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How much should I be feeding my lab?
Hello everybody!
I have a 1.5 year old female black lab (her name is Sammie, the cutiepants dog in my signature).
She is very active, and spends most of the day running around outside, chasing squirrels with her brother (his name is George).
George belongs to my ILs, and we have been feeding our dogs the same amount (2 cups twice per day, once in the morning, once in the evening). Sammie is quite a bit smaller than George (she's about 55 lbs, George is probably around 85ish...he's a monster compared to Sammie). When we feed them, they aren't overly interested in the food right away... but they get around to eating it an hour or two later after it is set out.
Are we over-feeding Sammie? My parents own a black lab/springer spaniel mix (we think... she was a pound puppy) and they feed her 1 cup twice per day, on recommendation of the vet.
Re: How much should I be feeding my lab?
What are you feeding her? Four cups a day is a lot for a dog that size. My 80 pound puppy is only getting 3 cups per day.
How does she look? Can you see a waistline when you look at her from above? Is there a nice tuck in her waist when you look at her from the side? Can you easily feel her ribs when you run your hands down her sides? That's the best gauge for whether or not she's overweight.
Ditto MrsHizzo's questions -- the answer will depend on what you're feeding.
It's easy to overfeed a lab (mine was always trying to convince that I hadn't fed him in weeks), but it's also hard on their joints. My lab got up to 110 pounds. I switched him to a grain free food, switched his snack from biscuits to carrot sticks, and got my now-ex-MIL to lay off the pig ear chews, and he's back to around 85 pounds.
Thank you for all your suggestions. She is still trim (can feel ribs, but can't see them), but I think she could stand to eat less (especially less than her 85 lb brother, who doesn't look as trim as she does--and her belly could stand to be a little smaller I'm sure).
I feed her Iams Natural dog food. If she is used to two cups twice per day, should I cut her down to 1.5 cups, or 1 cup at each feeding? We feed her maybe a few treats a day (little 5 calorie ones) and rarely give her a little piece of chicken or steak from dinner in addition. My husband thinks she'll "know" if we are cutting her back a lot right away and that she won't like it. I think he's crazy. What do you guys think?
Well, no, she won't like it...labs are chow hounds, they'd eat the whole bag in one day if you let them. But what is she going to do about it? You control the food.
Iams isn't a great quality food, but four cups still sounds like a ton. If I were you, I'd cut back to what the feeding guidelines on the bag say you should be giving her, and then adjust from there.
I would definitely switch to a higher quality food. You will need to feed way less (also less poop as a bonus). Just ask if you need some recommendations!
Also the amount to feed depends on the individual dog and their metabolism. For example our 40lb lab(ish) gets 1 cup of Taste of the Wild twice a day. She is still young (2yo) and quite active. Our 1yo 26lb pyr shep eats the SAME amount because is incredibly active and I swear has the metabolism of a hummingbird.
Although it seems strange that a dog little more that half the weight of another dog eats the same amount of food, they are both at a very good weight right now.
I'd switch to a higher-quality, grain-free food. My lab eats Wellness CORE Ocean. It's pricey (over $50 for the big bag), but he only eats 1.5 to 2 cups a day, so the bag lasts a long time.
Plus, since being on the new food, he hasn't gotten any ear infections, and his anal glands express on their own, so we've cut back our vet visit costs.
Try this site for an easy explanation of ingredients, and comparison of quality versus price. It's interesting to read.
http://www.petfoodratings.net/dogs.html
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