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  #1  
Old April 12th, 2005, 07:52 PM
Beetlecat Beetlecat is offline
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food filler

Any suggestions for some food fillers I can add to Ky's food?

I wanted to change him onto free choice since the 2 cups I fed him didn't seem to be enough for his liking, so I just started giving him all he wanted, as an experiment.

But after eating 12 cups of kibble in 1.5 days, I put a stop to it and refused to fill his bowl anymore I was going to give it a week but he didn't seem to be slowing down at all or gorging himself. Simply everytime we came inside, he went to his food bowl and pretty much emptied it.

I don't think any 40 lbs dog needs 6 cups of kibble a day (and I don't want to stress his bones by making him fat), so I'm going to comprimise by giving him 2.5 or 3. But I'd still like suggestions for good fillers (most vegetables I assume), and warnings about bad ones that could be dangerous (onions).

He doesn't much care for vegetables, but he tolerates pureed vegetable 'slop' when I mix it in with his kibble.

Any opinions on raw eggs? or similar 'extras' to a mostly kibble diet?
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Old April 12th, 2005, 07:55 PM
Eleni Eleni is offline
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when your only feeding him the recommended amount is he acting hungry between mealtimes??

I know with sammy he will eat anything im willing to put down however he may not necessarily be THAT hungry

like hes missing his fullness cues or something.

Eleni
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  #3  
Old April 12th, 2005, 08:02 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Some dogs are hungry all the time (especially labs). You just have to feed them enough to keep their body slim but not skinny. At this rate, this doggy will get fat fast and that brings on a whole host of related problems. Don't let your dog tell you how much he needs. Feed him a fixed amount for a while and adjust if he gets skinnier or packs on the pounds. Ideally, he should not gain any weight but not lose any either. (I'm assuming this is not a puppy...)
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Old April 12th, 2005, 08:10 PM
Beetlecat Beetlecat is offline
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I feed twice/day and, around noon or so, he acts like he hasn't eaten in a month. He'd like to be right up in my face if I eat something or are working in the kitchen. If we go outside, he'll try to stick his nose in the neighbour dog's food dish to steal some kibble and he'll scour the ground trying to clean up every last little speck of that dog's daily ration of milkbones. Ditto when we go for a walk. I understand his interest in treat foods, but it's a little intense.

Of course, even like this, when I offer him something that isn't dog food and isn't a treat (ie any type of vegetable), he's not interested.

I kind of wonder if it has to do with how he wolfs down his food. Like for humans they say to eat your food at the dinner table and savor each bite, that way you eat less and feel more full. If you eat without thinking, your brain doesn't realize it just ate.

But apart from doling his kibble out by hand, I can't make him eat slower.
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  #5  
Old April 12th, 2005, 09:01 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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My old yellow lab used to be like that. She at a whole 18kg bag of food once. What we did for a bit was spread her food out on the floor to slow her down, but they can suck up a lot of air (risk of bloat). The other thing that slowed her down was locking her in a room alone and not bugging her until she was done. She was so afraid of us taking it away from her.

You still feel full if you eat fast but just not as quickly as when you eat slowly (which can lead to over eating...)

I don't think giving more food will remedy this at all (unless you want to give a whole bag...)
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  #6  
Old April 12th, 2005, 09:53 PM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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My dog eats every meal like she's been starved for a month. If I gave her 5 times as much she would eat it all.

Free feeding can make dogs picky and fussy, not to mention mess up their bathroom habits.

If your dog is a healthy weight - good muscle tone and no prominent hip or spinal bones jutting out, and you can feel his ribs easily - then he's probably getting enough.

Of course the type of food is important. What do you feed?
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  #7  
Old April 13th, 2005, 09:13 AM
Beetlecat Beetlecat is offline
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I feed Kirklands.

The problem isn't so much that I have to regulate his food, what I don't like is the way he acts when we go outside. The neighbour is convinced that I'm starving my dog the way I have to constantly warn him from going near the other dog's food dish. Same deal when we're walking. His obedience is good, but gets overruled by his stomach. Good thing he'll still listen when I tell him to drop it, or he'd eat all manner of garbage.

I just want him to feel full, so this behaviour doesn't become a habit.
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  #8  
Old April 13th, 2005, 10:48 AM
Prin Prin is offline
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It'll never happen. Trust me. My yellow lab got so fat from eating everything she could get her hands on and when she was around 11 they removed a 5lb fatty tumor from her chest. She had arthritis like crazy but any mention of food and she was a puppy again.

If people think you starve your dog, tell them "Then why isn't she thin?" Our dog was hungrier than anybody's dog. We told people she was the runt of the litter and was deprived of food from a very early age (she was bottle fed because her mother attacked her), so she would never change.

Besides, it doesn't matter what the neighbors think, you know your dog. If your dog has access to the neighbor's food dish, it's up to him to remove it. The dogs I have now are less food-driven but even they would eat the neighbor's food just to have it...
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  #9  
Old April 13th, 2005, 10:57 AM
Lucky Rescue Lucky Rescue is offline
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I taught my dog to "Leave it". Otherwise she would eat anything and everything she could.She always acts as though she is ravenous, and I believe she would eat until she was sick.

I have to keep the cat food in another room or she would eat it ALL. The fact that she has gone very hungry at one time in her life increases her craving for food. Some people think she's hungry or that I'm depriving her, but I just say "Does she look like she's starving??" (She's a bit of a porker)

Dogs are scavengers and opportunistic feeders. The instinct of predators is to eat as much and as fast as they possibly can, in the event that the food is stolen from them or they may have to go a long time without, as they often do in the wild.
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Old April 13th, 2005, 11:57 AM
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raingirl raingirl is offline
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I don't know what kind of dog you have, but some dogs that eat really fast can get bloat. My dog doesn't eat his breakfast right away (eats it throughout the day) but at dinner, he downs it in less than a minute (he is 50 lbs and gets about 3 cups a day of food).

What we did to slow him down was put a nylabone ball in his dish that he has to eat around. Slowed him down.
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  #11  
Old April 13th, 2005, 12:00 PM
Eleni Eleni is offline
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when we first got sammy he was eating all the food from the cats dishes as well, we ended up ahving to move their dishes to another room.


Eleni
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Old April 13th, 2005, 12:21 PM
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heeler's rock! heeler's rock! is offline
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My oldest dog is 50lbs, and she eats less than 2 cups a day. If your dog is acting hungry, you may want to look at what you're feeding also. Foods full of corn fillers and such leave no nutritional value and your dog poops everything out, making him more hungry. Our dogs are on Evo, and it's like 42% protein. If she ate more than what she eats now, she'd be huge! She's still a bit puggy, but at a good weight for her height. She also acts like shes starved whenever we eat. She sits there staring at us and our food, almost like she's trying to will the food into her mouth! LOL! She does that until every last bite is gone. Some dogs will eat and eat until they throw up, and then eat some more. You know what's best for your dog, and your dog has no clue what's good for him or not. I say feed the recommended feeding on the bag, and watch his weight. If he gets too skinny, add more, if he gets to fat, take away some. If you decide to do fillers, make sure it's only once in a while or your dog may demand it every time you feed. Its like mixing wet with dry. If you don't intend to do it everyday, be careful how often you do it as your dog may become picky. Fruits and veggies are always a good option, and I've even put dried seaweed in their food which is okay every now and then. Cottage cheese or plain non-fat yogurt are always good too. Good luck!
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Old April 13th, 2005, 03:22 PM
Beetlecat Beetlecat is offline
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I took some frozen pumpkin I'd prepared a while ago and mixed it up with a bunch of snowpeas that I'm not gonna eat anymore. Pureed it all in a blender and made up a bunch of baggies that I froze. About 1 cup in each baggie and I'll defrost one each day, divide it between his meals. Working good so far.

He doesn't like veggies so he does eat slower when I mix that stuff in with his kibble. And I don't think he'll start demanding it since he'd be quite happy to just get straight kibble. I don't think I'd mind if he got picky anyways, since he'd never starve himself and being lean is better than the alternative.

Kirklands has 26% protein, which isn't that bad really. Wellness puppy formula only has 28%.

The suggested feeding is 2 1/3 cups/day. I don't mind giving him a bit more than that since he is still growing. He was getting 3 or even 4 cups/day while on the farm and while he's not quite as lean as I'd prefer, he's certainly not fat.

Interstingly, Wellness suggests 3 cups/day for a dog his size and age. I would have though it would be less, since it's a better quality food.
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  #14  
Old April 13th, 2005, 03:29 PM
Beetlecat Beetlecat is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Prin
If people think you starve your dog, tell them "Then why isn't she thin?"
This reminded me of when I took the family Red Heeler in a 4-H parade. She was only about 3 and still hadn't filled out at all. She was offered free choice, but had the build of a greyhound, with an incredibly skinny waist.

I still remember the people shaking their heads and muttering about the 'skinny dog'. Of course now she's older, less active and probably fatter than she needs to be.
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  #15  
Old April 13th, 2005, 03:51 PM
Prin Prin is offline
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Quote:
Kirklands has 26% protein, which isn't that bad really. Wellness puppy formula only has 28%.
It's really not the amount of protein in the food, it's the KIND of protein that matters. Evo is very meat based, kirkland is average. Even if you're getting a good deal on food, it doesn't mean that it's better quality than other stuff out there.
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  #16  
Old April 13th, 2005, 04:33 PM
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heeler's rock! heeler's rock! is offline
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Quote:
Kirklands has 26% protein, which isn't that bad really. Wellness puppy formula only has 28%.
The higher the protein, the less you need to feed. Also, as Prin siad, it's the type of protein in there. I swear by Evo, but a lot of people swear by their food too. I think it just matters as to what works for you and your dog. 42% protein is quite high, so they always recommend to feed less. Our in-laws malamute eats only 2 cups a day on Evo, and he weighs a whopping 115 lbs! He needed to loose weight too though.
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