# Kibble feeders. Do/did your puppies eat their measured food?



## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

I am feeding the girls twice a day. They each have a different food for now. 

They each like their food and are excited when I put it down for them. They just do not eat the amount designated for their size.

They are not rejecting their food. They eat excitedly, but when they are full/finished, they hop up and run off to play. 

Ruby is a bit over 19 weeks and is just 2 1/4 lbs. so I have been giving her ZP as treats and as a supplement to her kibble to help her gain weight. I will sprinkle it, crumbled in her bowl. She is all too happy to gobble that even if she is walking away from her dish and I offer it. She LOVES it.

They do not seem hungry nor beg near their bowls between feedings. I want to make certain that they are getting enough and are growing but neither eats their whole bowl full.

Perhaps it would help if you would tell me how much yours eat each day. 

Thanks!!


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## Deme (Aug 18, 2009)

Jake will eat whatever I put down to him where as Red is a fussy eater and is also easily distracted.
I also wondered whether I was overloading his stomach so have put him onto 3 feeds which he manages much better.
I also have both lads weighed every 2 weeks by my vet to make sure they are the correct weight and in good health. This is something I have done since the day I bought them. Keeping track of their weight and writing it down means I can always recall what their weight was at a particular time. It also means the vet has a record of their weight should he need to know when administating antibiotics, wormers etc.

Luckily my vet does not charge for weighing animals.

Also my vet holds a weekly weigh in that puts together a diet for your dog suited to your own dogs needs. Once I can drive myself I am going to start taking my dogs as this is a free service as well. If your really worried if your dog is eatig enough you could enquire at your vets to see if they have what I call the "The Dogs Diet Club" or simply take advantage of their scales.

Cheers

Deme x


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Kibble companies (all food companies, really, for our pets), are in the business of selling food. Their recommendations are ALWAYS high as far as what a dog needs. I would be worried if they are eating any less than 1/2 of what is recommended, but, if they eat at least 1/2 the recommended amount or more, they are probably just fine. If you want to beef them up a bit you can add in something like a salmon oil (obviously wait til Hope's tummy settles and is sorted), scrambled egg with the kibble, cottage cheese (some dogs don't tolerate this well), hamburger meat cooked (the full fat stuff), etc. just don't feed a raw food and a kibble in the same meal (so you need to cook/scramble whatever meat/egg it is).


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## Deme (Aug 18, 2009)

That's a good point to remmeber Kristi regards the feeding advice on the sides of the food packet.

I too was told that these recommendations are higher than the amount that is actually needed.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

Well then. We should be good. 
Ruby eats about 1/8th cup, 2x day (plus the ZP that I sneak to give her) and Hope a bit more than 1/8th cup of her new food.
We do weigh them regularly. They are maintaining but not really packing on the lbs. 
I do watch their weights closely so I will see how they do. 

Once we get normal tummies, I will add eggs, and cooked meats. A couple of weeks ago I gave them some breast meat off a roasted chicken that I cooked and they about passed out from delight!!

Thanks so much!!


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Yes once you get Hope's tummy settled, if you slowly introduce new things, eventually they will tolerate new things more quickly  Mine can eat just about anything under the sun but it took a long time to work up to it. 

Its kinda like us...if ALL we ate was JUST ONE THING, it would REALLY upset our tummies to eat something new. I ate a ton of white rice, peanut butter and chicken when I taught English in China and every summer when I first came back to the states, I was nooot a happy camper with all the different foods suddenly available to me. I mean...I enjoyed eating them, but, well, my tummy was looking for it's rice, pb & chicken  ha ha ha.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

True. Ruby could eat the whole kitchen and be just fine-Hope, not so much! 

I boiled several Smart Chicken chicken breasts when I was feeding Hope my home made food before Saturday's episode. 

I shredded and froze it all. I plan to introduce that next since Hope's food is not so great in protein. I will stick with that before I add more.

Since this food and/or medication appears to be working, I plan to move slowly not to end up back where we have been!!


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## woodard2009 (Aug 4, 2010)

Being they are puppies, you might want to consider feeding 3-4 times instead of just two. 3-4 small meals might be better for them than 2 big meals, just til they get a little older.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

I would but we are gone during the day. I was leaving them another 1/4 cup during the day (which they were eating) but when I did that they seemed to not eat in the morning and gorge at night.
Also with them on different foods I was unsure what to do (I prefer my little one not have the prescription food) so I started feeding them (just since Thursday of last week) morning and night. They seem MUCH less piggy at their bowls.


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