How much food for my 1 1/2 oes?
If I read on the back of the food bag it recommends lots more food than I give her, but my vet said a few months ago that those dog food companies over estimate the amount of food to feed. I was just curious as to how much food other sheepie owners feed. |
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| It depends on a few things, the kind of food you are feeding her, her current weight and whther or not she is at a healthy weight right now, her activity levels and also metabolism which is different for every dog.
For an average female OES, lets say a 65 lb dog at a healthy weight with a normal activity level, on a premium quality food 4-5 cups a day would be fine. If you are feeding a lesser quality food much of it has no nutritional value, only empty calories, but she would feel hungry because it doesn't meet her needs. Alos, the more they eat of a lower quality food, the more is simply waste. A high quality food is cheaper in the long run because you have a healthier dog, who eats less, and has smaller firmer stools. |
| Whatever they put on the food bags is a recommendation but its honestly usually too much. I also believe it depends on the dog itself. How much exercise does she get, how much will she eat herself, what kind of food is it..... I have a 7 month old little girl and I only feed her about a cup of food a day. I did the same with my other sheepdog that passed but she is still on puppy food so it has a lto more calories and she usually doesnt even eat all of it. So I think it dependson a lot of factors. |
| Only a cup a day at 7 months? How big is it? What are you feeding?
My 8 month old eats about 3-4 cups a day and she is too thin IMO |
| oh my gosh 1 cup a day. that sounds so little. Fergie was on 4 cups aday. Cinde now at 5 is on 2 cups a day for weight management. Also Flannigan is on 2 cups aday. |
| I use a premium dog food and my dogs eat about 3 1/2 to 4 cups a day.
Rags and Peps are both approx 70 lbs. |
| A cup a days sounds awfully light. If that's all she'll eat at one time, then try a second feeding later. This early development period is important and they need the extra nutrititon. I'd rather have a slightly overweight puppy.........SLIGHTLY overweight......than one being deprived nutrients. As they mature into their bones and body, then they can be trimmed back with more exercise and less food.
MO eats about 1- 1 1/2 cups twice a day........she's 7 years old and weighs 63 lbs. |
| Panda is 2 1/2 and eats 3 cups a day..1 in the am and 2 in the pm...some days she wont eat her breakfast, but will eat it all at dinner...it is always available to her. She is not a food gulper. The Nutro that she eats said 4-4 1/2 cups a day, but she never finished...so I slowed took a quarter cup out at a time to see where she was full, but no wasted food. |
| Jasper eats about 4 cups a day. |
| Bosley at 70 pounds, just turned 1, has suddenly dropped from 6 cups of Nutro a day to about 4 1/2 cups, split into two meals.
Dixie at approx 2 years old, 48 pounds, will eat non-stop. She usually gets 6 cups of Royal Canin a day, split into 2 meals. One day, just for a test, I gave her double her supper, and she ate it all. 9 cups that day! Another weigh-in this week, so hopefully we'll see her weight go up somewhat. She's so thin.... |
| Yea she is 7 months and gets 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup in the evening. She usually doesnt finish her breakfast until about noon and she gets her dinner at 4 and doesnt finish that until about 7. I feed Iams smart puppy large breed but am about to start switching her to adult food. I have never fed my dogs more than a cup to two cups a day. Lily is about 45 lbs right now and you can just feel her ribs just right. The vet says she is right on target. She also gets 1 rawhide bone every 3 days and 1 dentabone a week. She gest 1 marrowbone cookie in the morning when I am at the computer and 1 in the evening and a couple in the evening. She also gets a stuffed kong filled with natural balance wet log to keep her busy when she gets too roudy. Right now since its been raining and she just got spayed she hasnt been allowed out or to the dog park but usually we go at least once a day and another long walk in the morning to mid day or another romp at the park. Other than that she doesnt get anything. I think 1 cup a day is plenty for her.
My moms dog Sammy gets about 2 cups a day of a food they have in europe not sure which and he is 1 year old and about 60lbs. My last OES got 2 cups a day and maybe a little extra during the day if she looked hungry but wasnt very active. She weighed 95 lbs. So the 1-2 cups deal works pretty good for me. Lily is getting a bit pudgy even though she is only on 1 cup a day so I have to watch that a bit but so far the vet hasnt said anything and for me she looks fine. Shes got the nice belly tuck and she actually has a waist so she is good. |
My guess when she says "1 cup" she means 1 measuring cup, which equals at least 2 cups of food (more like 3 cups if you fill the measuring cup to the top). I have had too many discussions with mny girlfriend about what I mean by one cup, one scoop, etc.  Found it easier now to say "fill the bowl half way up."
Though at 3 cups for a 7 month old still seems a little light, but at that age I had a 70 lbs eating monster. |
Bosley's mom wrote: One day, just for a test, I gave her double her supper, and she ate it all. 9 cups that day!
9 cups in. Better bring an extra bag or two on your walk!  |
| Barney is a year and a half and we give him about 2 cups per meal, so 4 cups total per day. 2 in the am and 2 in the pm.
We also add a little cottage cheese and his glucosamine to his food, so I have been giving him more like 1 3/4 cups per meal lately...don't want him too beefy! |
| I feed Iams smart puppy large breed as well. I do not think your pup needs large breed, it's not a very big dog at all and it won't grow much now at 7 months old. They still grow some of course, but most of the growing is done at that stage. (No offense, I really am not trying to be insulting, some dogs are just not big eaters, one of mine included) but that is simply not enough for a pup that age, and weight. Unless as Saul said you don't really mean a cup, if you mean a cup of some sort that contains more than an actual measured cup of food, then that's totally different.
Iams is a decent enough food, but it is not a super premium food like it used to be, if your dog is such a light eater I would put her on a higher quality food like Wellness. Of course if she is a really tiny dog, short with a fine bone structure then 45 lbs would be about right for her, but still, at 45 lbs she should be eating at least 2-3 cups a day on Iams. Muscle also weighs more than fat, so a dog the same height and bone structure could weigh more if it gets more exercise. A heart defect often causes failure to grow appropriately as well, and I think it was you who mentioned a heart defect was suspected but ruled out? I would perhaps look into that further? |
| well do you guys know those storage bins that you get at petsmart. HEre is a link to one that I mean. It comes with a measureing cup. http://www.petsmart.com/global/product_ ... 25790&Ne=2. She gets about half of one of those cups in the morning and 1/2 in the evening. So I took an actual measuring cup that you use for baking and used that to fill the cup from the food bin. The cup from the food bin holds exactly 3 cups of the measuring cup. So I guess Lily gets about 3 cups a day split into two.
Oh b.t.w, her heart turns out to be perfectly normal and healthy. It was just a drug induced murmur. She finally did get spayed and it never dhowed up once.... She does get a lot of excersice usually when its not raining as much. She is pretty tiny though for a sheepie, she is about 18 inches at the withers. |
| That sounds more like it then, 3 cups a day as compared to one cup per day. LOL |
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