How many cups of food?

[rosemary1978]

My little pyr, Bruce (male -14 weeks), is currently getting about 5 cups of dry food (purina 'large breed' puppy chow) per day. I mix in a little wet puppy food when he gets his dinner portion. He also gets a few treats during the day. His dad was approx 130lbs and his mom was approx 95lbs. He was the largest puppy of the litter and we think he is going to be a big boy.

Does anyone know if I am feeding him too little? I forgot to ask the vet last week when we were in for his shots. He looks very healthy, but I read on another thread that some dogs were getting 10 cups a day..however, they were 1.5 years old and I believe the owner was trying to put weight on their pyr.

Please advise, if anyone has a knowledge with respect to what amout of puppy chow he should get now (at 3-4 months) and how much as time goes on.... when do I increase it?

Thanks!

[risestar]

generally a lot of Pyrs will govern their food intake, so once you find the amount where there is a little left over consistently, that's usually the magic number. Different Pyrs eat different amounts, depends a lot on climate and activity levels as they will eat less in warm climates and more if they are more active during the day

Currently, ours eats a full margarine container full each day.

[Jeneanxo]

Hopper (17 weeks) eats 5 cups a day. it depends partly on the ingredients in the food- the type of protein in it, the amount of fillers. Hopper's food is Solid Gold Wolf Cub (1st 2 ingredients are bison and salmon, NO "meal" and no corn). he starts to get pudgy if we feed him more, when you have a hard time feeling the ribs you know they are getting too much!

we cannot let him govern his intake, as he will eat himself into a stupor. I left his new bag of food out, unopened, for a few hours before putting it in his bin. well, I came out to find he'd chewed a hole in the bag and had his head stuffed in inhaling as much as he could. he's a little pig!

[Kate53]

I found Risestar's comment rings true with my Pyr. Even though I ration her food and it appears to be so little, most times she leaves a bit in the bowl which I throw out. Sometimes I have a hard time getting her to eat at all even though most dogs would gobble up what I put in her dish! She is definitely NOT a food hound and I need to remind myself she will not starve to death if she refuses a meal or two.....

[vin63]

...even when our dogs were under 1 year, we kept the amount to right around 3 cups of adult food per day, and we give treats throughout the day during traning. We do not feed puppy food.

[Jewel]

My rule of thumb is if I can "count" the ribs, which is feeling each individual rib easily through just skin, then the pup can use more food. If I run my hands along the ribs and I can feel the ribs without having to press down on the skin, the dog is in good weight. The other thing that I go by is that if when my dog trots I can see the skin roll from side to side, then the dog needs to lose weight.

How much each dog eats depends on the dog's metabolism and activity level. My two dogs are the same size right now, both are about 25-26 inches at the withers and each weighs 70 lbs. My female is 15 months and because she's still growing, she gets quite a bit more food than my male who is an adult.

[Rebelmom]

I leave food out in the bowl all day long and sometimes Rebel doesn't eat for days on end then devours it at 2 a.m. on the second or third night!! I agree, I think it depends on the dog, the climate, activity level, type of food, etc. I used to use the same system with my children when they were drinking from a baby bottle as some of the other pyr owners have stated. If they drained a bottle each time, then I added a little more per session until they left a little at the end of the feeding then I knew that they were satisfied. Unless your pyr is inhaling his food every time, then I would think just experiment with the amount and make sure there is just a little left over and get an idea for the amount of cups from that.

[kimba's momma]

I leave food out in the bowl all day long and sometimes Rebel doesn't eat for days on end then devours it at 2 a.m. on the second or third night!! I agree, I think it depends on the dog, the climate, activity level, type of food, etc. I used to use the same system with my children when they were drinking from a baby bottle as some of the other pyr owners have stated. If they drained a bottle each time, then I added a little more per session until they left a little at the end of the feeding then I knew that they were satisfied. Unless your pyr is inhaling his food every time, then I would think just experiment with the amount and make sure there is just a little left over and get an idea for the amount of cups from that.
my 5 month old great pyrness eats 6 cups of food a day..sometimes though she will only eat 2 or 4 cups a day.I think it all depends on the activity level of you're dog....she is a big girl weighing in at almost 70 pounds already at just 5 months old....am I maybe feeding her too much food or not???...we've tried several good brands of food.but she will only eat ole roy which we know isn't a real good food to be feeding her...but she won't eat any other kind.....any idea's on a better brand she may eat? or should we just stick with ole roy?....

[rosemary1978]

Thank you everyone for your replies. I think I may increase Bruce's 4-5 cups a day to 5-6 cups. He gets dry food in the morning and lunch and I have been mixing in wet food (for flavor...which he loves) for dinner. I usually give him another cup an hour or two after dinner....(dry)...because I can tell he wants more. He will usually leave 1/2 of his morning (dry) food in the bowl...however, he will ALWAYS eat all of any meal mixed w/ wet food. I think if we were feeding him dry...all of the time we would have a better indication of the max amount. However, I don't want to stop giving him a little wet food (mixed in as a treat) because he gets soooo excited about it.....
:D

[ty5396]

Hi.....you mention that Ole Roy isnt a good food. It really isnt even near the good category....yikes.
dogfoodproject.com or dogfoodanalysis.com will be able to help you choose a better food that will keep your guy full. They need quality protein and Ole Roy sure doesnt have that.
Anything from a box store or supermarket is not quality food....just isnt there.

good luck.

[Jeneanxo]

Also, to Kimba's Momma, I would like to think if a dog is hungry enough, they will eat whatever is put in front of them. It's understandable that not everyone can afford a $50 40 pound bag of food... BUT if you can, maybe give a better quality food a shot. Innova, Solid Gold, Canidae are some good examples.

[Topper]

Here is another thought. My topper will eat real good But if there is a lot of movement going on around him. He will stop eating. In the morning I am the only one around. I drink my coffee while the dogs eat. In the evening the husband is around and when he get up and walks around the house he stops eating. Also if they have been out side playing he don't eat a much. So I make them rest for about 10 minutes before eating

[TCGram]

I'm lucky enough that we fill Emilie's bowl when it is empty (every other day or so) and she eats when she wants to. Some days the bowl stays full, other days we go to bed with 1/2 bowl full and wake up to an empty one.

[Topper]

With my dogs I use to leave the dog bowls with food out all the time. But since topper has food aggression problem I can't do that. I like it this way now. I call it my time out to sit and take a breather. The Pug got a reminder last night not to get in Topper food area.

[kimba's momma]

Also, to Kimba's Momma, I would like to think if a dog is hungry enough, they will eat whatever is put in front of them. It's understandable that not everyone can afford a $50 40 pound bag of food... BUT if you can, maybe give a better quality food a shot. Innova, Solid Gold, Canidae are some good examples.
Thanks for you're advice.....I'm going to try her and my other dogs on a better quality food....but have you ever heard of nutrena before? if so then what are you're thoughts on that kind?? kimba doesn't know whats good for her.and will take a junkie food over a good brand anytime....I'm just gonna try another good quality food and she'll hopfully get hungry enough to eat it....right now she is suffering from growing pains and is on meds for it for the pain....

[Jewel]

kimba's mom, where I am, the feed stores carry high quality dog foods (Wellness, Innova, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, Canidae) at lower prices than Petco, so you might want to see if you have feed stores around in your area.

[Kate53]

I hate to admit this but I think my Queenie would probably like "Old Roy" too! For some reason she doesn't know/appreciate the better quality stuff, even when I add some little yummy tidbit like hamburg or chicken. She's on a cheese kick all of a sudden, too. She looks for a little shredded cheese on top of her food. Finicky is an understatement here! So far, I can get her to eat some California Natural or Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken. Maybe I should just give her some Purina Dog Chow and see what happens!

[kimba's momma]

kimba's mom, where I am, the feed stores carry high quality dog foods (Wellness, Innova, Natural Balance, Taste of the Wild, Canidae) at lower prices than Petco, so you might want to see if you have feed stores around in your area.
the feed stores around here only sell diamond and nutrena dog foods..I don't care for diamond heard to many horror stories bout it in the past.I have however fed my wolf hybrids nutrena before.it doesn't have any fillers or soy bean meal .and they can't handle soy in their food.so maybe I'll try this food for kimba my great pyrness..... do they have nutrena in you're area????

[kimba's momma]

I hate to admit this but I think my Queenie would probably like "Old Roy" too! For some reason she doesn't know/appreciate the better quality stuff, even when I add some little yummy tidbit like hamburg or chicken. She's on a cheese kick all of a sudden, too. She looks for a little shredded cheese on top of her food. Finicky is an understatement here! So far, I can get her to eat some California Natural or Solid Gold Hund-N-Flocken. Maybe I should just give her some Purina Dog Chow and see what happens!
yep my kimba's the same way..she is very picky, we bought solid gold once for her and my other 8 dogs too.and you know that stuff cost $60 here for a 40 pound bag..and can you believe they wasted it...none of them would eat it.but if you put some ole roy in front of em..they chow down on it..guess they don't know what's good for them.were thinking bout trying them on nutrena again..I fed it to my wolf dogs in the past...it doesn't have any fillers or soy in it.... the main ingredient is also meat....have you ever heaerd of it before in your area??? oh by the way my dogs won't touch purina dog chow either....

[Kate53]

We have all kinds of pet stores in my area. I shop at a local specialty pet food place (Bark Avenue Pet Specialties) and she has reasonable prices for the premium foods she sells. I pay about $45 for a 40 pound bag of Solid Gold. It seems that the Canadian foods have become very popular in my area...especially Acana & Orijen. She carries just about every premium food available including frozen raw "Bravo" food. She even has several varieties of the hypoallegenic formulas for dogs with sensitive systems. I like doing business with a local vendor rather than one of these big chain stores like Petsmart or Petco. There's a personal atmosphere here and she knows all her clients and their dogs. I also use the internet and have some items shipped directly to my home like Bullysticks Chicken wraps and dog chews which I buy in bulk....it's cheaper that way.