So is there a difference in boy and girls weight maintenance ?

Having girls up until a couple of months ago ( different ideal weights, activity levels due to age) I had sussed out feeding (raw with the occasional kibble)

Since Bales has been with is ( fed on bakers and other crap food ) he was very podgy in all the wrong places and lacked muscle in the right places due to the wrong type of excercise because of his supposed diagnosis of severe HD and grade 1 luxating patela.

So 8 plus weeks after being with us he is a different dog both in behaviour and muscle tone but looked at him tonight and he is a bit ribby . I am feeding food based on activity level plus boy/ girl weight .

So is there a difference in boy/girl activity food intake or us just getting used to him, tha change of food to raw ?

Thanks
Lucy

Hi Lucy, I don't have girls but I know the sisters of both my WHV boys and they've recently been to stay with me.  All four dogs are fed raw from TPMS, both boys are proportionately bigger than their sisters but have a similar amount of daily exercise.  In my view the boys eat more than can be explained by the size difference alone. 

My youngest dog might just expire on the spot to even think about missing a meal but the girls are a little less bothered.  Both of my boys start to hang around looking hopeful at 3pm, just in case I forget to feed at 5!!

I'm not absolutely sure of the girls exact weights at the moment but I'm pretty confident that the boys eat a higher percentage of their body weight.  The boys are currently on just over 3.5%.  All four dogs are spot on with their weight

Does this help?

I think when you have a male dog living alone the activity and weight feeding levels are quite accurate, however when they live with other dogs IME it changes. Male dogs tend to burn up energy faster, probably due to excess mental stimulation on their part, I know all our family male dogs are more likely to get up and follow me, watch what is going on and be watching over everyone human and dog, it's why male dogs are always said to be more loyal, as they show it more, (I know that differs, but as a general insight) whereas the bitches are more likely to lay back sleep or watch from afar.

All that mental stimulation, increased heart and pulse rates burns up energy so more protein is needed for the boys at least in my experience. :-)

Things can be different in other households and with mixed characters but as your boy is living with two bitches I would think he will take on the guardian roll too and need that little extra to what a single dog may. :-)

I'd say it is individuals that differ, not the sex of the dog. For instance I have 3 litter sisters where one tends to keep her weight perfectly, one can easily put on too much, and the third is usually too skinny. All same size more or less, all fed the same, all exercised the same.  All my Malis need far more food (usually twice as much) when moulting to not lose weight, and the one dog that is kennelled needs more during cold weather -both of which is perfectly logical. I have not seen any links between sex and weight loss or weight gain. The skinny bitch of mine (well okay she's just right at the moment, have finally got her weight up) gets nearly twice as much food as the male dogs that weigh around 10 kg more than she does. I also see no relation between weight and whether the dog/bitch is entire or neutered, contrary to what many would say.

Thanks all .

He is a horse rather than a Lab ( very big boy !) and so I think reading through this that it is me under estimating his size as much as anything. He is also a dog that likes at every opportunity to grab ducky or anything and walk around and visiting anybody or dog to see if they want  to play !

I will increase his intake ( I had better not let the girls cotton onto this as they will be peed off !)
and see how he gets on.

Is it not sexual energy that eats up the majority of their food intake?  That's why neutered dogs don't need as much I was told from my old vet years ago.  I'm not sure if Bailey is neutered or not but if he has been used to living alone, the change to a multidog household is maybe taking all his energy.
My spayed girl gets a puff of air for dinner whereas I am putting up the portions of the others since the colder weather came in.

Yes Bales is neutered and so he doesn't know about the birds and the bees and doesn't show any signs of wanting to either !

He lived with another dog before but I think his excercise routine has changed a lot since he has been here to alot more off lead work rather than lead walking most of the time because that is what they were advised to do .

This is interesting, I have different breeds and sexes and some seem to have better metabolisms than others. 

My male pug is 8kg and my female pug 6kg, both neutered. The male gets roughly a third more food than the girl and is in perfect lean muscled proportion, during the day he never moves from the couch but does have the occasional burst of energy.  My girl is slightly pudgy round the shoulders but I can't reduce her rations any more as she will start to sick up bile, she is very active as she never leaves my side for a second.

My two male Chows, one neutered, one not, weigh around 32kg; my female neutered Doberman weighs 34kg.  The Doberman gets almost twice as much food as the Chows and I struggle to keep the weight on her.  She is however on Soloxin.  I have noticed that none of my Chows have ever needed much food compared to other breeds, they're not particularly lazy but just don't burn calories easily.  Maybe they save energy not trying to keep warm due to their thick coats?

I have both sexes different breeds. My flat coat female puts on weight very easily wheras my male gsd does not. They both have the same exercise regime. My feeling is that it is down to individual dogs. +h yes and mine are. Raw fed too whispa gsd has 1kg per day he weighs 40kg and broke has between. 00g per day at 33r 30kg. Any more and she gets podgy. !Brooke would happily eat all day and is always the first to tell me its dinner time

Totally an individual thing.  Remy and Saffi have very similar activity levels - both plodders with the odd burst of speed - yet while Remy gets 130g of kibble twice a day, Saffi couldn't have any more than 40 or 50g or she'd pile the weight on.  I have to feed her Chappie bulked out heavily with veg.

Is it not sexual energy that eats up the majority of their food intake?  That's why neutered dogs don't need as much I was told from my old vet years ago.

Definitely not true of my dogs -two of mine that are the among the most likely to lose weight are both neutered males. And the two most likely to gain weight are both entire bitches. :)

Our 9 yr old GSD bitch is 34kg (gets treats from OH). Her 6 year old spayed daughter is 32kg, very active and never carries an ounce of fat. Her entire brother weighs in at 43kg and I feel he could carry a few more kilos. They generally get fed the same food and quantities. The other 2 oldies (10 & 12) are fed & exercised the same and there's 5kg difference in their weights, the lighter one is spayed.

Now I am very conscious on the food and quantities when feeding my crew as if I have a tray of chicken wings they all sit and wait to be fed in order and they all get the appropriate number of wings based on age ( and now size and sex) and levels of activity on the walks. I can two or three miles but they can quite easily cover at least twice if not three times that on our walks apart from Puds the senior who has a great spurt of running around for half an hour then settles into a gentle trot behind me.

Poor girl always looks hard done by as she gets a lot fewer wings than the other two !