Amount of food??

[BudDog]

Hello everyone:)
Hope everyone is enjoying their summer and all the dogs are doing well.
I own a 6 month old male Pit/Rott and wanted to know about how much food he should be eating these days? He is always hungry so I tried the never let the bowl be empty thing and he was always eating and not leaving any for my other dogs. So now I feed him and then he goes into his crate and I feed my other dogs. I read the food I'm giving him and it says 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 cups each serving. Does this seem right? Should I feed him anything else besides the dry food? He eats dog treats and raw hide chews during the day. Any advice would be great:) Take care, Rachel

[pocketpit]

Does he have a waistline? Can you feel his ribs if you run your hands over his sides? He should have a tuck up (waist) when viewed from the side and a visible waist when viewed from above. His ribs idealy should be covered but easily felt.
Your vet can give you a good idea of where he's at as well. I'd take him in and get him weighed. While you're there ask them what they think. Maybe some more pictures here will give folks an idea. It's hard to tell from your avatar photo.

[barbponys]

It depends heavily on the brand and formula of food you are feeding. Some feed at a much slower rate than others. I've known people with an 80# dog that eats 6 cups a day on one food and on another may only eat 3. You need to factor in everything the dog eats for the over all intake. The quanity of treats and how big of a raw hide. Most dogs peak at about 7-8 months as far as up growth. After that they fill out, depending on the breed, till about 18 months or 2 years. Most dogs are always hungry, they should be. Some of mine would eat a 20# bag of food and rupture in the process, it's instinctive to eat as much as they can when it's available. God knows Garion will eat large quatities given half a chance, the little pig . Hope some of this helps a little.

[chalkline]

I would have to agree with barb on this one. Different foods have different amounts of calories. I had Milenko (4 mnths old) on Nutro and he had to eat 3 cups a day and he would poop like crazy. I recently switched him to Canidae. It was reccomended to me by my pet store for pit bulls because it helps build strong muscles and it doesnt contain any by-products or any fillers. The food also has alot more calories per serving (i think about 470 cal/serving) so I now only have to feed him 1 1/2 cups a day. Therefore he is pooping less now which is alot better and it actually makes the poop smell less too Canidae costs a little bit more ( I think I just paid $22 for 15 or 20 lbs) but it lasts longer because you feed them less and the few extra dollars is worth it because the quality of the food is so much better than stuff like IAMS and Pedigree.