Amount of Canidae kibble seems low

[Amanda22]

Hi guys,
Emma turned 12 weeks yesterday and we've decided to switch her from the kibble she was eating (and not liking too much) to Canidae. We just came back from the vet and Emma is just under 15 lbs. According to the feeding instructions on the back of the bag, she's supposed to get just 3/4 a cup a day. I know that good food produces less waste but that doesn't seem like very much food for her to be eating. She was eating 2 1/2 cups of the other stuff. Anyone know if the Canidae bag could be wrong?
Thanks.
Amanda

BTW, Emma went to the door to let us know she had to poop!!!

 

[Kimber & Mac]

I don't think the bag is WRONG, per se...BUT I feed Mac about 3.5 cups a day adn it says to feed 2. There was a recent thread on the regular feeding section about canidae, how much you feed, etc, and it seemed most fed more than the bag said.

Also, in early Oct I posted on the feeding board and asked the same question you are posting. Someone (sorry can't remember who) found calorie info for Canidae and my old food (Nutro). So about 3.5 cups = the 4 cups of Nutro I was feeding.

If you find those posts you will get lots of info!

Good luck!
Kimberly

BTW - Mac loves his Canidae and is doing great on it.

 

[mobrian]

What you could do is feed Emma 3 times a day and only give her 20 to 30 min. to eat her food. She will determine how much she needs. Since she is going to be growing for quite some time now it will be easier than trying to keep up with the serving sizes.

 

[LoganBurgess]

The serving size is misleading !

I have recently switched my 18 week old female to canidae. I have noticed a few things:
1 she does eat about .5 to 1 cup less than her old food
2 her coat seems to be more silky
3 her stools are more consistantly solid
4 she eats more than she is " supposed to " if going by the label
I am overall very pleased with this food and will continue to feed it to her.

 

[Tulsa-Dan]

I too thought 3 cups a day of Canidae was too little for my 58 lb Susie, who was extremely active and exercised very well every day (and still is). But, as she has now ballooned up to a chunky 70 lbs (YIKES) on 3 cups of Canidae per day. She has been reduced to the Senior/Low Cal Canidae and is only getting 2.25 cups per day now on her diet (plus a big reduction in treats).

It may seem like not much food but in our case, a little goes a LOOOOOONG way.

If the pup seems hungry a lot, feed a bit more 1/4 cup more perhaps and see if that helps. But also be sure to watch the dog's weight on a very regular basis so that (unlike me) if he starts to "chunk up" you can reduce the amount of food before he gets to be too porky and it becomes much harder to get off of them.

Good luck.

 

[Trinitysmom]

Trinity is 9 months and weighs 53 LBS, we feed her between 3-4 cups a day of Canidae. She normally eats closer to 3 cups, but if she seems hungry we will give her more. So far she's done great on this food, her coat is super soft and her stools are a lot firmer than they were on any other food. She's still pretty thin, just starting to fill out now, I'm thinking once she gets older and get to be full grown we'll cut down on the amount we give her but now this seems to be working just fine!

 

[VTbxrFan]

Always remember that the feeding guidelines are just that - guidelines. It will still take some time to figure out the exact amount that's right for your dog.

But with that said...when I switched from a poor quality food to super premium food (not Canidae, but something similar), the right amount of the new food ended up being HALF of the amount he used to eat on the old, crappy food. The quality of the food really does make a difference...and in fact I've also had to start cutting back even more as my boy has gotten too chunky.

 

[TracyLynn]

MY Rita is 48 lbs. and eats 3 cups per day which suits her just fine. SHe also gets supplements with dinner though.
However, Munson is still only 10 months old and I am currently feeding him 5 cups a day with supplements! HE isprobably around 60 pounds. He is still seems too hungary and skinny (he seems thinner than the normal boxer lanckiness) and I may up it to 5 1/2 cups. He gets lots of exercise, but I don't think it is THAT much.
I guess each dog has a different metabolism like we do and his must be incredibly fast. I will watch him carefully though because I do worry a lot about a fat boxer! HA

 

[Vela]

I feed both of mine Canidae. Cracker usually eats 1 cup in the morning and 2 at night. He's 8 months. Ginger, who is 3, eats 1 1/2 in the mornign and 1 1/2 at nght but i think I'm going to have to cut out 1/2 c. or so from her diet, she's getting fat on that amount again. I cut her down to 2 1/2 per day and she lost weight well but always seemed so hungry but she's just natually a porker hehe. She could eat 3 cups at once and come back for more.

 

[Barron's mom]

Barron, 5 years old and weighing 62.4 pounds (weighed today at the vet) gets 3 cups of Canidae (1 1/2 cups in the morning, and another 1 1/2 in the evening with yogurt). Barron's vet said Barron looks great. He is muscular, and still has his waist. Barron has done his best on Canidae:D