Question about feeding amounts

*blackrose · #1 10-07-2012, 09:00 PM

I was recently informed by a pet-drug company sales rep that if you weren't feeding within the recommended guidelines on the back of the bag of dog food (say, for a 50 pound dog 2-3 1/2 cups of food a day or what have you) that your dog wasn't getting the entire amount of nutrition it needed from the food it was consuming.

True, or false? I'm inclined to believe false, but wanted to get other opinions.

I ask, because Chloe only eats a cup of food a day and she is a 45 pound dog. That is what she is maintaining her weight at (she's actually still a bit too heavy for my liking), so that is what she gets. If I fed her the recommended 2 cups of food a day she'd be fat as a blimp. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't depriving her of nutrients because of that.

Fran101 · #2 10-07-2012, 09:08 PM

False. They push more food than necessary because they want to sell more food. typically. It also varies a lot depending on activity level. a 50 pound coach potato is going to need a lot less than a 50 pound working dog.

Each kibble is pretty identical ingredient wise. So it's not like when a kid doesn't finish his plate/only eats his mashed potatoes and leaves his vegetables.. the kibbles are all the same, so regardless of how MUCH they eat, they are still getting all the nutrition from all the ingredients used to make each kibble. Their body might NEED MORE of it to work, but either way, it's all there.

If she is maintaining weight and doing well on 1 cup then 1 cup is what you should be feeding. All the nutrition is in there and her body is telling you she has enough food and calories to work just fine

Emily · #3 10-07-2012, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fran101

False. They push more food than necessary because they want to sell more food. typically. It also varies a lot depending on activity level. a 50 pound coach potato is going to need a lot less than a 50 pound working dog.

Each kibble is pretty identical ingredient wise. So it's not like when a kid doesn't finish his plate/only eats his mashed potatoes and leaves his vegetables.. the kibbles are all the same, so regardless of how MUCH they eat, they are still getting all the nutrition from all the ingredients used to make each kibble. Their body might NEED MORE of it to work, but either way, it's all there.

If she is maintaining weight and doing well on 1 cup then 1 cup is what you should be feeding. All the nutrition is in there and her body is telling you she has enough food and calories to work just fine

That. And it's about the ratios of then nutrients, I would assume. As long as the dog is getting enough calories to maintain a healthy weight, and as long as the food is balanced, there's nothing to worry about.

Did you ask him if feeding a skinny dog more than recommended makes them overdoes on vitamins? LOL That was my first thought.

olliethemutt · #4 10-07-2012, 09:17 PM

My poor dog must be nutritionally deprived then..lol We feed her twice a day, but she usually only eats once. I think he was full of it.

Am I supposed to just shove the food down my dogs throat?????? -_-

AdrianneIsabel · #5 10-07-2012, 09:19 PM

I have honest to god never looked at recommended amounts. lol

Red.Apricot · #6 10-07-2012, 09:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AdrianneIsabel

I have honest to god never looked at recommended amounts. lol

This... until now. Elsie's supposed to get 2 cups/day.

She gets almost 5.

Emily · #7 10-07-2012, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by red.apricot

this... Until now. Elsie's supposed to get 2 cups/day.

She gets almost 5.

she's going to od and die!

ETA: Sidenote, I feed raw so no cup measurements, but for perspective, Mackenzy (37lbs) eats LESS than Keeva (22.5 lbs).

Macky gets 8 oz/day and Keeva gets 10-12 oz/day.

Southpaw · #8 10-07-2012, 10:00 PM

That's the first time I've ever heard that before. Wonder where that info came from? I mean, yeah, lots of dogs would get fat on the recommended amounts... so what are we supposed to do to keep them at a healthy weight if this were actually true? (which it's not).