• Welcome to Avian Avenue! To view our forum with less advertisments please register with us.
    Memberships are free and it will just take a moment. Click here

how often do you feed your dog

Status
Not open for further replies.

Chewy

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
11/18/09
Messages
1,016
Location
Spokane Wa
Real Name
Erin
*sigh* Syd is on his third bowl of Dog food. He gets goodies all throughout the day. And fed from the table. So I take him down the stairs and feed him ( I live in my parents basement) one bowl of kibble. I feed him Nutro dog food. He really likes it it's chicken flavored (not that I know this personally). He is not wormy. have dewormed him already. But he eats like theres no tomorrow, and he is still on the thin side. you can't see his ribs, because of all his fur, but you certainly can feel them. yhou can count them. He lets me lol.
I can't just leave dog food down on the ground because we are having probs with mice. *Sigh* And I can't really afford to do that. I know some people will think if you can't afford to do that, then you can't afford the dog. But that's not the case, he goes to the vet when needed he gets lots of dog treats, he gets expensive dog food.
I wish I could afford to give him food 24/7. I wish we didn't have the freakign mice problem.
Just to let you know I have not seen any in my apartment. So I know they aren't bothering my birds, or my dog. My birds are nuts lol as it is.
 

Babybreau

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
4,125
Location
NB, Canada
Real Name
Tanya
Foxxy gets one serving of kibble a day. Sometimes she'll get a milkbone or other treat or a small piece of whatever we are eating, but it's rare. The only we really indulge is giving her bones from our pork steaks when we have them which is like once a week.

ETA: she gets about a cup each morning, is only a year old, a Pom/eskimo mix, and weighs about 12lbs
 
Last edited:

GG.

Enjoy the small things
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
10/17/09
Messages
28,652
Location
gulf coast, alabama
Real Name
GG
may I ask what breed of dog is Syd and his age? and how often do you worm him?

k, I see Syd is an Australian Shepard, but how old is he?
 

Paris

Strolling the yard
Joined
11/17/09
Messages
115
Location
brrrr, Wyoming
Real Name
Katie
My husky gets one cup in the morning and one and 1/2 in the evening. Generally I pick it up in 1/2 hour if it's not eaten.
 

Welshanne

Ripping up the road
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Avian Angel
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
1,000,000
Location
Pembrokeshire. South Wales, Britain.
Real Name
Ann Burdett
All my three dogs get fed once a day in the evening. At the moment they are also having their food weighed as they started to put on a bit of weight. Know the feeling!
 

ortegah

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
6,941
Real Name
Heather Ortega
It depends on his age. I would limit the dog to one or two premeasured feedings a day and leave it at that. How big is your dog? What kind of dog is he?

Edited because I didn't read the original post very well :D
 
Last edited:

Chewy

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
11/18/09
Messages
1,016
Location
Spokane Wa
Real Name
Erin
Syd is 9 yrs old had him for 5 months. Been dewormed once already. Hes a Australian Shepherd Don't know his weight. People say he looks really good but he's got ALOT of hair.I can feel the ribs really bad.
 

tracie

Jogging around the block
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
902
Real Name
Tracie
I free feed both of mine and they are both in the healthy range for body weight. Hannah does have hip dysplasia, so I take them to daycare three times a week and the other days I walk them. They do get some treats from the table, but not in excess. I dont' know your dog, but if he is extremely skinny, I would take him to the vet. Sometimes people get so used to seeing overweight dogs, that they think a dog at a healthy weight is skinny. Tori weighs 82 pounds, she is an American lab, but people tell me all the time she is skinny, yet my vet says she looks great. Trust your instincts, if you feel something isn't right, make an appointment.
 

Melissa M

Strolling the yard
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
110
Location
Westminster, Sc.
Real Name
Melissa
Has Syd been to the vet lately? He may need to have some blood work.

What about drinking water? Has that increased any? With his age, some red flags come to mind for me.

How active is he? This can be a huge reason for the under weight problem.
 

GG.

Enjoy the small things
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
10/17/09
Messages
28,652
Location
gulf coast, alabama
Real Name
GG
if you have only wormed him once, he may need to be wormed again.

I worm the outside dogs monthly and the inside dogs quarterly

I keep dry food available all the time for the inside pups.

The Chow and Black Mouth Cur are outside babies - they are fed once daily
 

Nailrep

Jogging around the block
Joined
11/17/09
Messages
979
Location
Chapin, SC
Real Name
Cindy
My dogs were always fed twice per day until they were 1 1/2 - 2 years old. My lab was always a big eater - weighed about 114 lbs!!! Had a bottomless pit!!

:eek:
 

Melissa M

Strolling the yard
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
110
Location
Westminster, Sc.
Real Name
Melissa
Another question....what type of heart worm medication is Syd on? Sometimes, depending on the type, there is already a deworming medication in the heart worm pill. Some heart worm pills take care of hooks, whips and round worms at the same time.
 

ortegah

Biking along the boulevard
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
6,941
Real Name
Heather Ortega
If he's eating that much and still underweight I'd definitely get him a full workup at the vet's. If that all comes out clean you might want to consider a different brand of food. Something with more meat perhaps.
 

BraveheartDogs

Cruising the avenue
Mayor of the Avenue
Joined
10/16/09
Messages
11,119
Location
San Francisco Bay Area
Real Name
Vicki
*sigh* Syd is on his third bowl of Dog food. He gets goodies all throughout the day. And fed from the table. So I take him down the stairs and feed him ( I live in my parents basement) one bowl of kibble. I feed him Nutro dog food. He really likes it it's chicken flavored (not that I know this personally). He is not wormy. have dewormed him already. But he eats like theres no tomorrow, and he is still on the thin side. you can't see his ribs, because of all his fur, but you certainly can feel them. yhou can count them. He lets me lol.
I can't just leave dog food down on the ground because we are having probs with mice. *Sigh* And I can't really afford to do that. I know some people will think if you can't afford to do that, then you can't afford the dog. But that's not the case, he goes to the vet when needed he gets lots of dog treats, he gets expensive dog food.
I wish I could afford to give him food 24/7. I wish we didn't have the freakign mice problem.
Just to let you know I have not seen any in my apartment. So I know they aren't bothering my birds, or my dog. My birds are nuts lol as it is.

It isn't a good idea to leave food down all the time anyway, for lots of different reasons. I feed twice a day and that is what I recommend to clients as it seems more satisfying to most dogs. I never recommend free feeding (leaving food down) except with old or ill dogs. With small dogs, under 7 pounds you really need to feed twice a day but bigger dogs can be fed once, I just think that they prefer to eat twice.

You also might need to consider a different food for him if he can't put on weight. There are some dogs though that are just very lean even when they are healthy.
 

LuvMyBirds

Rollerblading along the road
Avenue Veteran
Joined
10/19/09
Messages
3,060
Location
Georgia
Real Name
Barbara
Try this: (Don't press hard with finger)

1. Make a fist. Now run your other index finger over your knuckles. Top of knuckle then down, back up to top of knuckle. You can actually almost place the fingers of your other hand in the "valley" between your knuckles. If your dogs ribs are like this ~ then yes he is too thin.

2. Hold out hand flat. Run finger across top of knuckles now. See how you can still feel distinct top of knuckles? If your dogs ribs are like this ~ Perfect!

3. Now flip your hand over to the palm. Run your finger across "the bottom of your knuckles" (the same place on your palm that coincides with your knuckles on top) See how you can't really feel ribs? If your dogs ribs are like this ~ too heavy.

Some dogs will only eat until they get full. Some will actually eat until they get sick, then eat more. You should check the bag. It will list weight ranges/types of dogs and have a range of how much to feed your dog. Choose the middle (It might say 1 to 2 cups - so give 1-1/2cups) USE A MEASURING CUP and measure out food. You can feed once or twice a day. Only give one treat a day. Treats are like Candy bars - very high in calories.

Being over weight can cause big problems for your dog.

You can also just run him by your veterinarians office. I'm sure that they would weigh him for free and tell you if they feel he is too thin.

Good for you in trying to learn what is best.

I've always shown people how to do the little test I wrote out above. I hope you can understand it. If you can't I could do some photo's for you.
 

Renae

Joyriding the Neighborhood
Avenue Veteran
Celebirdy of the Month
Joined
11/10/09
Messages
22,128
Location
Australia
My 2 dogs get fed 2 times a day.. my new puppy is a huge guts though! :)
 

southerninak

Jogging around the block
Joined
10/22/09
Messages
997
Location
Alaska
Real Name
Amy
I used to feed my lab 2 or three times daily, when I thought she was hungry:rofl: but she was always hungry ,so the vet told me 1 cup of food daily was all she needed. So now I feed 1 cup daily but still give her table scraps. So she's still overweight but not as bad as before.
 

J*M*L

Rollerblading along the road
Joined
10/21/09
Messages
2,876
Location
Austin, TX
Real Name
Julie
1 cup a day in the summer and 1 and a half cups in the winter. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top