Stooopid question....

[areese]

See, I thought the exact same thing but the vet said "Now that she's in a good home she should fill out in a month." I've had her for almost 2 months and she's still all skin and bones. I think I need to find another vet cuz it's the same one who keeps telling me that Teddy's too fat and i need to cut back on his food! He's down to 1/8 cup a day! Well yeah, compared to Kiki.....Teddy's a very chunky monkey but they also have different bone structure since he's a tweenie and she's a mini and VERY different metabolisms...he's sort of a couch potato and she's a little ball of energy!

In 2 months you would have seen a difference in her weight if that was enough food. I'm assuming she's been checked for other problems.....
I'd increase the food and if she still doesnt' gain weight, I'd be concerned. But 1/4 cup twice isn't a whole lot for an active dog. Mine are very slim and eat more than that...Owen is a mini at about 10.5 pounds, Laika's at 12.5.
Maybe the vet is concerned that she'll get fat but geez...you can see if she is getting that way and cut back accordingly. maybe another vet is a good idea...

[Patt]

1/4 cup at each feeding; as per vet request. Should I go with my gut feelings on this and just ignore the vet request!??!!

If she doesn't have any medical problems, I think I would ignore the vet this time and go with your gut feeling. Maybe do 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup at night. You don't have to increase the amount all at once. Possibly this way she will gain slowly and you can keep an eye on her waist. I also agree with Amy, you can always cut back if you think she has put on too much. But, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

Trixie is small (11-12#) and she did get down to 10.5# b/c I wasn't feeding her enough. I'm big on a slim and trim Doxie, but they can get too skinny. Trix gets a little less than 1/3 of a cup of kibble twice a day.

:goodluck: and please keep us updated.

[Claudine]

You probably should be feeding her a little more but i'm also wondering if you had her checked by vet just to make sure there's nothing medically wrong?? Also, I had Bob Barker on Wellness canned & was feeding him SMALL portions & he blew up like a barrel in no time!!! Had to put him on Weight Maintenance kibble & green beans. You might try the canned Wellness for weight gain.

[Jen]

I'd try 1/3 cup twice a day. That's what we were feeding Tasha when we first got her and she needed to put on a little weight. Now she's a muscular 14 lbs.

[lotsadox]

ITA with everyone. Just increase the amount of kibble she gets until she's the right weight, then cut back if necessary. Miller, Scooter and Sweetums were all very thin when I got them so I fed them quite a bit just to put some weight on and then cut back when they got to the correct weight. It's very hard to gauge how much a dog should get just by it's size.

Miller and Cash are close to the same size, but Miller gets twice as much food as Cash does and is slimmer. Like people, some dogs have higher metabolisms than others and so need more food.

[catstamm]

Not a stooopid question at all.... I'd bump her up to 1/3 cp twice a day until she gets a little meat on her....we had to do that with Low-la...that girl took forever to put meat on her bones

[Lee Anne]

Yeah, 1/3 twice a day might be a better place to start rather than doubling her portion right away. Take the veggies out completely for now. Then... bump up or bump down accordingly. Good luck!

[Peppers Mom]

I feel like a horrible mommy then cause Pepper gets his food in an auto feeder. he eats when he wants and as much as he wants is that too bad? He isn't over weight and runns around enough to burn it off?

[areese]

I feel like a horrible mommy then cause Pepper gets his food in an auto feeder. he eats when he wants and as much as he wants is that too bad? He isn't over weight and runns around enough to burn it off?

I free-fed Laika when I only had one dog..she was a bit heavier than she is now but she wasn't fat. It's just when there are more dogs there is more competition for the food and they tend to eat more then. And Owey would prob. eat until he turned into a fat sausage. He likes to eat. We can't even say "eat" around here anymore.

[Otto'sMom]

As long as Pepper isn't overweight, do what works. I can't let food sit out because Otto, Grrrrt, Austin, and Dolly are remorseless eating machines. (Only my dachshunds overeat. Scooter can't due to his teeth, but everybody else doesn't make a circuit of the room licking bowls when puppy suppertime is over)

Daisy May gets 1/2 cup 2x a day since she was soooo skinny/almost dead when I got her.
Scooter, same size, gets 1/4 cup 2x...wonder if I should give him more
Big dogs get 1 cup 2x, Dolly sized dogs get 3/4 cup and the weens get 1/4 cup, although Otto gets less because he turned into a boombalattie. (Holding at 18lbs)