how much should I be feeding?

    • Bronze

    how much should I be feeding?

    Hello all.  New guy here.  I have a 4 month old pitt, he is a razors edge pit if that makes any difference.  He should grow to around 80-90 lbs.  Right now he is around 30lbs.  The vet really couldnt offer much advise as to how much I should be feeding him.  They said it really depends on how active he is.  I can understand that.  He sits around in my office most of the day while I am working.  after work most of the time he is running around with my roomates ridge back.  i wanna keep him lean to help him look good.  but i also wanna feed him enough to make sure he is getting everything he needs. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    Edited: my reading comprehension skills could use work, I neglected to note this is a puppy. I think what I said still stands to some extent but I've never raised a puppy, I always adopt adults, so a puppy's needs are probably going to be a bit different. People with puppies? 


    What brand of food do you feed? How does he look now?

     I really tend to play it by ear as far as adjusting the quantities my dogs eat. I start with a little bit less than the recommendations on the bag of food (food producers have a vested interest in you feeding too much), give it a couple weeks, and then see how my dog looks. If he appears to be getting a little on the skinny side, I up the food amount by 1/2 cup per day and see what happens. If he seems to be getting a little porky, I decrease. When I got my newest dog, it took about 2 months to figure out what his "just right" amount was, but I can assure you that at no point in there was he starving to death or getting obese. When you know your dog well, you can tell when they have gained or lost a couple of pounds (or ounces if you have a small dog), and that kind of gain or loss is not a huge deal.

    • Bronze

    he doesnt look over weight or under really.  he just always seems to be starving.  i started out feeding him science diet.  now i have switched over to bill jack.  just wanna make sure i am ok

    • Gold Top Dog

    Some dogs just do not know when to say when as far as food. My coonhound has gotten into food when no one was home and literally eaten until it was coming back out of both ends. Go by what the dog looks like, not by whether or not they are acting as if they've never seen food before. A lot of dogs act like that when in fact they are perfectly well-fed. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    I have one dog that's not a big eater and he eats when he has to.  The other will eat herself silly.  This was a question of mine too, when i first got her.  I thought maybe i wasn't feeding enought cuz she always wanted more.  Always!  I pretty much feed what the bag says. I started feeding less than that but felt it wasnt enough.  We feed her 4 cups a day now and mostly use Canidae with her.  We also give her treats and canned food or something as a mix in with her kibble.  We walk her daily, but she's still young so we take a couple shorter walks since she is a large breed.  She of course is gaining weight cus she is growing but she is just right...maybe a little thin compared to some other pyrs her age.

    • Gold Top Dog

    whatever you do, do not feed the dog more just because he "seems hungry". Many dogs are hungry when they see food, regardless of what they've just eaten.

    I check my dog's body condition weekly and adjust food amount up or down by 10% as needed- if dog seems a bit thin, I increase the amount by 10%, if fat, I decrease the amount by 10%, and repeat every week. I actually keep a chart on the fridge so I can remember exactly how much to feed each dog this week.

    Especially for a pup, you want thin. With a thin-coated pit bull puppy, you should be able to see at least some of the ribs; ribs should be easy to feel in all dogs, none of this pressing and groping. One guide is if people don't regularly accuse you of starving your dog, your dog is probably overweight. Most dogs are overweight.

    • Puppy

    I agree that you don't want to overfeed, especially as a puppy. Both Science Diet and Bil-Jac are grain and filler-heavy, and high in carbs. It should make your dog feel full. If it's not, then I would switch foods to something with more protein and substance to it.

    I have a 6 yr old boxer that always looked like she was starving, even though she ate 4 cups of dry Wellness and 1/4 of a can every day. When I switched her to Canidae, she finally put weight on and looks filled out. I can still see her ribs but not so much her spine.  So I highly recommend Canidae if you can find it near you  (usually at a feed store or non-chain pet store). It doesn't have by-products and all the fillers as what you are feeding, and it isn't any more expensive (in fact, it's probably cheaper, at approx. $0.75/lb., plus you feed less of it because it has more calories).  If I had it to do over, I would definitely start a puppy on a higher quality food to avoid a lot of medical problems later on.

    I've also read that you can add green beans to the food. It helps them feel "full" without adding much in the way of calories to the food.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Have the same issue as you, I just adopted a now 6mnth old Golden Rtrvr, I too have never had a large puppy this young before.

    We started out with 3 cups a day of California Natural adult food, he's now eating a little over 2 cups a day of the puppy Cal natural food. He weighed 29# at 4 mnths of age when we got him, he now weighs in at 36# - I can feel his ribs, and very slightly see them when he's standing; there are times I'm thinking he may be a VERY little too heavy, but 2-3 cups a day is very little food for a fairly active puppy who's going to reach somewhere's between 60-70#'s.

    • Gold Top Dog

    why do you think 2 to 3 cups a day is "very little food"?  that's probably more than 1200 calories per day, which is an awful lot for a 40 pound animal.

    You have to keep in mind that dry dog food is dry-- if it were "real" food, your 3 cups of food would look like an enormous amount. Frankly, most dogs fed dry food are probably starving all the time cause they are fed such a concentrated form of food.

    • Gold Top Dog

    Can you figure out a dogs BMR (basic metabolic rate - basically calories burned sitting around all day) based on their weight and then figure out their calorie expenditure based on activity (i.e. a 3 mile walk @ 3mph)?  I hate to be a geek about it but I am a cyclist.  This is how I figure out how much I eat Big Smile 

    • Gold Top Dog

    http://www.mycockerspaniel.com/mer.htm

    calorie calculator for dog, but frankly I find it to vastly over-estimate my dogs calorie needs.

    • Gold Top Dog

    My 85-90 lb. adult dog eats 3 cups a day. 55lb. adult gets 2 cups. To me, anything more than 3 cups of quality kibble is really a lot of food unless the dog is enormous, or extremely active, or working. 

    • Gold Top Dog

    So how much SHOULD I be feeding a very active 6mnth old golden rtrvr puppy, who weighs 36# now, but will top off at 60-70#'s??

    I'm feeding Cal Natural Puppy food, 591 kcal/cup, IIRC.....I've mentioned before that i've never had a large breed puppy, so I don't know how much to feed exactly....some mentioned here 2-4 cups of food.

    FWIW, he is not heavy by any means, you can see his ribs from the side.

    • Bronze

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