Dog Owner Chat! (for-fun poll added) (new chat)

[MacGyver]

I never go by the instructions on food bags. Every dog is different. If I was feeding Dixie as much as it says on the bag, she'd be a blimp.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

I never go by the instructions on food bags. Every dog is different. If I was feeding Dixie as much as it says on the bag, she'd be a blimp.

Ugh, it's just so difficult because I want to feed him the perfect amount x.xx I don't want to feed him too much, but I don't want to feed him less than he needs to grow.

[totems]

Do you own a dog?: Yup ^^
Favorite dog breed?: German Shepherd, corgi, pug, sheltie
Tell us about your dog(s), if you have any!: She's a friendly year-old german shepherd lab mix who loves to play. She's a mellow dog with humans but with other dogs she play fights crazily.
Pictures of your dog(s):

When my family and I first got her! <3

[Cardinal]

I never go by the instructions on food bags. Every dog is different. If I was feeding Dixie as much as it says on the bag, she'd be a blimp.

Heh, Juniper has been eating the same amount since like 6 months with lots of excersize. She gets between 2 and 3 cups. If I fed her the puppy amount when she was younger should would have been getting close to 4 cups and would have been a blimp~ Lucky also gets roughly 3 cups a day, any less and she can't maintain her weight even with no excersize. Just the difference in dogs.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

So how much do you guys think I should feed Wolf? I think I'm gonna go with 5 1/2 to 6 cups. Possibly 5 1/2.

[Saracirce]

It's all dependent on the quality, ingredients, and analysis of the food, the size of Wolf and how active he is. Even then, there's room for error because each dog's metabolism is different. There's no cut and dry answer.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

I think I'll go with 5 1/2 cups a day. Here is what he eats in dry http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/wildern ... animal=dog and here is what he eats in wet (he only gets wet in his dinner) http://bluebuffalo.com/dog-food/freedom ... animal=dog

[Cardinal]

5 1/2 cups AND a can of food on top?

Personally I'd feed 5, no canned on top and excersize him religiously. Go from there, weight wise. If he slims down to much and can't keep muscle, add a bit. If he gains muscle and doesn't slim down to a lean mean fighting machine then cut the food. 5 cups of food is like.. 2100 calories, 6 cups would be over 2500. My 60lb dog on a rough sprint-up-hills-all-day gets about 1200 calories, 900 on an 'off' day.

[FuzzyThePunkCat]

5 1/2 cups AND a can of food on top?

Personally I'd feed 5, no canned on top and excersize him religiously. Go from there, weight wise. If he slims down to much and can't keep muscle, add a bit. If he gains muscle and doesn't slim down to a lean mean fighting machine then cut the food. 5 cups of food is like.. 2100 calories, 6 cups would be over 2500. My 60lb dog on a rough sprint-up-hills-all-day gets about 1200 calories, 900 on an 'off' day.

Not a full can, just a spoon full. Lol I would never feed a full can to him in a day xD A full can can lasts him about 3 weeks to a month. At the moment he weighs about 60-65 pounds I predict. He was weighed a month ago and weighed 55 lbs and since he gains about 10-12 lbs a month I'd say about 65 lbs.

[Saracirce]

Clemmy may not be coming around anymore for some complicated reasons and that makes me really sad. Her visits have been the highlight of my weeks and I just... ugh.

Also, the people I petsit for and offered to train their dogs, they just keep shrugging off my suggestions and making excuses and blahblahblah. So it's pointless for me to do anything with those dogs.

I'm going to crawl under a rock and hide now.