# how much should i feed? dog not eating!!!



## daisy (Aug 23, 2006)

i just started time feeding my dogs 1 b lab molly and a terrier cross daisy daisy isnt eating i feed her 1 cup of food and breack up 2 treats and mix them in with the food she still doesnt cair i do the same with molly and she eats

how moutch should i feed my b lab? she is around 5 mounths i know yous are going to tell me to eather feed her 3 time a day or free feed well i dont free feed becouse the vet sead this was better becouse thay are fat and i dont feed 2 or 3 times a day becouse i like feeding after dinner i dont even eat 3 meals she is allready on adalt food becouse the vet sead it was fine i am new hear so i dont know anay of the unretten ruls 

o yea plees dont critasize the grammer and or spelling just try to reed it on another fourm ther are only acupple people that dont understand my tipeing


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## Alpha (Aug 24, 2006)

Your right, adult food is fine for a five month old lab 

As for how much she's eating, there are guidlines on the bag. How much does she weight/how old is she. But they are just guidelines. 

So say according to the chart she's supposed to be eating 4 cups a day (just a wild number), if you are going to feed her twice a day, give her 2 cups in the monrning and 2 cups in the evening. If you find her leaving some food behind each meal or a certain meal, change your plan accordingly.

As for Daisy, it's quite possible that she doesn't like the food. Is she underweight? Maybe a trip to the vets. Maybe a change a food.

Or perhaps, just leave her be. They always say a dog will never starve themselves. It's hard to say, the issue on Daisy, without knowing the dog, the type of food your feeding and past medical issues.


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## kelkat (Aug 30, 2006)

I've also wondered if the weather effects their eating. If it's real hot or real cold. All of our dogs weigh in the neighborhood of the same weight so we feed them twice a day (morning and night) 2 cups each and any scrapes along the way.


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## Sister (Aug 28, 2006)

I feed my dog first thing in the morning, and then again in the evening before my own dinner. I give him the servings recommended by the manufacturer of his food.


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## daisy (Aug 23, 2006)

i feed them chicken soup fore the soal molly should git 2 and 1 half cups to 3 cups so i feed her 3 cups 2 and a half at 5.30 and 1 cup to half a cup at 10.00

daisy is to be fed the same amount 2 1/2 to 3 cups daly so i feed her 1 1/2 (she doesnt eat varry moutch) she is overwate i cannot git the wate off we have been exercizeing allot together (i could loos alittle wate around the edges to) i finly got her to eat i put an egg in her food but she cannot have it every day so i put alittle watter in it but she doesnt eat it if i put watter in it she doesnt eat the hole cup never so i am not worried i am under feeding her this dog is gitting on my nervs!!! i meen i love her but i dont know!!!......


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## MAX (Sep 12, 2006)

*Dog Not Eating*

When I first rescued our dog she would not eat at all. It turned out that she had a bad case of Kennel Cough. After she was treated and felt better she started eating again. I have noticed that she will go 1-2 days at times without eating but that's about it. If your dog does not eat for more than a few days and/or looks too thin, I would bring to VET. Otherwise they know when to eat and don't worry if dogs are behaving differently - each dog is unique. And yes I have found that weather has an effect on eating patterns - they tend to eat less when hot. (IMHO)

Good Luck


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## daisy (Aug 23, 2006)

for the past week i have been messing around alittle with the scudwil now i am feeding daisy 1 cup and molly 1 1/2 cups at 3.00 and at 8.00 i feed daisy 1/2 cup and molly 1 cup and a 1/2 some times daisy eats it all some times she dosent i started feeding earlyer hopeing that it would tyde molly over until dinner so she dosent beg...yah right!! she will eat people food until she bursts. daisy isnt thin she is losin wate little by little but she isnt thin...yet


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## Dulce (Oct 2, 2006)

I'm sorry, but I'm having a very hard time understanding you.

Your dog should be fed twice a day. 1cup dry in the morning, and 1 cup dry in the evening. Labs are notorious for obesity, and that needs to be monitered closely. 

If your dog doesn't eat, she doesn't eat. She will eat when she's hungry. If she doesn't eat her food within 10 minutes or so, put it up. Try and give it to her again in a few hours. 
She will get hungry enough to want to eat


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## Meghan&Pedro (Nov 6, 2006)

0


Dulce said:


> Your dog should be fed twice a day. 1cup dry in the morning, and 1 cup dry in the evening. Labs are notorious for obesity, and that needs to be monitered closely.


Depending on the food. On a lower quality food such as purina, pedigree, iams or "generic dog food" the dog will have to eat more to reach their daily requirements for protein, fat, fiber and vitimans/minerals.

If she's eating a higher quality food, then she'll still probably need more than one cup twice a day, but it will be closer to this amount (Varying inbetwen 2-3 cups a day, depending on activity level).

To give you an example my 5lb dog eats about 3/4 of a cup a day, and he's a lot smaller than HALF the size of your lab. 

You have to make sure you're feeding enough food. If she's leaving a little bit, that's okay. that just means that she either doesn't like the food, or she isn't being active enough to be hungry.

Which I find really bad for a 5 month old lab to be inactive enough that she's not eating, and to be FAT - yes, labs can be prone to obesity (mostly because they're garbage cans and will eat almost anything, and they tend to be couch potato's at home!) It's your job to exercise your dog properly. 5 month old joints should not be carrying that extra weight.

At 5 months your dog is still growing. I don't reccommend switching to an adult food anytime other than (for a large breed) inbetween 6 and 9 months, however for an overweight dog, this is okay, as long as the protein is higher than 26% (most large breed puppy's are 28%) and the food is still balanced inregards to the calcium and phosphorus levels to insure strong bones.

For example - Nutro large breed puppy (the chicken and rice formula) has guidelines for a dog of her weight and age - they say to feed 4-5 cups a day (if she's in about the 50lb weight limit)

The dog food bag will have the directions on it. Feed by those general guidelines.

Some people find feeding three meals a day is easier for a lot of dogs. Free feeding is an option for some - but then you need to make sure you're taking the dog out to do their 'business' much more often, as generally a dog has to go about 15 minutes after they've eaten, which could be at any various times during the day - whcih causes some people and their pets more greif in the end.

How are her stools? Are they dry constipation-type stools (dark and dry, almost flakey)? Are they larger than they shoud be and very light in color, and almost 'wet' looking.

Some dogs do not do well on certain foods - and not always because of allergies or sensativities, some dogs just don't do well on certain foods, despite quality. 

Help me out a little by answering the questions regarding the dogs stool, and let me know what type of dog food you are feeding. I'll be able to help a lot more from there on


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## daisy (Aug 23, 2006)

i feed chicken soup her stols are alittle wet sometimes like 1 time a week she will have bad dahareha i canot feed her anaything but chicken soup becouse its the best we can git we can also git iams and purena but ther not good are thay? i will not feed iams becouse im agenst it becouse of how thay test ther food.


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## BeckyBeagal (Dec 12, 2006)

I agree with MAX, We had same problem. Becky got flu like symptom; Shelter gave us some antibiotics and cough med, which didn't work at all. We took her to Vet and she got 2 shots, got different antibiotics. She did well for about 2~3 days and went right back to same symptoms. BTW, I used Rubitissin Pediatric for cough. She would eat at all. So we took her to the Vet second time, did heartworm test, thank God, it was negative, got different types of antibiotics. Apparently she had 2nd infection or something She is now so happy, playful and can't keep up with her appetite now. One of the reason she didn't eat was because her nose was clogged up, thus she couldn't smell. When vet forced some food into her mouth, she kept asking for more food


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