We have just had the good fortune to have a little 2 year old cavalier join our family. would welcome any advice on feeding habits. Previous owner only gave her complete dry food mix, with us she ha eaten wet food with added dry mix and seems to enjoy this combination. We get the impression she will be a good eater and is willing to try most things put before her. So our question is, how much to give, how often to give, to give her a well balanced diet. Any advice would be very much appreciated.

A good guide is to weigh her and then go by the feeding advice on the bag of food you use. You need to think is she an active dog or lazy an active dog will obviously need more. Anything else you give like treats must be given in moderation. You could always get in touch with the breed club (ring the Kennel Club for the secretary's phone no.) or contact a breeder on Champdogs and ask them.

Give her how much is said on the food you feed (all foods are different)  Feed her twice aday and don't over do the treats (which can be easily done!)  Also once you have found a food don't go changing as this is likly to upset her tummy.  Even if she will eat everything stck to one basic meal.  There is nothing wrong with mixing dry and wet and many dogs like the combination of the two textures, but stick to this.

Roxanne

Its ok to go by the feeding instructions on the bag but remember if your feeding her twice a day then only half the food at each meal.
You then need to adjust the amount of food depending on how your dog does.If it is getting a little overweight...cut back.I doubt if it will be thin on the manufacturers recommended allowance as they always tend to be very generous.I know if my lot had the amount they're supposed to they would roll round the ring!!
Archer

I'm so glad that you have found a little cav to fill the space left by Charlie - it's a real compliment to him!

I hope that you all live happily together  - what's her name?

Margot

Her name is Ellie, and she is a sweetheart, we look at her and talk about Charlie, we can imagine the two of them together as Charlie would of adored her, he had so much patience and she likes to play and we can see in our minds him lying there letting her tease him. He is with us everyday and we are so happy that we could give another Cavalier the love which we gave to Charlie.
Thanks for the advice on the eating we are just taking it day by day and she seems happy to have her quoter divided into two halfs, once in the morning and once early evening. And we are only going to use the treats in helping her to get used to the rules, ie. no barking at the window for no reason, she is funny doing that.
Will keep you informed how we get on.