Slim on 450g a day....

[Beanwood]

We have a wonderful labby friend here to stay. Really great company, if a little hyper when out and about. I suggested using our food whilst he stays with us (it just makes things easier for me!) Now Benson and Casper, if I feed them kibble, are on probably 70g twice a day, plus all the other bits and bobs (cooked food, veggies, supplements, fish etc...) Bramble is on about a third more, she is much bigger though, cruising weight is 33 - 34 kg, she looks slim but healthy and well muscled on that. I adjust their food by eye generally speaking.

The first thing I noted with our guest, is a LOT of poo, and those kind of " voluminous" ones. At first glance he looks slim and healthy, he is a pure working line boy. Second glance you can feel backbone, strong thigh muscles, but lacking in front, back and the smaller muscles of knee and thigh.

I checked today, thinking I had misheard the amount of food they are feeding...nope, 450kg a day in 2 meals. He is on a fairly OK kibble, but I would be happier if he was a little heavier in muscle.

They have already given me carte blanche to change anything..

 

[Selina27]

Cassie is on between 300 - 350g of her kibble in 2 meals, plus training rewards. I adjust the kibble according to how she looks and how much physical exercise she's had, she seems to stay at 29 - 29.8 kg. She looks pretty much ok to me!
She only poo's once a day, unless she has supplemented her intake herself , in which case it is more.

 

[Beanwood]

That does surprise me @Selina27 , I am so used to giving such small amounts to my lot. Maybe there is a difference between working/show bred labradors in how they metabolise calories. I remember when Casper and Benson went into kennels for just a few days, Casper came back round as a barrel! I just couldn't believe it....

 

[Rosie]

Pongo has about 400g of kibble per day, split between two meals, plus titbits of vegetable, bits and pieces of meat at our mealtimes, helping in the kitchen etc. His weight is stable at 40kg and the vet is happy with his shape.

 

[Selina27]

how they metabolise calories

I don't know, I suppose there could be. 2 yrs ago, during and after the dreadful phantom pregnancy, she weighed 32kgs. I changed her food then on the advice of a behaviourist/nutritionist., in order to try and combat the demented kangaroo/werewolf behaviour. She went from Skinners to Burns, I did my own research and wanted to cut out EU permitted additives, which could contain E numbers and heaven knows what else , and it seems to have fitted the bill. When she went to be spayed at 22months, she was a very skinny 25kg. And no ph preg after her second season, but that could be due to other factors.
She's now 18 months post spay and I do have to manage her weight, but I have found increasing walks by 30 mins has done the trick. She's physically fit.
She does get high value training rewards when I'm working on something new or specific, but quite often now I use kibble.

 

[Boogie]

Spencer was on 400g a day until 12 months old, he’s on 350g now and will be down to 300g soon.

Tatze is on 200g a day and I still have to watch her weight. She’s a healthy 27Kg but soon puts it on.

They both have mainly fish treats and kibble out of their allowance for training.

 

[Stacia]

Rourke used to be on 300g a day plus bits and pieces, but having to be on the lead he is now down to 150g a day and still needs to lose some more weight.

 

[Sophiedoodle]

I actually 100% rely on what the dog looks like and adjusting the food accordingly. Since I work with dogs and puppies, and we feed Lilly and Oreo on the same food we use at work, I have a generally good understanding as to how much they should get based on their size and activity level
Lilly stays around 24/25kg, and I'm happy with Oreo anywhere bewteen 19-20kg.

 

[Beanwood]

This dog is really small and light. I can literally hoike him into the car with one arm! Maybe around 22kg?

 

[Jen]

Does he still have his balls?

Stanley gets around 175g of kibble and a few heavy bones a day.

His weight is slowly going back down by the looks of him because he was a bit tubby a little while ago.

Stanley’s neutered and that made a little difference, but the main difference has been his age. I’d say up to 2 he could eat loads and not put weight in but now he needs a lot less - although obviously he doesn’t think so!

 

[edzbird]

Little Meg(an) Sparkle is 22kg and tiny. She was on 250g Skinners plus half a tray of Wainrights wet food. She never settles so burns a lot just hovering about. Just recently I have been less able to give them a decent walk every day & I have noticed her usually visible ribs are disappearing so I've dropped the kibble by 25g. OH informed me he was less than accurate with the measuring (giving more not less!)- he does mon-fri. That might be where her ribs have gone.

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

I actually 100% rely on what the dog looks like and adjusting the food accordingly

That's me as well. I don't have the faintest idea how many grams Carbon eats. His meal sizes differ anyway from meal to meal. @Beanwood I imagine your guest is going to go through quite the transformation with you. Remember all the muscle Carbon put on during our first visit with you? And the 3 inches he lost around his neck?! If you ever decide to run a fitness/fat camp for humans, sign me up!

 

[Cath]

Both mine are from working lines, (same Father). Fred gets 136g x 2 and Annie 70g x 2 a day. Our vet said he has never seen such healthy Labradors. Fred has all his tackle and Annie is spayed.

 

[Emily]

I just gave Ella her breakfast so I weighed it then (I've never weighed it before - I give roughly 1.5-2cups twice per day). Breakfast weighs roughly 150-160g so she's getting 300-320g of Royal Canin Labrador Retriever Adult kibble per day, plus treats and often plus extras in her dinner (cooked fish/meat and veggies - usually depending on what we're having for dinner).

She sits between 25 and 26kg with a reasonable amount of exercise. She was also spayed early (6months).

 

[HAH]

Kipper’s on 80g normal kibble (Specific) x 2 and 80g training kibble + kongs, so ~350g. He’s 32kg and around 2kg over (just reduced his kibble allowance from 100g, seems to be working )

 

[snowbunny]

I don’t weigh either - their energy requirements vary so much from day to day it seems daft to. Squidge has far less than the other two, but also moves far less. She is OK to just slightly over at the moment, but unless I stop all training, there’s little I can reduce. In the winter, she will get strong and lean again.

When I took Willow to Andorra the other weekend, I forgot to pack chicken carcasses for lunches, so one day she got a pouch of the James Welbeloved wet food I sometimes use for jackpots. On the packaging it says that dogs of their size should have 10-12 of these a day (!) but after feeding her that one, I reckon three a day would be more than enough, even without extra training treats.

 

[MrChew]

Chewie is on about 180g of kibble and 300 and something grams of cooked food as well as a few bits extra for training or when he helps in the kitchen (thanks @Rosie ) but he is still young (not quite 17 months and still filling out, weighing around 25kg and looking pretty slim with quite a pronounced tuck. I imagine we will reduce when he stops chunking up. We usually get 2 small poos a day, unless he has been eating something naughty...

So 450g sounds like a lot for an adult dog and I would be thinking about changing to a more nutrient dense food if he was my dog. If nothing else I would want better poos to deal with!

 

[M.F.]

The voluminous poos could also mean their food contained lots of fibre. Snowie weighs 35.5kg (needs to lose a kg) and gets raw meat and bones. He gets about 200gm meaty bone and 500gm meat (organs, muscle meat, etc) per day (I’m guessing if it were to be dried into a pellet, it’d weigh half of that). If he eats just that, he poos bullets. If he eats lots of veg in addition—treats of brocolli, cucumber, licks the remains of the veg and bean soup—his poos can be quite puffy. If he finds bread on our walks, then his poos come out super puffy and very soft.

So, while pooing a lot can indicate eating too much, it doesn’t necessarily mean taking in too many calories; could mean eating a lot of fibre that has no calories. And some pellets contain a lot of fibre.

 

[Kelsey]

Depending on Axel’s activity for the day he gets between 430g and 500g of kibble a day, plus a bone or chew of some kind, plus veggies and scraps of what ever protein I may be eating because I just can’t deny those puppy eyes and he’s 46kg.

Since changing him from Acana to Purina Pro Plan, his poops have drastically shrunk and are far less smelly. He gets the exact same amount of kibble too.

 

[Lara_Pigletina]

I think it must depend loads on the type of kibble and the proportion of meat to carbs as @M.F. says, so I think just comparing quantities without knowing the composition probably doesn’t mean much. The Pig has 270g of Millie’s wolfheart which is 60% meat, god knows if that is right or not in terms of proportions but she is slim and healthy looking. She’s only a small Pig though (around 23kg). What food was your visitor on at home @Beanwood? Could have been a less nutrient-dense one than yours?