I'm a real pain on this feeding board at the moment so I'll apologise now!! Pup was off his JWB so I have decided to mix in a little natures menu to make it more interesting - tried this at tea time and he LOVED it!! My question is, how much do I feed? He's a 19 week old CKCS weighing 4.1kg and he's been having 175g of JWB per day. If I reduce the JWB to 150g per day and add a desert spoonful of natures menu per meal - 3 a day will this be ok?? The feeding guide on the natures menu isn't much help as it just says 1/2 pack for small breedsIs this per day, per meal or what?? Also, how long will natures menu keep  after opening, stored in an airtight container in fridge??

Thanks if anyone can help!

Hayley

Hi
not sure re the quantitys, mines a bigger breed :)
But if NM is the same as naturediet then that keeps for 3 days opened in a fridge

HTH :)

have you tried adding a little warm water to feed i have ckcs and when mine go of food i try not to change diet as it seems to upset one of mines stomach , but i find that if you wet the food slightly it smells and dogs seem to prefer food that smells!!! i have been lucky with my cavaliers i graze mine leave dryed complete food down all day and just fill up when required and non of mine are over weight.
good luck

Hi Sharon. Tried soaking JWB a little and it worked for a couple of days but he's turning his nose up at it again He usually really enjoys his food so to see him turn his nose up does concern me as he's obviously not enjoying it.

luvhandles,

Try not to get too worked up about it :)  He could be trying to see what nice culinary delights you serve up to him next - they're fast little learners are pups ;)  It may also be a sign that he's not hungry (i.e. over feeding) or being given too many treats(?).  Just put his food down (a tablespoon or two of warm water mixed in will make it smell much more appealing but personally I don't 'soak' it), leave it down for 20 mins and anything that hasn't been eaten take away.  Offer nothing else.  Then at the next meal time do the same again.  It seems tough from our perspective but he'll soon learn the 'rules' :)

Also, at 19 weeks your pup could now be on 3 meals a day.  Then at 6 months 2 meals a day.  Don't forget to recalculate how much you've gotta put in his bowl in order to split the daily allowance into 3 :)

"i graze mine leave dryed complete food down all day and just fill up when required"

When we first got our 7 month old little girl home (nearly 2 weeks ago now and it seems like months :D ) we did this as it was the only way she'd eat some food!!  But now we're on the 2 meals a day and only leave it down for about 1.5 hours - we will eventually get to the 20 minute thing as she's showing a real love for her food bless her :)  We found that when she was 'grazing' she poo'd for Britain :rolleyes:  Now that she's in more of a feeding 'routine' she only does about 3 poo's a day.  Do you find this with yours?

no mine pooh on a morning walk 1/2 hour quick nip to park - i then take them for a long walk 1-2 hours after lunch to the woods they pooh there and then nothing until the next morning except weeing of course

To be honest that sounds a LOT. Beware bacause Cavaliers are notorious for putting on weight easily! I wasn't sure how much 150 g would add up to, so I just went and checked. My Cavalier (11 years old and 9 kgs and just right in body -but of course not as active as a growing pup!) gets about 50 g of dry food twice a day! :) So that makes your Cav having 7 times as much as mine.

I also agree at 19 weeks you only want a maximum of 3 meals. Personally I always soak all food, and I have always found it to be extra important for Cavaliers as all mine have got a lot worse with inverted sneezes (snorting) if fed dried food rather than soaked. (I've had 4 in total.)

Goldmali! Which food do you feed? Up until last week he was having 100g a day but when I took him to the vets for a health check and weigh in, the nurse said that he was rather lean and that he should be eating approx 180 - 200g per day......maybe thats why he's lost his appetite - he's probably permenantly stuffed the poor little lamb! I really don't want to overfeed him as I did that with nature diet and had a nightmare settling his tummy afterwards. He's been brill so far with JWB.

They are normally quite lean at that age though! :) I feed Gusto and Rufus is on the mature light version as he's older. It isn't a food that puts weight on easily. :)

JWB feeding guidlines state that a small breed pup between 3.5 - 5.5kg shoould be eating 150 - 220g per day at 3-4 months I'm truly baffled now! Don't all dry foods have different feeding recommendations??

Considering the ingredients in Gusto i'm not surprised it's not a food that put's weight on easily,the contents probably get pooped straight out ;)

gets about 50 g of dry food twice a day!

Goldmali is that a typo?

Luvhandles it sounds like the 200g recommendation is for 'fresh' food,not dry food. That is the same amount recommended when feeding  a homemade diet for a dog your size :)

Your right,different foods have different feeding guidelines,i would say the average amount for a dog your's size would be between 100and150g,but again it depends on which food and how digestable it is,the worse the food the more they need to eat to get the correct amount of nutrition.

Hi Hailey,

I'm feeding JWB and now mixing in 1 desert spoonful of natures menu. I fed 50g of dry with the desert spoonful of natures menu last night and again this morning and Harvey ate it all and poo's are fine - no more, no less and very firm. Do you think I should maybe reduce the dry to 40g? I feed him 3 times a day.

Thanks

Hayley

Remember each dog is an individual when it comes to feeding. Most amounts recommended on the packaging is only a guide, some dogs will require more and some less. In your case I would stick to an amount and if your pup looses weight add a bit more, if it becomes a bit roly-poly give less, it is not an exact science. One of my Goldies gets the same amount of food as my Sussex Spaniel, yet weighs twice as much, neither are fat, so as you can see, each dog has individual requirements.

Luvhandles i agree with Pedlee :) Stick to these amounts and see how pup goes,if he loses weight add maybe 10-20g more and vice versa.It sounds like things are perfect :)

Considering the ingredients in Gusto i'm not surprised it's not a food that put's weight on easily,the contents probably get pooped straight out eek ;-)

gets about 50 g of dry food twice a day!

Goldmali is that a typo?

Plenty of us here that feed Gusto. :) I figure if you can have dogs that are healthy, breed well and win at shows it can't be bad! (And my dogs on Gusto range from the 11 yo cavalier to an 8 mth old Malinois.) It's by far the best food I've ever used. :)

No not a typo at all, 50 g twice a day and his body is exactly right.

Have you checked their webesite for a food calculator. I know naturesdiet have one that you enter weight and type of dog into?

The trouble with these again is that they are a guide. According to the Naturediet site my 30kg Goldie should be having nearly 3 packs a day, he actually has 2. On 3 packs he would be huge. My Sussex weighing 15 kilos is advised 1.6 packs, she would be anorexic - she actually has 2, exactly the same as the Goldie, so as you can see they are a guide only.

Goldmali would you be able to post the ingredients of gusto here? :) I have trawled the net looking for them but it seems this is yet another company who isnt keen on making their ingredients known :(

I would just like to see if they are as i remember them :)

I tell ya,i'm going to start taking ginko biloba,my memory has completely gone to pot!

Will do tomorrow.