How Much Food?

I guess I'm failing as a dog owner right now, because I'm second guessing (sort of) how much food Blaze is getting.

He gets 1 cup twice a day. Morning and evening. He's been this way since adulthood. Usually, I don't see any problems with this. But once in a while, if he's down with my parents, and he goes to the food container, they insist he's hungry and feed him ANOTHER WHOLE CUP.

Am I completely insane for despising this practice? If he paws his bowl after he's eaten or goes to the food container, I'd feed him maybe another half cup, at most. I mean, that's logical, right? He doesn't need a whole other cup?

To me, 1 cup twice a day seems like a good amount for a young, athletic, male dog on quality food. I don't want to feed him too much.

(rant part of this: they complain we go through food way too fast. then they insist he needs a ton more food. grrr. i wonder why)

Merlin is about 45 lbs and is on the same diet as Blaze. 1 cup, twice a day of high quality grain free food
I also have friends/family that insist on feeding him more :rofl1:

I mean I'm sure I COULD feed him more but he gets so many treats, plus his nightly bully stick and such
I think the amount of food he is getting is fine, but I mean there is no harm is trying a bit more! I'd just watch his weight and see how that goes.

Honestly I have gotten so lazy and have accidently realized, because of the laziness, that the exact amount of food doesn't really matter.

I had a perfect one cup scoop and then I got a bigger one and then I lost both and just used his bowl and then I let him eat straight out of the container one hungover day and his weight has remained the same :rofl1:

Gavroche gets 1 cup twice a day and Logan gets aboutg a cup and a half twice a day. If Logan seems hungry, I'll give him a small amount more. If Gavroche still seems hungry...I say No, fatty, you don't need more food!" And ignore him, otherwise he'd weigh 200 pounds lol. My mom will complain I don't feed my dogs enough and in the next breath say Gavroche is getting chubby

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has these problems. It just starts to make you second guess your self, y'know? Even when, in the same thought, you know it's fine. :rofl1:

My dogs would eat all day if you let them.

But my big dogs get fed 2 and 2.5 cups once a day.

Generally I'd say read the bag, start with that amount and adjust it from there but I think you're doing it right.

Meh, if my dogs "act hungry" I don't give them extra. =P

You're probably fine with what you're doing, I agree that an entire extra cup is a little excessive lol. Like you, IF I were to give my dogs a little extra, it would just be 1/4 cup or maybe 1/2 cup if I were really generous.

If he's maintaining a good weight and has good energy, I'd see no reason to up it! Most dogs I know would eat forevah if you let them anyhow, they aren't exactly the best judges of how much food is enough for one day, opportunists that they are. This talk makes me look forward to having a dog that actually eats food... evil meal skipper over here. I try to tell him he's skinny enough, but poodles, what can you do?

I guess it depends on the dog, but I don't listen to my dogs if they insist that they're hungry haha. They'd forever be hungry and just use me until they more resembled a pod of fat whales lol.

I just base it off of body condition. If he looks good on 2 cups a day, I likely wouldn't give him more, and certainly not an extra cup more.

Penn is free fed ..worst owner ever? Most likely.

Although, she's a super good weight but she eats wayyy more than most dogs :/ I'd average 4 cups a day (sometimes less, sometimes more) on Go!

That sounds like my mom....except she is usually talking about me, lol



I'm really no help here because I have a dog that doesn't eat. I could leave the food container open and....nothing

I would say that if he's maintaining his weight, and you feel that he's getting enough, he likely is.

Cali is on Go! Chicken + Turkey + Trout, and is basically free fed. I will fill her bowl later in the evening and she eats out of it as she pleases, although this is because she's not a big eater to begin with and she's always been a little too scrawny for my liking.

Moses gets 3/4 cup, twice a day of his food, and he's a not so active twelve year old dog. I convinced my mom to switch his food from Purina to Nature's Domain, and since the switch, the serving size seems much more filling.

Meh, I'm currently free feeding my two. So don't feel bad! I still don't give them more than a set amount, but I just kind of leave it out all day for them as both Cynder and Abrams don't sit and eat an entire bowl, but graze throughout the day.

Chloe is 45 pounds and is very inactive...she only gets a cup of food (of a low calorie food, even) a day and maintains her weight. Mom bumped her up to two cups a day when she was more active earlier in the year, but now that she's back to being lazy dog she's gained back all of the weight I tried to get her to loose.

That. Not only would Meg look like a whale, but once it worked one time, she would spend the rest of her life telling everyone how hungry she is. Meg got locked in the garage by accident for an hour or two one night, and got the lid off the dog food. She looked like a barrel by the time we figured out where she was, and was lethargic and ill for 2 days. She is not to be trusted to decide how much she needs to eat!

Rumor would eat every speck of food in the house if she had the means. She acts hungry constantly. If I'm feeling particularly sorry for her I give her some treats, but I never feed her more.

Henry had a poor appetite when he was younger, but has certainly made up for it the past few years. That being said, I want him to be hungry at mealtimes. I think overfeeding would hamper his natural appetite.

I just feed him off of body condition. Some days he gets almost 2 full cups of food between 2 feedings (He's about 33 pounds) and other days he gets a little less, maybe between 1.5-1.75 cups of food between two feedings. He's fed a high quality food so I don't worry about it. Plus he's quite undemanding with his exercise needs.

Rosey was definitely free fed for the first.... Oh, probably 8-10 years of her life. She definitely ate more in those days yet was never particularly fat.

Um ya if I listen to Gage (mastiff/rotty) and Bristol (shih tzu) about being hungry their legs wouldn't touch the floor because all they would do is eat! Diesel, well he's has body issues I think and u almost have to force him it eat lol.

I wish I had dogs that look hungry! I'm lucky if mine eat a whole cup a day. They just aren't foodies.

I have never even thought of giving them more when they bang their bowls around

I think it's from 7 years of living with a corgi. My feeding soul is broken.

Bear and Pig would eat themselves to death. Bear moreso with kibble, when I was feeding raw I could put him out with a giant pork shoulder and he would regulate himself just fine. I guess because he had to work at getting chunks off. With kibble, he would gorge himself if given the option. He also requires such a tiny amount of food for his size, so if anyone watches me fill the bowls they always comment on how I'm starving him. He's still chunkier then I would really like him to be though, so no amount of sad face will get him more food.

Pig will gorge herself on kibble or raw or cat poop if given the chance. Doesn't matter, if there's food(ish) in front of her, she's eating it.

I recently bought a ton of go/now after that accidental sale and Badger isn't crazy for it. He'll eat it, but takes his time and doesn't look for more. I sometimes use baby food as a high value reward though and I'm pretty sure he would be ok with eating his weight in that :rofl1: