how many cups do you feed your 50ish pounders?

i am trying to get my 50 lb winston down a few pounds. he is looking good at one and a half but could stand to loose his baby belly. i feed 1 and 3/4 cups of california natural herring and sweet potato but feel like that may be too much.

i also do a lot of training with him so that really ups his food intake too. usually for training i use the dick van patten natural balance rolls. anything you all use that is lighter? and how many cups do you feed and what type of food.

winston:

 

i feed nick natures variety. the venison or salmon and he gets 2 cups. he is 52 lbs, and pretty lean there. he pretty much stays that shape. i would keep the feed the same and up his exercise routine more. underfeeding a dog is no way to get one in shape IMO. not implying that you were trying to do that but 1 3/4 cup is pretty much the cutoff for a 50 lb dog i would think. what does the chart say on the back? not that it means much but can be a guide to start with.

p.s. i highly reccomend the natures variety food. some people knock it cuz they say it don't have enough protien sources, but it has about 4 different eggs in it also, which i consider protien sources myself.

here is nick just a couple days ago.

 

well i know that charts can be overdone. i really need to get his training food in control sometimes that doubles his food intake but i feel bad not feeding him later with my other dogs. i am always surprised though when others show what they feed. i do need to get him doing more cardio exercise though. he gets long walks and obedience but nothing very high impact except playing with my other dogs

 

oh BTW he looks great!

 

Oh I LOVE Winston!!!!

 

thanks! i take it as a real compliment since you are so unbiased about the red dogs. hehe. he loves you too.

 

I feed 3 cups a day.. according to the feed chart on the back of the food bag. They (especially Folsom) act like they are starvin when I come out there but you can look at them and tell they are far from missing a meal.

 

i know. we are trying to get our girl down in weight. she cant do much exercise until the pool comes that i ordered for her since she has bad arthiritis in one leg from an old fracture that was never detected. so we have cut her food back and you would think she was dying of starvation. of course we could feed her 2 cups or ten cups and she would act this way.

 

Folsom is the same way.. he literally will work himself up to the point of foaming at the mouth when I come out with the food. I've never seen anything like it.

 

The Vet I work for now tells people if they have an overweight dog feed what they should weigh not what they currently weigh. So if your dog should weigh 45pds and weighs 60 and you are feeding her at 60pd then you are giving her to many calories.

I also worked for another vet she recommended that if you should feed your dog 2 cups twice a day mix in green beans. Feed 1 cup kibble and 1 cup green beans. I know it worked on a few dogs. The thing is when losing weight you want it to be a gradual process.

IMO I tend to lean towards what they Vet I work for now says.

 

I love this pic winston is a good looking one

 

depends on the brand

 

I use the DVP stuff for training treats as well. I haven't met a dog that doesn't go apesh*t for them. I feel like during training you're burning calories as you go, unless your training is a lot different than mine. Oh yeah, and I feed my 45-er 2 cups per day, or less depending on her level of activity.

 

Mine eat 2 cups a day depending on how hard they are playing or training they may have a bit more or less

it also depends on the type of food you feed . Some are more nutrient dense than others

Dogs are RAW tend to cut weight faster IMO also than dogs on kibble.

 

My dog weighs between 47 and 51lbs depending on her conditioning level and I never feed her more than 1.5 cups a day. She eats 1 cup I'd say 80% of the time but if I work her really hard one day, I will give her an extra half a cup. This is of Innova Evo. She also gets raw a lot too. She doesn't gain weight if I feed her more, she's too much of a crazy dog to let calories sit, but I don't feel that she needs more than 1.5 cups a day. Heres a pic of her last summer, she is not underweight.

 

My dog's down to 52 lbs. at the moment. He gets 2 cups a day, mostly because I exercise him alot, not to mention he is only 9 months and still needs nutrients to grow. I'm trying to keep him in the low 50s, but I'm sure by the time he fully matures he will be right around 60 lbs. chain weight, but there's no doubt I can keep him conditioned around low 50's. BTW he's eating Diamond Lamb and Rice Natural.

 

First off how old is he? you're talking about a baby belly. If he is under 1 year my suggestion is to let him be. 1 3/4 cups for a 50 lb dog who is under 1 is not enough, especially on a young dog. may i ask the reason why you are lowering his weight. the only response i can think of is that you might be into conformation shows. If not you're just wasting your time unless you wanna experiment with different foods and seeing how your dog assimilates them. I did this too and I found out the simpler the better. Many of these knew foods that are coming out are really designed to catch the owners attention not necessarily what's in the dogs best interest. i've found that NO dog food is complete on it's own. i've always found the need to supplement unless their on a maintenance diet only. now after reading this I know that many here will state otherwise, but after 17 years of fucking around with these dogs I have a pretty good idea of what i;m telling you. Feed the maximum amount of food at which he retains his best weight. And like you said yourself if you are REALLY working you know their nutritional demands will increase. For those out there who still abide by the feeding charts you are in the stone age. Avoid starches. That's all for now. Good luck and use your common sense.

 

thanks he will be going on two in august.

 

OH and like i said he gets a lot of other stuff in his f=diet--peanut butter, banana stuffed kongs, DVP treats, etc.

 

I feed 2 cups of Nature's Variety, 1 in the morning and another in the evening.

Kadin stays between 48-52lbs.