feeding question...

[Kara]

I am currently feeding Taurus and Jada Canidae. I have seen great results with it, and am very happy with how they are both doing on it. My question is, should you always just go by what the side of the bag says for feeding guidelines.

I realize you must have to use your discretion sometimes, but Jada seems to need quite a bit more then what is reccommended. The bag says 4 cups for a dog Jada's size ( 100 lbs.) I am allready feeding her 5 cups ( 2 1/2 cups 2x day).
I know when she is hungry, because in the morning, Jada will go to the cupboard where their dog food is and sit beside it, until I feed them. She will do the same thing at night when I come home from work. Lately, she has been going and sitting by it around 8-8:30 also. ( Feeding times are: 8am, and 5pm.)
Should I be giving her more? She is still growing ( her 1st birthday is tommorow !! ) and i have read that overfeeding a large dog can put unddue stress on their joints, so thats what im afraid of...

any suggestions??

Thanks, Kara

[moto1320]

Go by the dog. Doc is 48-50 something lbs and eats the food reccommend for an 80 lb dog because he is...well, himself and that takes alot of energy. Daisy on the other hand has about 10 lbs on Doc and eats less than the bag says.

I just kept upping Docs food, as he was always ravenously hungry and didn't have an ounce of fat on him. Then I was getting concerned he was eating alot, figured it had to be worms and had him checked again for everything...no problems, just energetic. So I upped his intake more and more until I saw him barely start to gain over what I liked to see and stopped there.

Jada is past her growth spurt so I wouldn't worry about the bone issues too much. Always good to keep a very large dog trim though, no one wants HD. Presas carry quite a bit of muscle compared to most other breeds. I wouldn't be surprised if she need more protien than the rec. to keep that up. Even after she hits her height, she has up to three years old that she can keep stacking on mass. Unspiced pumpkin pie filler has been used by many as a non-caloric filler for dogs that are always hungry. I like the fact that Doc is a bottomless pit, keeps him on his toes for training.

[barbponys]

Dogs like Doc should be fed to demand. It can get expensive but they eventually slow down, hopefully. With the bigger breed dogs they still go through growth spurts, muscle mass instead of bone or height, and will usually demand more food. That mid-day feeding is a good time for raw. Most dogs sleep then, siesta time, and a pure protein meal is done digesting by the time the evening meal with carbs is fed. Sleep time is growing time and the protein can be put to good use. I maybe back donkey but when I can get away with it I will feed Garion raw for lunch. He then crashes under the cat posts for the afternoon, the only thing that is sure to draw him out is kids.

When he hits 5 months and is cut back to 2 feedings for the rest of his days he will eat raw at night. If he is still going to work with me and is doing some serious mass building he may get lunch once in a while.