# Dry/Wet/Both? How much to feed?



## GPup4 (Mar 16, 2017)

We are switching to Purina Pro Plan and I'm not sure how much I should be feeding my one year old. Since we are switching her food, I'm thinking this is the right time to switch how we feed her.

Is now the right time to switch? I've read conflicting reports that say large breed should be on puppy food til 18-24 months

Up until a few weeks ago, we were giving her 1.5 cup of dry in the morning and 1.5 can of wet for dinner. Should we keep feeding her both? Khloe just turned one on 12/5/17 and weighs about 60 lbs.


----------



## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

You do not need to feed wet food along with the kibble. Pro Plan is a well balanced, high quality food, so your dog will get all she needs. 

Depending on weight and level of activity, your dog would probably need 1 to 1.5 cups, twice a day. My girl is small - 45 pounds - and very, very active. She eats Pro Plan and gets 1 cup in the morning, 1 cup in the afternoon, and what I call a "snack" in the evening - about 1/4 to 1/2 cup more, depending on what we've done that day. Some days, she falls asleep and doesn't ask for that last meal.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

You can absolutely switch now. Definitely drop the wet food, it does nothing good for her teeth. Pro plan is a great food, you can feel good about the science behind the nutrition and a lot of Golden breeders (they have multiple Goldens on this food and doing great) feed it. My Collie eats pro plan sensitive stomach and is great. 

How tall is Khloe? Is she spayed? Has she had her one year check up yet? If not take her in and ask the vet for a very honest assessment of her body condition. Tell the vet you want to be very, very careful about keeping Khloe lean rather than just at an "ok" weight. It is the absolute best thing you can do for her to help give her good odds at a long healthy life. This is backed up by scientific study. I worry a one year old girl is too heavy at 60 pounds unless she is pretty tall. Ask the vet to be very honest with you.

Unless Khloe is getting a good amount of aerobic exercise (not just leash walking) on a daily basis, she probably would do better on 3/4 cup of kibble twice a day, especially if you give her training treats when you work on obedience. Get familiar with the proper body condition and her ideal weight and be diligent at not letting her go over. You will have to bump her food back and forth in small increments for most of her life to do this, to adjust to more active periods in your schedule and less active periods. Here's some reading for you:

https://www.prevention.com/health/healthy-living/extend-your-dogs-life

https://thejoggingdog.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/how-to-extend-your-dog-or-cats-life/


----------



## GPup4 (Mar 16, 2017)

Sweet Girl & nolefan - thank you for the information and links.

Khloe isn't spayed yet - we're scheduled for mid January. Her one-year check up will be right before that. Unfortunately, she doesn't get as much exercise as I would like, however, once she's spayed, we plan on sending her to doggy daycare at least one-two times a week, which will help with the exercise. I wouldn't say she's very tall at all, so yes, I think she's overweight  We're switching her vet as well - someone more reputable who I know will be honest with us!

Until we see the vet, do you think I should switch to dry cold turkey and cut down on the amount we give her? Right now we give her 1.5 cup of puppy kibble and 1.5 can of puppy wet. Is 1 cup PPP adult for breakfast and 1.5 cup PPP adult for dinner too drastic? We use celery for training and she gets about 2 cookies a day - on occasion a kong with peanut butter and celery.

Any advice is much appreciated. This is my first large breed and I'm learning as she's growing.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

She is adorable, I'm biased I guess, because she looks so much like my Ellie girl who is the cutest girl ever 

Measure her standing next to your leg, figure out where her shoulder (the spot where her neck and should join together) hits your leg and then use a yard stick to see how many inches she is. She looks like she should be right in standard about 21 inches. She is not heavy boned and heavy muscled, so you're correct, she is overweight. 

The best and kindest thing is to take it off gradually by cutting back on her food and increasing her exercise. Even giving her 15 minutes of exercise a day extra would be helpful, schedule an extra session of fetch or something to get her moving at faster than a walk. Take her to a playground, soccer fields etc. and kick a soccer ball with her. Practice recalls on a long line where two family members sit at opposite ends of space and call her back and forth between you, each person give her a tiny bit of a soft treat each time she comes back. It's called puppy ping pong and it's fun.

If this were my dog I would stop the canned food today. Donate it to a shelter. Or if you just have a few cans left, I would actually mix it in (a couple spoonfulls per meal) with the kibble till it's gone. I would make a gradual switch to the new kibble, over a two week period, at first it would be just a little of the pp mixed in and replacing the old stuff. Every couple of days change the ratio until eventually the old kibble is all gone and it's all new stuff. You can do this at both meals. I would just go straight to 1 cup total at each meal and increase her exercise. See how things are going and then if you're not seeing much change in her waist line in a couple of week, bump each meal back to 3/4 cup. You don't sound like you're over feeding treats, just watch the amount of peanut butter she gets. That adds up fast. If her ideal weight is closer to 50 pounds, she really does not need a lot of calories being sedentary. 

I know it is hard to schedule extra exercise in for the dog at this time of the year when it's dark and cold and holiday schedules are tough, but honestly, an extra 20 minutes of something would probably be good for you too if you got outdoors. This truly will give her better health. Try hard to do it 2 days a week, baby steps. She is so adorable, you want her around a good long time.


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

Did you get Khloe from a breeder? I'm not kidding, she looks SO much like my girl, do you have a k9data link for her?


----------



## GPup4 (Mar 16, 2017)

thanks! We're donating her puppy food to a local shelter. We got her from our groomer, so I don't have a lot of info on her.


----------



## GPup4 (Mar 16, 2017)

nolefan, one last question, should I go with the weight management one or the regular kibble?


----------



## nolefan (Nov 6, 2009)

GPup4 said:


> nolefan, one last question, should I go with the weight management one or the regular kibble?


oh no, no weight management. The Purina Pro Plan kibble, not the 'shreds'. This is like you would approach weight loss with a child. You don't want to make it a big diet, just sort of getting it to proper portions and then increasing her activity level. Do everything gradually, not hard core.


----------

