Posted: Fri Apr 28, 2006 6:48 am Post subject: Barley seems so hungry....
Over the last couple of days Barley seems so unsettled. We were wondering if she was hungry. At night she sits and looks at us and cries. When we open the lounge door she shoots for the kitchen, goes to her bowl, looks under the kitchen table for food that the kids might have dropped etc....
I weighed her this morning and she is 18kg (at almost 6 months) and looks ok in her weight (although on the slim side).
I looked on her bag of food and it recommends 465gr a day for her age/weight but I was only feeding her 300gr (100gr x 3 times a day).
I am thinking of upping her food to the recommended amount but reducing feeding to twice a day.....any thoughts on this?
My main worry is that she will get fat/get an upset tummy/miss that middle feed. I am also concerned as at puppy class the teacher said to ignore amounts put on bags as they just want to sell more food and it is always too much.
I am so confused!
____________ Karen & Barley
Barley´s not spoiled, I´m just well trained!
Ruby is on Burns and at 6 months they recommend reduceing the quantity of food I did this but Ruby stopped gaining weight so I upped it by 20g per day more than the recomendation and it seems to be working.
I have only JUST removed Rubys middle feed and she is nearly 8 months - I was waiting for her to wean herself but nope no chance so I just cut it right down.
Is she still on Puppy food? I remember when Ruby wa about this age she seemed alittle disattified and was eating her poo too so i started to move her to adult food and she was a lot more content after that.
Ruby is 18kg too
I would keep her on 3 feeds as you say if she is currently on 3 and hungry then reducing to 2 wont be the best for her atm and maybe up it by say erm 20g a day and see what happens? If you weigh her weekly fortnightly you can always cut it back if she is gaining weight too quickly.
Different dogs metabolism means that they all get differing amounts of "Value" from their food. People with more than one dog often find one needs far more food than another. This is the reason I hate the manufactures listing an amount. If people follow this slavishly then some will be over fed and some will be possibly under fed. It just does not work. The only guide to feeding is the finger test, feeling the ribs and see how they feel. Labradors are notorious Gannets and most will happily eat until they go pop. So I figure they are not the best judges of these things
Don't worry about what you feed her, keep her on what suits her as at the end of the day she comes first. You might find that once she's grown up she is more tolerant and you can feed her what you want. I think puppy-growing-time is far too important to mess about with! Baxter has always been on JWB, and while I'm not overly happy with it, he's always done so well on it tht I'm loathe to change. But, I figure he's got at least 15 years of eating to do, and so I can change him once he's all gorwn up.
I used to weigh Baxter religiously, but now just go by eye (I still weigh his food out, just don't weigh him as much!). Try upping it by a very small amount, say 10g or 20g and just see how she goes. If you can see she's putting on weight too quickly, just cut it back a bit again. If she doing well, just carry on til it needs to go up again. I found that by increasing it in tiny amounts, it's easy to go up again, or even back down.
Majic has a fast metabolism so is on more than the guidelines state and she is fine, trying upping a bit and see how she goes, at 6 months I changed Majic over from puppy to adult and she settled more.
Maybe just increase a little and see how you get on?Marley is on 360 g (skinners)and he is 4 months,14.5 kg.See how she gets on with a little more food and she will probably be just fine. I am also like you, it says on the bag to feed Marley about 450g, but he seems fine at the mo.but you do worry they aren't getting enough. i know what you mean.
I can see her ribs (not just feel them) but the Vet said she is ok as she is and that it is better if she is on the slim side but if I was worried then just up it a little. I just wastn sure what "a little" is.
Also, she gets treats when we go out for walks (as rewards etc) and I dont figure that in to her allowance.
____________ Karen & Barley
Barley´s not spoiled, I´m just well trained!
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so i started to move her to adult food and she was a lot more content after that.
I am also like you, it says on the bag to feed Marley about 450g, but he seems fine at the mo.but you do worry they aren't getting enough. i know what you mean.
