# He's eating HOW many calories a day??



## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

Poor fatty fat Ranger is really having to watch his weight lately with his decrease in activity. I just switched him to Acana Light and Fit which has 325 cals/cup so Ranger can eat at least 2 cups a day (any less and he thinks he's starving and acts like a drama queen). He's 74 lbs right now and should be around 70 lbs so he needs to lose 4 lbs. 

My brother and I were discussing this because his dog is almost the same weight as Ranger now. I asked my brother how much his dog Blue gets fed and he said 2 cups a MEAL! Four cups a day! I did the math and his dog is getting 1,840 calories a day - more than I eat! 

I couldn't believe it. Ranger and Blue are approximately the same size, within 3 lbs of each other and get the same amount of exercise at this point and Ranger is getting fat on 800 calories a day and Blue is maintaining at more than twice that! Geez...to be blessed with a high metabolism!

Here's current pics of the two boys: The first is Ranger after his bath a week ago...a little plump. The second is the best pic I have of Blue from the side...Ranger's in there for comparison's sake. I'll try to take a better pic of Blue and post it. He's a lab X sharpei, one year old.

How can a dog eat so many calories and not get fat?


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## Florabora22 (Nov 30, 2008)

Lol, some people (and dogs) are blessed with super metabolisms. My brother is 6'5" and forces himself to eat 4500 calories a day just so he can MAINTAIN his weight @ 160lbs. Sounds like Blue just has a good metabolism!

ETA: Or it could be that Ranger has a slower metabolism. I just calculated Flora's intake and she eats about 840calories a day and has actually lost weight on that, weighs about 60lbs now. But she also gets a good amount of exercise per day and no treats like eggs or raw meat.


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## Augustus McCrae's Mom (Aug 14, 2007)

Are they eating the same food? Or does his food have a different calorie content than Ranger's? 4 cups x 325 calories = 1300 calories. 

I posted this before in Claudia's thread about how much she feeds Chloe, but I feed my black lab mix Ace 4 cups/day. That's what's recommended for his weight (80 pounds), and he is thin.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Did you check the calorie per cup that Blue is getting?


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## Ranger (Nov 11, 2009)

They used to be on the same kibble but I swapped Ranger in February to EVO and now to Acana. Blue is still on Orijen 6 fish which is 460 cals a day. Even when Ranger was walking 90 min or more a day and hiking/rollerblading on the weekends, he was only getting 3 cups of Orijen to maintain his weight (last summer/fall) while Blue was getting closer to 5 cups a day and only walking twice a week. 

Yeesh, I wish I had that kind of metabolism. Unfortunately, mine is more like Ranger's...we're both air ferns.


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