My golden is 4 months old and I am feeding her two cups of dry per day (puppy food) and 1 can of wet mixed in....I question whether I am feeding her enough... she looks healthy... but, when you give her the food, she eats it in just a few bites.... any suggestions?

How many times a day are you feeding her? At four months my pups are down to three meals a day, as their tummies still aren't big enough physically to contain all the food they need for the day in less than that. And she's getting free access to water as well, of course? What complete food is it, and how much does each cupful weigh?
:)

I'm interested in how much should be fed! I am still trying to get this right for my 11 month old Labrador Retriever. I've posted elsewhere on the board about Poppy, when I first adopted her at the end of June. She was overweight and I wasn't sure what to feed her (right amount etc). John and Mattie very kindly gave me some advice but I'm still not getting very far with the weight problem. Poppy is 34kg. I'm feeding her Bakers complete, morning and night. Just 1 cup at each meal (100g) which is about half the amount they recommend for her weight on the box, but if I were to give her more she would put on even more weight, so I'm in a bit of a pickle about this. I may switch gradually to Burns when she is 1yr (7th Sept). I would appreciate any tips as to what I should do to help reduce her weight. I can't cut her food back thats for sure. She eats apple, carrots and banana and sometimes has cabbage and carrots with her meal. She seems very fit although quite sleepy. She has 2 good walks a day (park and woods), lasting just over an hour each time.

Any help gratefully received. Thank you.

Good luck with the puppy's feeding plan by the way.

Best wishes,

Val

i personally would drop to four small meals a day this may help with losing the weight, but in regards to the lab i feed my 17 week GSD (4 months) three times a day 200g plus a bit of fish to mix in. She weighs around 17kg

Many thanks for your reply. I shall give this a try and I think Poppy would welcome meal time 4 times a day ! even if smaller amounts.

Very grateful to you for your help.

Best wishes,

Val

My golden lab is like that, 20 seconds is all it takes, recently we took him to the vet who weighed him at 23kg, Max is only 5 months old and we were told off for feeding him too much, now we give him one & a half mugfuls in the morning and evening and top it up with a small handful in his treat bowl... oh and a carrot as suggested by another member of the forum, max is happy with that although I think he would like to prove he could eat a lot more

I would get a severe telling off then :-) Poppy is staying steadily at 34kg no matter what I do.
She is down to 100g morning and night (Bakers complete). I cant cut her back any more than this, and she doesn't have any scraps or extras. What a dilemma. She still has 2 good walks a day (at least an hour each time). What more can I do? If anyone has any suggestions I would be very grateful. (by the way, thanks again for the suggestion to try 4 meals a day - her weight stayed the same but I appreciate your advice).

Bakers complete suggest 300g to 460g daily and as Poppy only has 200g in total I just cant think what to do. She will be 1 yr on 7th Sept - wondering whether to gradually switch to Hills Light meals.

Thanks again for any help you can offer.

Best wishes to you all,

Val

I would say that 200g is about right if you are trying to keep her this weight, to reduce her weight you will have to cut it by up to half. If she is only young I would cut it to 150, as I suspect that 200g will be about the maintenence olevel for her if her weight is staying steady. Individuals metabolisms vary as with people.

Thanks very much for your reply. It's much appreciated.

Poppy will be 1yr on 7th September; she's only been with me since
26th June when I adopted her (what a wonderful day that was for me-she is such a gem).

Could I really cut her back that much? (to 150g in total per day)? 100g already seems so little in her bowl but I will do whats best for her obviously. I certainly cant feel her ribs! but other than that she looks wonderfully well and very good. As Bakers suggest 300-460g per day I thought I was already being a bit unkind, cutting her back to 200g in total, but she remains at 34kg with this amount of food, so it does look as if I will have to cut her back a bit more, as you suggest. She copes well with her walks and seems healthy in every way but I just feel concerned about her weight. She is fairly big boned though admittedly. She is due for a visit to the vet very soon (getting ready for a stern telling off! but it isnt my fault she's overweight - if indeed she is. I dont think she had much exercise before she came to me so no doubt that has been a lot to do with her gaining weight).

Thanks again for your help and advice. You're all so helpful here and it's very reassuring to be able to ask advice and get a response. It really is so much appreciated. Thank you.

Best wishes,
Val