BARF diet, is she getting enough?

[Cheyanna]

Fiona is 9 months old and 60 pounds. I have been feeding her 1 pound in the morning and 1 pound at dinner. She acts hungry all the time. She will lick her bowl clean again and again. At bedtime, I will give her a cup of kibble, she will gobble that down almost immediately. I thought I did the calculations right to get the 1 pound, but maybe I am off. Am I feeding her too little, too much or just right? I cannot see her ribcage, I used to be able to, but I can feel it.

[lone Ranger]

Hello Fionna, 50 readings and no help, so I will do what I can..

I am not experienced, only raising now my third GSD, but I have 100 emails of help, text messages, and phone calls, and visits, from my Breeder that has 20 years experience... So second hand help it is, but I have been experimenting with raw vrs good kibble and will try...

The weight of Her is useless information to determine anything on Fiona, 60 lbs seems OK for a GSD bitch at that age but it would depend on breeding type and height, you really need to see her... Now again weight is not something I can comment on as it seems mid range... You would have to judge by ribs and waist. If you can see the last rib or two when wet and a sudden skinny narrowing to her waist, maybe a bit lean at that age.. Now I do have two more relevant bits that come from my own experience:

1) I would give her more, over weight and the waist start to fill in to the just inside the width of the last ribs, you can back her off then... My 7 year old bitch is a bit heavy, even wet you see no ribs at all and only maybe only an inch narrowing each side to her waist, she is a bit overweight.

2) I would maybe not mix raw and kibble, but check out her stool. While it is easy to mix, I have found it is different digestive rates. When I mix, the raw diet comes out the exhaust as firm short dark sausage bits, but often the kibble comes out loose and runny... Mainly feeding raw, supplemented with kibble has not worked out on my dogs in the same meal.

Comment on Raw and Kibble mix: I would love to switch to a main stay of dry kibble (highest grade natural with solid good ingredients) and supplement with raw. That would be much easier to live with, but I would not risk it until my puppy hits most of his full growth potential and hard bones at 12 months. There is a Testimonial in raw diet section, of how it is saving or prolonging the passing of my 10 year old GSD that was going downhill fast... Raw is better for most dogs that show allergic shedding and itch and other problems to the fillers like grain in the kibble...

Kind regards from Oz, and I hope this is a help to you, lone Ranger

[lone Ranger]

Correction Cheyanna,

When I said in the last post trying to convey a diet base:

"1) I would give her more, over weight and the waist start to fill in to the just inside the width of the last ribs, you can back her off then... My 7 year old bitch is a bit heavy, even wet you see no ribs at all and only maybe only an inch narrowing each side to her waist, she is a bit overweight."

I am not used to thinking anymore in inches... My bitch Tonka (Buffalo Girl) indent to her waist is maybe only half an inch, like 12 mm, not much of a waist at all. She is definitely over weight at 7 y.o. but strong.

If your girl when wet has the last few ribs really visible and indents abruptly into a drastically narrower waist, I would let her have more.

Hope this is a help..

[Cheyanna]

Thank you Lone Ranger. I gave her more at dinner and she left the extra in the bowl. So I guess I should try more frequent.


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[volcano]

Dont feed near or at bedtime, especially kibble which may have lots of carbs. I didnt learn this till my late 30's now I have acid reflux from eating my dinners after work at 11 pm.

[Capone22]

I was told ya 2-3 % of the estimated adult weight.




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