# Considering food change



## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Kaizer's being fed Annamaet Extra 26. It's what the breeder fed him when he was first old enough to eat dry food, and it's what I've continued to feed him throughout his entire life. Recently, as the days have been getting longer and longer, he's become more active. I'm in school, I get home at 3:30pm every day. In the fall/winter, when the sun set at 5pm and it's too dark outside to see three feet in front of me, Kaizer got very limited off-leash activity. Now that it's bright outside until 7:30pm, Kaizer gets an hour, if not more, of off-leash activity outside. That means he's running a lot more, and we're going to add swimming to the list too, and maybe even dock-diving if I can find a place. 

About two weeks ago, I noticed he was getting a little thin, so I increased his food from 3 cups to 4 cups. Yesterday, I noticed that I could see a faint, but noticeable, outline of his ribs. I increased his food from 4 cups to 5 cups, two cups in the morning, three cups at night. He's 10 months, and I know he's not growing very rapidly right now, so 5 cups a day sounds like too much to me. The food is 425kcal/c, which means he gets 2125 calories a day. Does that sound like a good amount of calories per day for an active, growing dog?

The 40-lb bag of food is $64 and lasts about 2 months when we give him 3-4c a day. It's just not sustainable to feed him 5c per day, longterm.

Besides looking too skinny, Kaizer thrives on the food - his poops are good, eyes bright, fur shiny, he twirls around in excitement at every meal, etc. 

Could there be any kind of underlying health issue I'm missing? Kaizer just got over an anal gland infection, and was on 10 days of Cefprodoxime. He finished the medication on March 25 and his infection seems to have cleared up. Otherwise, he's - knock on wood - healthy and always has been.

If it comes down to needing to change his food for spring/summer, what food should I feed him? I don't want to start a food debate, and honestly, don't have the time or the will to feed raw.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

In the winter, Shala gets 2 hours a day of mostly off-leash exercise (running, playing ball, hiking, field work). She eats almost 3 cups a day (the last cup is more like 3/4 cup) of Pro Plan Adult Chicken and Rice.

In the summer, we add WAY more - lots of swimming, more field training, dock diving. More like 4 hours a day of exercise. In the summer I switch from to Pro Plan Sport 30/20, and she gets 3 cups a day. Higher protein and higher fat. 

For reference, she is about 48 pounds, 20.5 inches tall. Lean and fit.


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## Swampcollie (Sep 6, 2007)

You need a higher octane food. Look for a performance diet.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

What is his actual weight...? Are you doing monthly weight checks so you can catch when the weight is going up or down more than it should be?

Seeing the outline of his rib cage doesn't mean anything to me. A lot of these dogs have a good thick undercoat and fluffy topcoat which visually adds weight to a dog. Generally if they are wet though, you can see the outline of the ribs, and the dog is still in good or ideal shape. 

The amount of exercise you describe does not sound overly aerobic as far as burning off calories left and right. 

I'll give you an example, I know people who feed 9-10 cups of food to their dogs while field training in summer. This is keeping an ideal weight on their dogs. Which ideal weight for them is a little thinner than the average dog owner views as ideal.

With the attached - I know of a lot of performance dogs who resemble the "thin" dog more than the "ideal" dog. Or to be exact, they are somewhere between the two. But even the ideal dog - you can see the outline of the rib cage.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Yeah, he gets monthly weight checks. He gets checked on the 15th of every month, and as of March 15, he was 65.8 lbs. He really doesn't get that much aerobic exercise, running around chasing after chuck it balls and having zoomies outside everyday nonstop for at least an hour is enough to leave him tired and satisfied. 

According to the chart though, he resembles the "ideal" dog.


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## Cheysmom (Apr 24, 2011)

For years now, I've been feeding Orijen, they only make a kibble, no canned food. Family owned in Canada, do NOT do any outsourcing, all made in their factory under their strict guidelines. I do not believe they have ever had a recall. I pay $88 for a 26.8 lb bag, so yes, more expensive than what you are feeding now. This is a superior kibble. Whole Dog Journal rates it as a 5 star. High in protein. I have a 17 mo old that began on it at 12 mo, had her on Acana, which is also made by the same company, Champion Foods, but lower in protein, so as to try to not let her grow too fast. She is currently at 66 lbs, very well muscled, very lean. If I knew how to post a photo, I would. Maybe I can't because I haven't posted enough? Anyway, I've had 5 goldens on Orijen and they have all done tremendously well on it, no allergy issues with the food and they love it. I am currently feed 6-Fish Orijen and I switch off with Regional Red. Check out the website...quite interesting!! Good luck!!


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## LUCKYme (Mar 29, 2015)

In my experience that is WAY too many k/cals per day unless you have a working dog! When you initially increased his food you didn't give it enough time to see results- you should wait a month to qualify any changes. As other people said, a better balanced food would go a long way (Orijen, Acana or even Taste of the Wild).


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Hm okay. Thank you! I dropped his food down from 3c for dinner down to 2c - 4 cups a day. Sometimes I feel like I'm overfeeding him and then other times I think I'm not feeding him enough. 

I'm just confused. He doesn't look overweight at all, he's actually pretty lean, but he gained 6 pounds in between March 15 and today - he's 71.9 pounds as of today. For a dog that really isn't growing too much right now, a 6 pounds increase sounds like a lot. 

I'll get a picture of him tomorrow where you can see how he looks (from the sides and the top).


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## migs (Nov 8, 2013)

My boy is on Acana. He's 86 pounds & gets 1 cup for bfast & 1 cup for dinner. He gets a 1 hour walk everyday.


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## MyBentley (May 5, 2009)

Just wanted to make a correction regarding comnents about Orijen made by Cheysmom in post #6. Both Orijen and Acana are manufactured by Champion Petfoods. It is no longer family-owned. For a number of years now it has been owned by Bedford Capital. The president and CEO of Champion is Frank Burdzy, MBA. The original owner's son is a VP. There are three manufacturing plants: 2 in Canada and one in Kentucky.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I thought I had updated this thread but apparently I forgot to press post:doh:

Thank you so much everyone, I don't know what I'd do without this forum. Apparently I was going through some kind of life crisis in March/April, because Kaizer was by no means "too skinny" - if anything, he was a little chubby. Now he's down to 3c total - 1.5 in the morning and 1.5 in the afternoon. He looks noticeably skinnier, but I don't know what he weighs right now. Hopefully, I can weigh him soon.

But yes, thank you guys so much. Actually, I'm kind of embarrassed about this, I feel like I should've realized somehow that he was getting a little too chunky. Nevertheless, I'm thankful that I made this thread, sure saved Kaizer from gaining a few extra pounds.


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## ~*regina*~ (Nov 6, 2015)

I feed the Annamaet Extra to my almost 7 month old pup. He gets 3 cups of Annamaet with of course treats during the day. He weighs 50lbs and is perfect weight (you can feel the ribs but has a thin layer of fat on them).
I LOVE Annamaet, if you feel like he needs to gain a bit more weight maybe the Ultra formula would work? It is higher in fat and protein and still meets the Calcium/ Pho ratio's for a large breed puppy.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

~*regina*~ said:


> I feed the Annamaet Extra to my almost 7 month old pup. He gets 3 cups of Annamaet with of course treats during the day. He weighs 50lbs and is perfect weight (you can feel the ribs but has a thin layer of fat on them).
> I LOVE Annamaet, if you feel like he needs to gain a bit more weight maybe the Ultra formula would work? It is higher in fat and protein and still meets the Calcium/ Pho ratio's for a large breed puppy.


It turns out that I was just going through a phase of complete paranoia. He needed to lose a pound or so, not gain.

We weighed him again today and he's 70.3 pounds. I think that's a pound he lost between April 11th and today.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

So I emailed Kaizer's sire's breeder to ask how much Briggs weighed at 11 months. She told me that he was 75 pounds as a 10 month old and he's now 78-80 pounds as a 3 year old. Kaizer's 70 pounds at 11 months. I don't expect Kaizer to weigh anymore than 80 pounds, with 75 pounds being his prime weight.

She feeds her boys the same as I feed Kaizer and they get 3-4 cups a day while Kaizer gets only 2.5c. Then again, her dogs are show dogs and Kaizer's currently just a pet dog. Opinions?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

75 pounds as a 10 month old is too much to me..... because they always pack on the pounds between 12 months and 24 months and again between 24 months and 36 months, etc.... 

78-80 at age 3 (!) is overweight for some dogs.... because they do gain about 10 pounds more in the next 4-5 years after that. 

And there are certainly dogs being shown right now who are overweight.

65-70 seem about right for 12 months. Assuming the dogs will gain another 5-10 pounds as they mature.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

Sorry I keep bringing this thread back up! Kaizer was weighed May 31st and he's 68.3 pounds. He's 12 months.

Can a dog's stomach make grumbly noises? The noises sound like ours when we're hungry. If it can, is it because he's hungry or is there an issue? He gets 2c a day with vegetables and fruits throughout (usually a banana, an apple, blueberries, frozen green beans). I think it's enough for him, and his body is in good condition, but I just want to be sure.


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## aesthetic (Apr 23, 2015)

I'm going to treat this thread as a journal of sorts. I have one on google docs, but I don't find myself updating it nearly as much as I should - plus most of Kaizer's weight/feeding information is on here anyway. This post will have all his weight records, from 8 weeks old to today (17 months).

July 27, 2015 (7.5 weeks)
Weight: 14 pounds 9.5 ounces

July 29, 2015 (8 weeks)
Weight: 14 pounds 14.5 ounces

August 06, 2015 (9 weeks)
Weight: 17.7 pounds

August 18, 2015 (10.5 weeks)
Weight: 19.1 pounds

August 30, 2015 (12 weeks)
Weight: 24 pounds

October 30, 2015 (almost 5 months)
Weight: 36.8 pounds

November 07, 2015 (5 months)
Weight: about 42 pounds

December 15, 2015 (6 months)
Weight: about 50.5 pounds

Apr 11, 2016 (10 months)
Weight: 71.9 pounds ---> he was a little chubby here

May 9, 2016 (11 months)
Weight: 70.5 pounds

May 31, 2016 (almost 12 months)
Weight: 68.3 pounds

August 15, 2016 (14 months)
Weight: 66.4 pounds

September 22, 2016 (15.5 months)
Weight: 66.0 pounds -----> too skinny

November 14, 2016 (17 months)
Weight: 69.3 pounds

I really like Kaizer's body condition at 69 pounds - he doesn't look like I'm starving him, but he doesn't look fat either.


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## Lambeau0609 (Aug 3, 2015)

My Lambeau was born June 9, 2015 and weighs 63 pounds. Both of his vets he saw in Oct. told me to try and maintain his weight. I thought he was on the low side but they said he looked great. I do keep his hair shorter than most GR since we live in AZ.


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