How can this be right?

Pereg is fed mainly on raw, but I do occasionally give her kibble or a good quality tinned food so that in an emergency she will eat both.

The kibble I changed to is called Canine Caviar and the instructions give amounts in cups. As it is an American brand giving amounts in cups I contacted them about the amount to feed, explaining that as Pereg is on a weight-reducing diet I want to give her the amount for an 18kg dog - I currently weigh everything and she is getting 2%/kilo for that weight.

The response I had was that a cup of food weighs between 4ox and 4.25oz which translates to 118-125gm. Therefore my dog should be eating no more than 135gm of their kibble a day - split into two meals.

The kibble is this one:

http://www.caninecaviar.com/index.ph...d=52&Itemid=36

and they say that if she is fed just on this kibble she should only have 135gm a day?

Does that sound right?

How much does she weigh? As a comparison, though the food I feed isn't as high in meat, I feed my 20 kilo shar-pei 200g of James Wellbeloved a day. Considering it's better quality than my food, it may be about right. If she's only fed the occasional meal of it, I'm sure it will be fine and she won't starve to death.

Last time she was weighed she was 20kg and I want to get her down to 18kg maximum, which is why I am weighing everything to keep her intake to 2% of 18kg, which is 360g/day. But assuming I was feeding the kibble only, there is no way that she could or would be satisfied with just 135g a day.

I know it is a top quality kibble, but 135g only a day? Even as an occasional meal 135g would not be sufficient for her.

Spencer's 30kg and gets 300g of kibble a day. Not a top quality kibble, I imagine he'd be on less if it were. Luisa was 13kg and on 100g of the same food. So chances are it's round about right.

It sounds right....
Don't forget if you feed kibbles with a higher meat content, you need less than the ones with less meat.
My 2 would get 75g per day if they were on the kibble only. (the one I feed)

And don't forget that raw has a lot of water in it while kibble doesn't so you're not going to need to feed as much kibble.

I know that, but I experimented and soaked 135g of the kibble in water to see how much it expanded, and it did not even fill half of her food bowl - and I changed to a smaller bowl when I started her diet. That amount was supposed to be split between two meals, and I know I want Pereg to lose weight but if that was all she was given in a day she would be screeching the place down.

why don't you do a test run and see how she goes with it? if you don't usually feed kibble, things probably aren't going to look like they add up when your used to giving big meaty bones

at least if you try her on it for a few days, you can gauge how she reacts and change it accordingly?

Until I changed Pereg onto mostly raw, she had kibble only, but following her problems and having to be on medication she started gaining a lot of weight, which is why I started on raw and gradually tweaked her diet so that she was not hungry all the time and has definitely lost the very rotund figure she gained. I am not sure yet how much actual weight she has lost but she has definitely gotten a lot slimmer now.

"Big meaty bones" are something she does not have. Every other day she has rmb for her first meal, either 2 chicken wings, half a chicken back [with neck] or about 1/3rd - 1/2 a turkey neck. I do weigh them and take into consideration the amount and weight of bone. All other meals are weighed to almost the last gram, and I even include the few grams of cheese that her pills are wrapped in for the total she has each day. Also the three tiny biscuits she has as treats.

Today's meal #1 was ~50g of tinned tuna, one raw egg, and 80g of steamed vegetables. Meal #2 was 80g of chicken gizzards and 80g of vegetables. As there are obviously far less calories in steamed vegetables they are mostly for bulk. She also has various vitamin and mineral supplements to make up for anything that might be lacking in this diet, and even those have been weighed to include in the 2% of the 18kg I want to get her down to.

Tomorrow's menu is for turkey neck as her first meal, and liver and vegetables for the second one.

So as far as Pereg is concerned she has had two large satisfying meals, and no way will she accept just 135g of kibble as a whole day's meals. The kibble is for occasional feeding, and from when I have tried it before it has been soaked and had added vegetables, as the first time I offered her 75g of it plain as a meal it was gone almost instantly and she spent the next few hours driving me mad for food food and more food. She was ravenously hungry and almost hysterical, which is the worst possible thing for her.

I got the kibble for her to have in an emergency, but in such an event there is no way she could only have 135g a day.



I just cannot see that 135g of kibble can possibly be enough for her.

But with kibble it's not really to do with 'how much' as such, it's the ingredients. And having good ingredients means you feed less.

Pluss, kibble that doesn't expand as much is good