Royal Canin - how much is enough?

[coripc33]

I just got my Westie puppy to eat Royal Canin instead of Purina Puppy Chow (btw, thanks to everyone posting here, I bought it and she loved it - as much as her prissy self can like dog food ). I was trying to read the table that they have on the side of the bag, and I cannot figure it out (and I am an engineer, I should be able to read tables LOL). So... my puppy is approx. 15 weeks old, she weighs - I assume - approx. 8-9 lbs (she was 7.9 lbs 10 days ago when we went to the vet for checkup), and - if I read that right - she should get 3/4 cups per day. Does that sound right to all of you who use or used Royal Canin? It just seems really low to me - that would make it 1/4 cup at each meal. She is on the Puppy kind (I think it's got a "33" next to it), and I think that what it comes out to - please advise.

Also, since she is a Westie, should I continue feeding her this kind? There's a different kind of food for puppies that will be 20-55 lbs at maturity, and the one that I got is for puppies that will be up to 20 lbs at maturity. Since the Westies can be anywhere between 15 to 25 lbs at maturity, which one do I pick?

Thank you all in advance,
Corina

 

[Zoom]

I feed the Royal Canin Medium 25 to my dogs. What you have to look at is both how much they weigh and what the average level of daily activity is. My dogs play hard for about 6 hours a day, so they're on the far end of the acitivity scale and are fed more than many other dogs. I feed my Aussie 1 1/2-2 cups twice a day for a total of 3-4 cups a day and my Rottie mix gets 1-1 1/2 cups 2x daily for a total of 2-3 cups.

Depending on your level of activity, then 1/4 cup 2x daily sounds about right. One thing you have to keep in mind about RC vs Purina, is that RC uses better ingredients, so you don't have to feed as much of it. Your dog is better able to digest the ingredients and so doesn't have to eat huge amounts of it. You should also be noticing a reduction in the amount of poop she produces; she's using more of what she eats so she doesn't need to expell as much "junk".

I would, and Mordy may disagree with me (in which case go by what she says) I would feed the one you are now, because the weight level falls in between 15 and 20...and females are usually smaller anyway.

 

[Mordy]

corina, 1/4 cup 3 times a day sounds about right. don't forget that dry dog food is very concentrated due to a low moisture level, and will swell up in the stomach. also, the feeding recommendations on the bag are only very rough guidelines, since the caloric requirement of the individual dog depends on many factors - age, temperament/activity level, metabolism, seasonal temperatures and so on. you always have to keep an eye on body condition and adjust the feeding amount up or down as needed. do make sure to not overfeed. here's an article you might find interesting:
http://www.news.cornell.edu/Chronicle/02/12.12.02/dog-diet.html

which of the two foods you pick doesn't matter all that much. differentiating between so many different types of food is mostly just a marketing gimmick.

 

[coripc33]

Thank you very much for your help. The thing is that she is very picky, and she will eat only half of what I put in (even though it's the 1/4 cup), and then she'll eat the rest if I hand feed it to her. Should I do this, or should I just let her eat how much she wants to? I read the article, and maybe I should let her adjust the amount she eats by herself, I wish I were sure that she will eat as much as she needs to - I don't know if dogs do this, do they? I tend to treat her like I would a baby - if she doesn't eat, I will make her...

 

[Mordy]

i would make pre-measured amounts of food available for a certain amount of time and then take away whatever she didn't eat.

e.g. offer 1/4 cup of food for 15-20 minutes 3 times a day. once time's up, take the food away and offer again at the next mealtime. that way she will learn that what's offered at mealtime is all she gets, effectively decreasing the chance she becomes even pickier over time.

free feeding (e.g. leaving food available all day) is not the ideal solution for most dogs.

 

[coripc33]

Thank you, Mordy, for your input. I do not free feed her, mainly because I can't monitor her poopy times afterwards , so I am glad I am doing something right. Also, this morning I just refused to pay attention to her - no moving the food bowl after her, no trying to get her to eat, just left the bowl where she could see it. Well, after ignoring it for a few minutes, she went and ate a little, then stopped. I continued to do something else (while watching her without her seeing it), and after a few minutes she went and ate again. Needless to say, by the time 20 minutes were up, she had licked the bowl clean! This is the first time this happens, so now I know that it's not that she isn't hungry, she just wanted me to hand feed it to her. Which, to tell you the truth, I didn't mind completely, because I felt like we were bonding or something - but, for her own good, it's good for her to eat by herself.

I just hope she keeps this up, and she will start eating by herself completely, just like she did this morning.

Thanks again to everybody for their help - this site is awesome for all kinds of information!

 

[Mordy]

those little buggers do know exactly how they can play us, that's why it is important to show them what's ok and what isn't. it's natural for dogs.

you can still hand feed some treats, even better if you give them as rewards during a training session. that way you get the bonding experience and can teach your dog at the same time.