Puppy Advice (merged)

pboae

Generally speaking a dog should have a clear waist when viewed from above, and you should be able to feel the outline of their ribs if you run your fingers over them. But pups go through various stages of being chubby, straggly, etc, so if you aren't sure, ask your vet. They will be able to give you a proper assessment.

Having said that a *lot* of pet dogs seem to be overweight these days, as do many show dogs, and many owners seem fairly blind to it. So if an owner has any worry that their dog may be overweight, then I tend to suspect that it probably is.

Shortie

Whoops, it sounds like she's getting overweight in that case. She still has a waist (though not tiny) and I had to search a bit to fell the rib bones...

We feed our dogs like we feed ourselves (our vet says this is fine, and their coats are lovely, and they don't have tummy trouble etc...) but maybe I have our quantities toally wrong? For two small dogs I put out in the morning a total of 3 weetabix with full fat goats milk (OH insists on getting the full fat as they're "still babies" ) is this too much breakfast? They then get table scraps mixed with a smaller amount of complete meal. If not table scraps then half a tin of chappie between them and 3 handfuls of complete meal. Either way, the dinner volume is about the same

Is this waaaaay too much? They never leave any food behind and always look for more... they get very few extra treats either (maybe 4 small dog biscuits treat each a week?)

pboae

I'm not sure if this is a wind up now

You feed a Cav pup 1 1/2 weetabix and full fat goat milk for breakfast? Why?

Aside from them being better off eating dog food (dog's tend to find wheat hard to digest), it's a huge amount of food for a dog that size.

Have a look at your bag of complete food, it will have a feeding guide on it. Measure out what they recommend for a daily allowance for your dog's weight (then knock 25% off because they always over estimate). Divide that into 2 meals and that's what they should be getting for each meal. The look at a can of Chappie, it will also have a feeding guid on it, and will tell you the proportion of wet/dry food so that you can reduce the complete meal portion accordingly.

You will probably be shocked by just how small an amount they should actually be getting (unless you are feeding a very low quality food like Bakers, which is bulked out with filler).

EDIT: to say you can still substitute table scraps for the chappie, but it will still give you an idea of the sort of volume they should be eating. Also be aware that a lot of human food can be toxic to dogs, some can cause an instant reaction but others build up slowly over time. If you search online you'll find lists of potentially dangerous foods.

border_collie

Hello :j

the lady I got one of mine from said weetabix and goats milk for breakfast.
I did it for quite a while because I was worried about changing things.

MrsTinks

Goats milk is definitely better than cows milk... but wheatabix when they are weaned??? not heard that before...
As for them "always looking for more" - yes they do They probably always will! If you look at wolves they too usually eat until ready to burst but then they don't eat again for a while and they get an enourmous amount of exercise - I don't mean a walk or two a day - I mean they are not cooped up all day but have to work for their food and cover miles and miles to protect their territory - domesticated dogs do not.
Whilst they are pups I would certainly consider using a proper puppy food - favourites would be Arden Grange, James Wellbeloved and Burns. They do tinned and dry. Try to avoid anything with coloured chucks in it - it's like giving orange squash to a child... or junk food.
Proper puppy food as all the nutrients the pups need to grow properly and develop their bones etc.
Things that can be very dangerous: * indicates highly toxic and can be fatal
Alcohol (all alcoholic beverages, ethanol, methanol, isopropyl)
Almonds*
Apples seeds
Apricots*
Avocado*
Broccoli (in large amounts)
Cherry pits
Chocolate (all types but dark in particular)*
Coffee grounds, beans & tea (caffeine)
Figs
Garlic*
Grapes
Hops (used in home brewing)
Macadamia Nuts
Milk
Mouldy/spoiled foods
Mushrooms
Nutmeg
Onions*
Peaches*
Pear seeds
Plum seed/pit
Potato (leaves & stem, peelings, and unripe green potatoes)
Raisins
Rhubarb leaves*
Sugar Free items with Xylitol (see below)***
Tomatoes (leaves & stem, and green tomatoes)
Walnut hulls
Yeast dough

The full list and examples can be found here

Kerriebaby

Just to add, you Pups do not NEED milk, ( from either cows or goats ) post weaning. If anything rather than being good, can cause harm ( a lot of sugars, and most dogs are lactose intolerant )

I would suggest getting them onto a proper diet ( they dont need table scraps either ) something like Burns, James Wellbeloved ( dry ) or Naturediet, Naturesmenu ( wet )

foreign_correspondent

it seems to me to be stupid and pointless to feed dogs weetabix, with added sugar and salt as it fills the dog up whilst providing few essential nutrients - they are dogs not children and they need dog food! I would replace this with some complete dog food asap, either wet or dry, and as pboae says avoid bakers, its also full of colours and additives)

And yes, it sounds as if they are being fed far too much. I bet they are pooing all the time!

campbell87_2

We've just become the owners of a 6 month old Shih Tzu and he is great in everyway...except he hates to be left alone, especially when we go to bed. He will whine and cry and bark for hours on end, last night for example we went to bed at 10.30pm and he cried right through the night until we eventually got up and went down just before 7am. We're a working family and sleep deprivation isn't ideal! He will even howl the house down when I leave him so I can go to the toilet or go to get changed. This isn't ideal and Im wondering how long are we going to have to percivier with this until he finally settles??
We are doing our best to ignore him and we do not give him attention when he cries but it is testing us, we havnt had a puppy for 11 years and the last one didnt make a sound so its been hard to get use to.

Any advice?

campbell87_2

It sounds like you are feeding them way too much, you should definatly check out the feeding reccomedations on the dog food packages and also check you have the right food, i.e puppy mix for puppies, adult for adult, senior for senior dogs etc. I would also cut out all the human scraps. The occasional bit of meat or veg Id say is ok but nothing else and only occasionally. Are they getting enough exercise? Everydog, no matter its size needs a good 20+min walk every day Id say and then lots of playing around the house etc to keep them fit and burning off the fat

Shortie

Thanks all, we'll feed them complete meal and cans mixed. Thanks for the advice pboae on the ratios, I suspected the manufacturers would add extra weight in to make owners use more and therefore buy more, but didn't realise it was by that much. And no, I'm not on a wind up about the weetabix, why would I post a wind up?

border_collie wrote: »

Hello :j
the lady I got one of mine from said weetabix and goats milk for breakfast.

Exactly how we started out too :rolleyes:

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

it seems to me to be stupid and pointless to feed dogs weetabix

Thanks, that felt like a slap round the face, I came here for advice not criticism