Proper Feeding Amount

[Boogie]

I am currently feeding my 5 Month old Boxer 6 8 oz. cups of dry food a day, over the course of 2 feedings. Once at 12:30 and again at 9:30. Along with the dry food, I am also giving him a quarter can of canned food.

He eats it all up at his feeding times.

My question is am I feeding him too much?

I am also concerned with the amount of doodoo that he is making. Is this directly correlated?

 

[gmacleod]

6 cups of food per day sounds like an astronomical amount to be feeding. But it depends on what you're feeding also

With a very high quality food (eg. Canidae), I would expect you to be feeding around 2-2.5 cups per day. It's high quality, nutrient dense, and does not contain junk fillers. With a very low quality food like Science Diet or Iams though, which have little nutrition and huge amounts of fillers, then 6 cups per day is not unusual.

Yes, it would have a direct correlation to the amount of poop. The more food fed, and the more undigestible fillers in the food, then the more will be expelled as waste.

You might find it helpful to take a look at our feeding page at www.boxerworld.com/feeding There you'll find information on what to look for in a dry dog food - which ingredients to look for, which to avoid, and why. For food information, ratings and reviews, visit www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews

 

[Boogie]

Proper Feeding Amounts

Well the Dry Food I am feeding him is Nutro Natural Balance for Large Breed Puppies. Also the wet food is the same brand. What do think the proper feeding amounts are according to this brand of dog food?

 

[EricaG]

this website http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdoglbpuppy.asp has a chart that shows approximate feeding amounts for nutro natural choice large breed puppy. The amounts are based on the puppies age and weight. There should be a similar chart on the back of the food bag.

The ingredients for this food are:
Chicken Meal, Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Rice Bran, Dried Beet Pulp, Poultry Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Natural Flavor, Sunflower Oil (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of natural Vitamin E), Lamb Meal, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Dried Egg Product, Lecithin, Dried Kelp, Vitamin E Supplement, Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Sulfate, Zinc Proteinate, Biotin, Ascorbic Acid (source of Vitamin C), Manganese Proteinate, Glucosamine Hydrochloride, Manganous Oxide, Chondroitin Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Copper Sulfate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Proteinate, L-Carnitine, Sodium Selenite, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid.

Ground Rice, Corn Gluten Meal, Wheat Flour, Rice Flour, Rice Bran(Five of the first six ingredients) are all going to be hard for your puppy to digest, as well as potential allergens. These are all cheap filler ingredients that provide basically no nutritional value. I would guess they are all going in one end and straight out the other, which is why he is pooping so much.

If you feed a higher quality food, that does not contain these types of ingredients, you would probably see a drastic reduction in his poo production.

 

[KonaKoffe]

Assuming your dog is between 20 and 30 lbs about 3-4 cups of total food per day. Take a look at the chart and keep in mind that that is the total amount of food per day - assuming you are not adding canned food.

With the 1/4 canned per meal I would say 1-1/2 cups of dry per meal should be enough.

 

[SandyHG55654]

Boxer's aren't considered a large breed so I wouldn't be feeding a large breed formula, Also no offense but Nutro is crap food. My breeder had my new pup Diesel on it and we started weaning him into a premium food the first day we got him. If you feed crap expect alot out in the yard Boxers have alot of allegies to grains and my older dog is violently allergic to any corn products. You want to see meat in the first few ingredients of the food and in Nutro it's chicken meal and then quite a few grain which means your feeding mostly fillers to your dog so of course he's expelling it in your yard. Try changing foods and i'm sure you'll see a huge improvement in your dog as well as how much you feed and how much you clean up after him! Good luck!

 

[Boogie]

Cut The Supply Down To 5 Cups

** Boxer's aren't considered a large breed so I wouldn't be feeding a large breed
formula.
The formula states that Large Breed is dogs that grow to be over 50 lbs. which most boxers do.

** Assuming your dog is between 20 and 30 lbs

He's not his about 40+ and his ribs are still showing so I dont think hes overweight.

I have taken my dog to the vet and he says he would like to see the dog with some more weight on him a few more pounds.

I also have been told by a lot of people that my dog is going to be big. He is almost the same size as a 10 month old in the neighborhhod and is significantly bigger than another boxer 10 days younger than him. His paws are big and all people tell me is that he's gonna be huge.

 

[SandyHG55654]

** Boxer's aren't considered a large breed so I wouldn't be feeding a large breed
formula.
The formula states that Large Breed is dogs that grow to be over 50 lbs. which most boxers do.

There is a thread in the puppy feeding forum called "Question about Chicken Soup" It goes into detail about the "large breed formula issue" It talks a bit of Nutro food too. I'd advise you to check it out. Also just to let you know a 40lb Boxer at 5 months is pretty average sized. How tall is he? Dozer is 6 months and 53lbs and 22inches at the withers. He is also pretty average for that age.