Hello I know there isn't a simple answer to this but I am just wondering...... Bella is 12 months and on James Wellbeloved Junior. Advice on the bag is to switch her to adult now but there's still quite a bit left so sticking with junior until it's all gone. Plus she's still a junior in my eyes?! It recommends she has 320g of biscuits a day, I give her 200g a day ( split in 2 meals) plus a dentistix, odd treats here and there . She's certainly not skinny and the vet actually advised she lost 1kg on the last visit, which she has done and she looks and feels ok, a thick sheet but not a duvet I'm guessing I've answered my own question here, but just wondered why the food recommendations on the bag are much more , I don't want to be underfeeding, or over feeding....... how much do you all feed in relation to what the food guidelines recommend?
Doesn't the bag give a range of food to feed? A minimum and maximum? Usually there is a range given to account for different metabolisms and exercise. Often an entire bitch or dog will have a higher metabolism than a neutered one so will need more food. Or a dog that is outside a lot will need more food, to stay warm, than a dog that is more inside. Honestly, I don't even look at the guidelines, I just followed our breeders recommendation and kept on with what she said. We have always been more active in winter so I up the amount I feed then. If Bella looks good and your Vet approves (though I do find some like dogs fatter than I do) then you've got it right. The bag is not the best guide, YOU and Bella are.
I think the guides on the packs are just that, a guide. The only brand that I found gave an accurate guide was Husse which Juno was on as a puppy. My greatest fun was when switching her on to Hills Prescription Diet J/D Reduced Calorie after her ED operation. the packs says o base upon the desired adult weight. As she was only 9 months at the time there was some head scratching as go what her adult weight would be. she is allowed 200g of kibble a day plus treats training and walking and her weight is stable in the 24.5 to 25.0 kg but I keep a close eye on her figure and the vet is always happy with her shape. I work on it is better to be mean and keep them slim
Generally speaking dog food manufacturers suggest you are very generous with the amount of food you give your dog. I am on my third dog and reckon between half and two thirds of the recommended amount is about right. Molly is two years old and, nominally, gets 250 grams of kibble a day. The recommended a out for her is between 330 and 475 grams. I use low calorie foods like chicken or fish as training treats. If she has had many treats, either in training or conning out my husband, I simply don't give her all her kibble allowance for the day. She is a field line Lanrador so is more athletically built than her show Lab cousins.
I'm also feeding James Wellbeloved - adult duck and rice - and Molly has about 200g a day to allow for food rewards, which at the moment are mostly liver cake, though sometimes sausage and occasionally shop treats. Sometimes (once a week or 10 days) she has a serrano ham bone so that day she doesn't need as much kibble. Think you just have to adjust according to what your dog looks like.
Nope there is no minimum and maximum just a set amount stated. yes true ill stick with it. Labs are always hungry anyway so when she gives me sad eyes like I'm starving her and swipes empty food packets off the tops like a homeless pooch I start to panic
There is no need to rush to change to an adult food - providing the food you are feeding is appropriate for larger dogs. If you are feeding a breed appropriate junior food, it should be supplying reduced energy and slightly reduced calcium to help you keep your young dog lean and not growing too quickly (according to Linda Case in "dog food logic"). That said, at a year, the period of rapid growth is over anyway. Given that is the objective (or should be) of junior puppy food for larger breeds I find it bizarre that the feeding guidelines seem to encourage overfeeding which would defeat the whole point. I suppose in the defence of the food makers, they would say that you have to deduct training treats, dentastix, and everything else, so this is always going to mean a reduction from the amounts given on the packet. Charlie currently gets 100g of kibble a day, plus his training treats. He is slim (not quite as slim as he has been, but still slim). On the packet, for a 30kg dog is recommended: overweight: 314g, normal: 363g, lean: 413g. So right now, Charlie is getting less than a quarter of the amount of food the packet says he should. If I don't do any training, I add 50g to his food. So that would be 36% of the food specified on the packet.
I've never gone by what the packet says. I go by the size my dogs are growing and what they look like in build. Finish the packet or add it to the adult size food.
Last time I changed food and I had a fair bit left I mixed the two together (old and new) and kept some back for treats. I always go on how my dogs look too....
Much easier to go by how your dog looks, I find. I have recently upped Simba's food as he was starting to look pretty lean (oh, the rejoicing in the land! ) and he's looking better now. To tell you the truth I didn't even look at what the manufacturers recommend.
Don't forget you should be able to see your dogs ribs a bit. You may think he/she is under weight, also they are like us and fill out as they get older.
See? Or feel? The guideline I've heard most often is not visible but easily felt. Especially with a double coated breed like Labradors. Another guide is looking for a waist from above. Not a tuck up viewed from sideways, which a Lab from show lines should not have much of. A field bred Lab might have more tuck up. Speaking of adult dogs.
I always like to see the ends of my dog's ribs, and see all of them outlined when he turns or sucks in his tummy when sniffing/eating/drinking. I can do that now and my vet would still prefer 0.5kg off him.. He has a double coat. One of the problems is, I think, that on the UK ideal dog weight descriptions the ideal is described in terms like "visible waist, 'visible tuck up". But overweight is described as "waist is not prominent" etc. which suggests the ideal should be "prominent waist" etc - but it doesn't actually say that. Certainly, there have been a fair few posts over the years of dogs that their owners say have a good waist and a "blanket covering the ribs" etc but in the photos they look far too heavy to me..
See the ribs but some labs are different so just depends on the setup of them. As I said they all fill out later.
My vet thinks Juno looks very good and she has a visible tuck up, a waist when viewed from above and you can feel her ribs easily. She is a mixture of field and show lines and weighs around 24.5kg
JulieT, It's confusing here too, with our Canadian and the U.S. standards giving different weights for dogs, the same weight for bitches but both saying the weight is approximate and "in working condition." Working condition is not defined and not checked; how could it be when nothing says what it is? Mr Grumpy, yes, when we were doing field work and Oban was very fit our trainer congratulated me for having a dog where he could see the last three ribs. I personally like to see a bit more flesh, Oban is bench bred, our trainer's dogs were field bred. It's very subjective, which an owner likes.
Yes, I find the US breed standard for Labradors a bit different. In the UK we have no weight range, but we have a height range. My dog is a show line dog (and by that I mean he came from a breeder who was actually breeding dogs to show, not that he was bred for a pet but doesn't have a typical working line look - which is what people often mean in the UK when they say "show line"). He is bang on the UK height standard, but would fall below the lower range of the US standard. His sister, in the show ring, is a good 3-4kg heavier I'd say - and I don't think she looks good for it.
I can see for myself how condition does affect weight. Oban is now the same weight as when we were working towards some field titles. 67 pounds and 23 inches at his withers. Then he was super fit (my subjective observation) and that's when the last three ribs were visible, even just standing still. Now he is not fit, due to leg injury that restricts his exercise, he's the same weight and those three ribs are not visible.. He is right in the middle of the weight range for a male in the Canadian standard - 60 to 75 pounds. But at the low weight end by the U.S. standard - 65 - 80 pounds. Any way, OP, sorry, the point is, the bag of food simply cannot account for your dog and how active he is and his metabolism. If it matches, it's a fluke.
I am curious...and slightly off thread, how much does a competition bred male labrador weigh on average?. Benson is a show bench lab, 2 years old and weighs 28.6 kg...I am curious how much Blake should weigh being,slightly taller and with a narrow frame in comparison, around the same age as Benson.
