amount, Kim ate slightly less, and Mira ate at least double.

It varies.

Cookie's the only one on kibble now. Her recommended feeding rate is about 4cups/day IIRC. She eats 5-6cups/day. She does not carry any extra weight whatsoever.

[AdrianneIsabel]

I've never read a bag for feeding amounts but it not a bad place to start.

[Southpaw]

I started there, but they're always too high, for us. My dog gets liquid diarrhea when she's fed too much. Took me a really long time to realize that lol, I assumed she would just gain weight if fed too much.

Most bags of food say a dog Juno's size should get 3 cups a day. I feed her roughly just under 2.5 cups. So yeah, it's a good starting place and then you can adjust as necessary.

[Toller_08]

None of my dogs eat kibble anymore, and when they did I never really looked at the recommended feeding amounts closely. But I just went to check out a couple of bags sitting here at the store of what the Dobermans ate and they ate less than the recommended amount.

The food Keira was eating recommends about 3 cups for a dog of her size, and she only ate 2 cups. The food Ripley was eating recommends 4 cups and he ate about 3 cups. So each needed about a cup less than was recommended.

As puppies though, Ripley and Keira both ate way more than what the bags recommended. For a while Ripley was eating like 7 cups a day and still not keeping weight, while the bag recommended that he should have been getting half of that.

So it definitely depends on the dog, and puppies need more calories than adult dogs too. So I'd start with what the bag says and go from there. You can usually tell pretty quickly whether they need less or more. :-)

[sassafras]

Oh god no. I've never followed the bag instructions exactly in my life.

I usually start out with the recommended amount from the weight range one lower than what my dog/puppy actually weighs. If that makes sense. And often I end up even reducing that if it seems like an excessive amount of food. Then just pay attention to their body weight and adjust as needed.

[TuffStuff]

Originally Posted by sassafras

Oh god no. I've never followed the bag instructions exactly in my life.

I usually start out with the recommended amount from the weight range one lower than what my dog/puppy actually weighs. If that makes sense. And often I end up even reducing that if it seems like an excessive amount of food. Then just pay attention to their body weight and adjust as needed.

^This is usually what I recommend customers do.

[Red.Apricot]

I've never even looked at the recommended feeding on the bag she has now, lol. I'm sure she eats more than the bag says.

Not helpful, sorry.

[monkeys23]

When they were on kibble, Lily ate way less than recommended and Scout a cup or so more than recommended.