How much food to feed?

[petes67bird]

Hi, Rocky will be 1yr on May 30th. He is 105lbs and hasnt gained weight in two months. We take him on two walks a day and he is extremely active. We feed him Natures Variety 2x a day with about 1 3/4 cups to total about 3.5 cups in a day. It is 409 calories in a cup. Are we feeding him enough? I hope someone has an answer to this, I dont know if you go off of calories or what for a dog. Other question is we have been waiting to switch him to grain free Natures Variety Instinct. Is it safe to do this now regarding how high in protein it is, and if we do, do we feed the same amount. Thanks for your responses in advance, we appreciate it.

[webangel2b]

I'm not familiar with that brand.

Is it high protein? You need high protein if you dog is VERY active.

As a rule, the better the food (quality), the less you need to feed. Dixie only get's a cup of dry per day (Nutro), and one can (normal sized). That said, she's not a highly active dog. This quantity leaves us room for treats, cheese for pills, etc.

Now that we are exercising more I might add to her food however, she's not a big eater. She usually leaves food in her bowl from one day to another - I assume from this she's getting her fill.

[petes67bird]

Does anyone know when it is safe to switch to a grain free food, is it 1year old?

[brunie's mom]

Yes...one year is fine. The majority of his bone growth is done. The grainless foods often have high calcium/phosphorus ratios that are not good for growing large breed puppies. Your pup should be fine now.

Gina

[petes67bird]

Hi Brunies mom,
Thanks again for your response regarding the grainless food. You have been of so much help to us and Rocky since we joined. I will be posting some pictures of him once we get some time. Thanks again Pete