[dusty&lulusmom]

I have three dogs. There weights are 25, 30 and 35 lbs. The 35 lb. is the oldest, age 11. The other two dogs are 1 1/2 and 3 years old. Each dog receives a 1/2 cup of kibble (california naturals lamb and rice) and a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of homecooked mixed in. Homecooked consist of the following meat (either: chicken, turkey, beef, pork organ meat, etc) carb (sweet potato, pumpkin or rice) and vegi. I also add a spoonful of a good probiotic yogurt and 2 teaspoons of brewers yeast and wheat germ. Throughout the day they are allowed to eat homemade treats. The treats are made from rice, flaxseed, egg and evangers can meat. When I read the back of most bags of dog food it seems like they should be eating between 1 1/3 to 2 1/3 cups of food daily. Sometimes I wonder if I am not giving enough food. They all look healthy and I think they are a good weight for their breed. By the way the 25 lb. is a cairn/westie mix, 30 lb. is a westie and 35 lb. is a very small (runt) basset hound. The basset hound is not as active in her older age so I don't think she needs more calorie wise. Does it sound like there weights are ok and they are getting enough food? I also assumed that since there food is of good quality and healthy they may not need such a large quantity. I would appreciate any thoughts on this. Thanks....Don't tell me I should worry more about my own weight than the dogs..I already know this...I am sure their diet is better than mine...LOL

[Renoman]

Since we can't see them, how do they look to you? Can you see ribs, do they look like sausages or are they somewhere in the middle?

What does your vet say about their weights? Just for giggles every once in a while I take the boys to the vet to weigh them on the scale. What this does is twofold. They make a trip to the vet without any drama and the office people will give me very candid opinions about how they look. Best part is ...it's free.

If the Bassett is less active than the others, feed him a little less. If the others are so active they look a little thin, feed them a little more.

My guys (2 GSDs; 1 weighs @ 70, 1 @ 100) are constantly monitored. Chazz is older and he's slowing down so I've cut his food ration down gradually to where he lost weight and he's now maintaining. Buck has maintained his weight pretty consistently for a while. Once the weather gets bad and they can't go run regularly, both will have their rations cut back to keep them from packing on the pounds this winter. Wish I could do the same for me - but it never works!

[cascabel]

I definitely wouldn't worry about what it says on the dog food bag. Those recommendations tend to be too much for most dogs. If I fed our pup what was "recommended", she would be overweight. Just from the weights it would almost seem to me that your dogs may be carrying some excess weight. (I say this because even the bigger westies usually don't go over 20-25 lbs) However again there are exceptions.

Really the best way to tell if your dogs are at a good weight is to get your hands on them according to the following method.

First you want to check the ribs. Kneel beside your dog facing its rump. Hold your hands out in front of you with your fingers spread out and your thumbs touching. Reach down and put your hands on your dog's back with the thumbs still touching. The thumbs should be laying on the backbone and your fingers on teh rear of the rib cage on each side of the dog.

Now without pressing your fingers into the side, move your hands back and forth along your dog's back. You should be able to feel the dog's ribs under your fingers without pressing.

Secondly, you want to feel the hips. To do this run your hand over the dog's rump. You should be able to feel two small bumps over the hips without digging or pressing.

If you can feel the ribs and hips in both of the situations described above then your dog is not overweight. If you can see any of the dog's ribs, it is underweight.

[dusty&lulusmom]

Thanks for the info cascabel. I tried your method to determine if the dogs weights are ok. I think they may all be a bit overweight. We were trying hard to find the ribs and hip bones. They definetly are not underweight. The good news is two of the dogs have only been with me a short time.The westie has only been with for about 3 weeks. He was on a very poor diet so I am thinking that with the new diet I may still see changes in his physical appearance. I do think he could lose a few. I think from the input I received here I can at least stop worrying about comparing what I am feeding and what the bags is telling me. Maybe the dog food companies just want us to buy alot more. I have been really focusing on quality since the food scare. My dogs diet changed drastically after all the recalls...at least some good came out of that tragedy...I think there are many people like me that have a new awareness of what our pets are eating. Sometimes I feel bad that my basset really went through almost 11 years of a poor diet.