How much food?
by Anne
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Hi everyone. We are trying to figure something out. Maybe some of you breeders with more experience will be able to help me. I am hoping. When we purchased Chloe, we were told she eats one tablespoon of food per meal, three times a day, and then goes potty almost exactly thirty minutes after. The Eukenuba label says for a dog Chloe's size and age she should be getting two-thirds a cup a day, which is three tablespoons per meal. I am having a hard time managing to feed her this much per day. She would have to have her final meal in the evening, which I was advised not to feed her past two in the afternoon since she goes at all times of the day and night. She is in a small crate(almost too small)and has no problem with sleeping in it. I don't want to deprive her of food that she may need. I also don't want to overfeed her. And I would really like to see this potty schedule that she was on when she arrived come back, so I have more control over housebreaking her. I would really appreciate any help I can get. I am having no luck at all with housebreaking. I was told that she would give me some clue, but I spent two hours a couple of days ago closed up in a room with her, and her wee wee pad hoping for something. Got nothing till I gave up and left the room. Then I did not get it on the pad!Help. Please?
DISCUSSION:
How old is Chloe and how much does she weigh? As for how much to feed her, I wouldn't go by the dog food label as much as I would by how much she is actually eating and how much weight she is gaining. Have you read any puppy books? I found "The Art of Raising a Puppy" by the Monks of New Skete to be very helpful. They give a feeding and housebreaking schedule that I am using (with adjustments) for housebreaking my puppy. Good luck.
Mary
Chloe is five motnhs old, and weighs around six to seven pounds(won't know till I take her to vet's this week for rabies shot). I was worried about feeding her so much food if she's only used to three tablespoons per day, but actually, she will only eat six per day on her own anyway, no matter how much I feed her. She is very active, butI am concerned that doubling her food intake is going to cause her to gain a lot of weight. Also I was wondering if so much food will stay with her all day, and she won't be able to clean herself out in the schedule she was used to. Sorry to be so gross and graphic, but I am trying to look at all the angles. Thanks.
Anne
Anne, I used to leave the food out all day until 6:00 when I took it up along with the water. That would insure there would be no nighttime accidents. Neither of my dogs overate. You dont sound like you want to follow your baby around like I did, so you may have to utiiize the crate more in your training, or confine Chloe to a kitchen area till she knows the routine. Some babies catch on very quickly. Mine took 2 months each to fully train, but that included using the dog door themselves. Have patience, it will happen :)
Sandy, Puff & Trevor
To Anne and Chloe,The Monks of New Skete books (The Art of Raising a Puppy and How to be Your Dog's Best Friend) are the best resources I've seen for housebreaking.
Moxy was easy to housebreak and hardly ever made mistakes even in the first few months. My technique was to take out Moxy very regulary (every 2 hours intitially)and tell her to "go pee, go poo" and then when she did, I praised her profusely. I never paper trained her. She did not show obvious signs that she needed to go out for a number of months. The first sign I noticed was turning circles and sniffing; next she started looking at me and looking at the door; now she sometimes barks as well. She will respond to the question "do you want to go out" by barking and getting excited if she needs to go out. I also never scold her for going in the house but grab her if I can catch her in the act, take her outside, tell her to pee then praise her if she does (a Monk's trick). Key words: be patient and consistent.Good luck.
patricia and moxy
I'm just wondering how much food Apollo needs to intake in order to maintain his weight. He is 7.5 lbs now and will probably reach 8 lbs according to the vet. I have seen some guidelines; however, I wanted to ask others that have a maltese.
Amy & Apollo
Pun'kins is four yrs and 7.5 lbs. She eats approx 3/4 cup of T/D Bites doggie food and two small milkbones each day. She'd eat more if I let her, but this seems to keep her at an appropriate weight, especially since I work during the day and she is less active several hours each day. The food is always out, she nibbles in the morning, nibbles in the evening and after I go to bed, she gets back up, goes downstairs and cleans out her dish!
Pun'kins Mom
Amy - how old is Apollo and how active is he. My Bella weighs 3# but I also have a hoover sorry I meant Bichon Baxter who weighs 13 pounds. They go for big walks and Bella runs along beside Baxter also they run around the house once I am home too - they go out at 6:30 & 8:00 A.M. then around 3:30 when I get home they go out on the deck and then at 6:00 PM they go for a walk with daddy then again after supper and a quik one before bed. Last night we went for 45 minute walk after supper. I cook for the dogs and they get dry dog food and sometimes like this morning a little Caesar's moist dog food each. Baxter ate his immediately and Bella had a few bites - I gave Bella a few dry kibbles and that's all she would eat while Baxter would have polished off hers as well. Bella is 1 year old and Baxter almost 18 months. Vita posted last week about how many meals to feed and from these responses you may get an idea on the weights and ages of other maltese and how much they eat. You can then judge the ages and weights and compare with your Apollo also keep in mind his level of activity - if you gave him 1/2 cup dry dog food and see what he eats if he leaves some put it back in the measuring cup and see what he actually ate - do this for a week and you should be able to tell how much to give at each feeding.
Shirley
My Chuckie (1 year old) is 7 lbs. and he hardly eats dog food at all. He will sit on his but like a prairie dog the entire time that we are eating, begging us to give him food (he also does this for attention). We usually give him steak, chicken etc. he will eat a little dog food after we put away our plates. I think if he eats 1/2 a cup of dry dog food a day that is great. On days that we don't feed him people food he still eats the same amount of dry food. He also loves jerky treats, he eats at least one of these per day. The vet says not to worry and that steak and chicken won't hurt him.
Janet
SHIRLEY, it is nice how one post leads to another. I tried two meals today. Boris had dinner just now. This morning when I put down half cup, it looked like an enormous portion and indeed he didn't eat it all. This evening put even a little less than morning ration and he still didnt finish it. Perhaps he realy will only consume 2/3 of a cup of dry, supplemented with some orsels of chicken and of course I am neurotically wondering if this will be enuf to divide into 2 meals, but I am gonna see what happens over the next few days.
vita
Vita and all - well Queen Isabella isnt eating now either - it started two days ago - we bought a delux Australian B-B-Q for our new house - we keep the old one on the lower deck as it is propane and the new one on the upper deck as it is natural gas. I wanted to try out te B-B-Que so made hamburgers - really good ones for supper. I also cooked up mushrooms and onions and bacon to top the hamburgers - we made some for the dogs - Baxter wolfed his but mere hamburger was beneath Bella - she had one bite and walked away. We ended up giving her bacon and some cheese and Baxter polished off her dinner. I gave them moist dog food for breakfast and some dry - Bella ate very little. For supper last night we had pasta - I hand fed her the Chicken and sausage from the pasta. This morning she again ate very little - that's it we will have filet mignon for supper and I have no doubt her highness will eat. She is at the tail end of her first heat so I am trying to humour her but this is making me insane just like with the kids when they wouldnt eat. She ate two doggie biscuits - I left her moist dog food and water in her kennel so that perhaps when I am not watching her she will eat - also Baxter cant get in and eat it. If she was lethargic I would really be concerned but she was dancing all over the bed this morning trying to wake us up to take her for a walk at 6:15. We have had a few days of really nasty spring weather - it has snowed and rained and the whole area is muddy - the dogs come in from their walk and have to be wrapped in a towel to dry off. Then instead of her eating she was tearing around the house with Baxter - she can squeeze behind the furniture and under the chairs and can run straight through under the bed - he has to crawl on his tummy so cant catch her so I dont think she is ill she is just teaching me a lesson. The next time I want to try out the B-B-Q I better throw a steak on for her and eat the gourmet burgers myself.
Shirley
Thankyou everyone for your responses! And for pointing out the message that was just posted too, it was helpful as well. Like suggested, I'm going to measure and monitor Apollo's intake because it seems to fluctuate some which seemingly is correlated with his activity.
Apollo & Amy
| Please bear in mind when reading topics pertaining to health issues, that most of these questions were answered by helpful Maltese owners with no formal education in veterinary medicine. When in doubt seek a professionals advice. |
|
1996-1999© Maltese Only Discussion Created by Jay Bianco All rights reserved |
