Is 1 Cup/day A Starvation Diet?

[jetcitywoman]

This week we started fostering a male greyhound who raced at about 62 pounds. My group adopted him to a lady who happens to be 75 years old. That's not a problem, but the story is she got wrapped up in the leash and fell and broke her shoulder. So she can't take care of the dog while she heals, but she's also now fearful of it happening again so we have the option of keeping him if we decide we want to and he does well with us.

 

He's super affectionate and playful, a spunky 4-year old shiny black bit of eye candy so of course we'd love to keep him. I think he'll do great with us, but am willing to play it by ear for a few months and not make snap (and biased) judgements. However...

 

When the adoption rep brought him to us, with his toys and some of the food that lady was feeding him so we can transition him to our food, she mentioned that the lady was feeding him 1 cup. I was like "... A DAY???" She said yes but they did NOT tell her to feed him that little. For some reason, despite what they advised her, she thinks she needs to keep him at race weight. So I'm sort of thinking we should keep him because I don't know if I could hand him back over to her to be fed that little.

 

I'd love to hear from our experienced folks here, Batmon and Dmdsmoxie and others... approximately how much do you feed to keep a dog at race weight? I can't believe it's as little as one cup of food a day. If I do give him back to her after her shoulder heals, I want to work with the adoption reps to strongly advise her to feed him more appropriately, so I need to know the facts.

 

He hasn't been with her long yet, so he's not skeletal. He's very thin in appearance, looks race weight or just under. I think he should be at a retired weight of about 68 - 70 pounds.

[JAJ2010]

Wow, that is a tiny amount of food! I would imagine racing dogs are fed a lot more since their metabolism is in overdrive with their fitness.

 

My pups are raw fed and probably eat 2.5-3 cups a day if you grind it up and measure

[dante2zoe]

I cannot give advice about the food amount since I raw feed. That being said, I have always kept my dogs at or about race weight and they have done fine. Over time, the muscle disappears and they look to be more filled out. But those black boys - hubba hubba! Good luck with what you decide.

[jetcitywoman]

Just for a rough comparison, Capri raced at 58 pounds and I keep her around 60 pounds give or take 2. She is twelve now so take that into consideration, but she looks almost twice as big as him. I feed her 3 cups/day to maintain that weight.

 

Oh, and I should say that we have NOT been feeding him 1/day. We immediately started feeding him 2 cups/day. That lady also mentioned that he was a counter surfer and had stomach problems so she gave us a bottle of pepto for him. We're feeding him twice a day and there's been no counter surfing or stomach problems. He has firm, normal size poos now (diarhea the first day).

Edited December 8, 2016 by jetcitywoman

[RaineysMom]

ours eat Kirkland and get a healthy 1.5 cups 2 times a day, PLUS a lot of other goodies like canned pumpkin, yogurt, cottage cheese, etc. and ours are both an extremely nice 71.5 lbs and look great. 1 cup is definitely way too little.

 

good luck and thanks for helping him out!

[locket]

My 68-70 lbs male eats about 3 cups per day, give or take a few treats My 80 lbs male is at 3.75-4, depending on activity and they are both at racing weight. Actually my 70lbs is UNDER racing weight as he was a bit storky when racing

[Batmom]

Depends on the food but likely he'd need 2 cups at least. If you have time, I'd get him to a good weight/condition and see how much food it takes to maintain that. Then you can counsel the owner if you and she decide he should go back to her.

[dmdsmoxie]

That is not enough to feed him.

 

My guess is the dog was maintaining his weight because he wasn't getting a lot of exercise. If you keep him and take him to a park to run around or walk him a lot you would probably see him lose weight.

 

On top of that you have to wonder how much of that cup a day is going to the dog and how much is filler and just coming out the other end. Anyone that feeds raw will tell you that there is a lot less poop because there is less that the body can't use.

 

Plus, you will see some dogs that race for two and a half or three years will usually have their set weight for racing increased because a dog at 18 months is still growing. If that 18 month old has a set weight of 63 pounds by the time he is 24 to 26 months old he should have his set weight increased a couple of pounds as he finished filling out.

 

Dick

[krissy]

Every food has a different caloric density. If you feed a highly dense food, you need to feed less. Unfortunately, a lot of foods like Acana are super high cal per cup. I say unfortunately, not because it's actually a problem, but because people look at the tiny amount to feed and feel like it isn't enough even though it is. They then over feed and the dog gets fat. The right amount to feed is whatever the dog maintains an appropriate weight at, and that amount depends on what food is being fed, the exercise, the individual metabolism, etc. So if the dog was maintaining a decent condition at 1 cup per day on the exercise and food he was getting, then there's nothing wrong with that. If you now switch his food to something lower cal and start exercising him more, then 1 cup is likely not going to be enough anymore.

 

I personally feed the smallest amount of food that provides adequate nutrition. When I got Summit (who was not fresh off the track, he'd been in a home for over 2 years already), I fed him 4 cups a day. But I later discovered that there was no change in weight if I fed 3 cups per day, so that is what I did.

 

And generally speaking, there is nothing wrong with "race weight". I'm not even sure why we call it "race weight". Typically this is just a really ideal, fit condition... I'm not sure why a lot of people consider it a negative. Most of them are not too skinny when they come off the track. They are in peak athletic condition that most of us would die to be in!

[Guest Wasserbuffel]

I think it depends on the type of food. A 62lb male on a really calorie dense food might be fine with that little. My Jayne raced at 57lbs, and maintains a 59lb pet weight on 3 cups of Iams a day, but that's a food with fillers. If she were on a grain-free it would likely be less. Meanwhile little 50lb Wash needs just over 3 cups a day, because she burns more energy than her senior sister.

[Hubcitypam]

Pitou and Bark get a cup a day and are 20-25 pounds. Kcals per cup can make a big difference but I can't imagine any food rich enough for even a smaller a grey to live on one cup a day.

[mom2four]

I think we need the mandatory It's the you know, especially of a black hunk!

 

I feed ours 2-2.5 cups per day, from the 54 lb girly to out 75 lb big guy (laziest dog alive).

[jetcitywoman]

Okay, fair point about the quality of the food. I have no idea what kibble she was feeding even though she gave us some because it was given to us in a plastic grocery bag. We feed a moderate-protein, high quality salmon/whitefish and sweet potato kibble (Nature's Select).

 

Dick, I got his race weight by looking at his more recent Trackinfo records. So that was his weight at about 3 years old.

 

I don't think there's anything bad about race weight. It seems to me we use it more as a matter of reference because a lot of people can't tell a proper weight by looking at the dog. I admit to that problem, my dogs creep toward chunky if I didn't weight them occasionally, even though I feed them a measured amount every day. It's the "boiled frog" syndrome for me. (and the treats...) I actually do both: appearance and measured weight relative to recorded race weight.

[RedHead]

Hmmm...perhaps she fed him a lot of treats on the side (??). One cup doesn't seem like enough to sustain a healthy weight, even on a high calorie kibble. Every dog is different though, obviously she doesn't look too thin so something is working.

[greysmom]

I'l probably get flamed, but both Toni and Whiskey only get 2/3 of a cup of kibble at each meal (plus a TBL of canned food and salmon oil, with water). Both of them maintain their weight within a pound or two every vet visit. Technically that's 1 1/3 cups a day for a 73-75 lb dog, which is 8-10 lbs over both their racing weights. My vet (who is quite experienced with greyhounds) thinks they look fine. They also get quite a few treats per day. And we are not overly active. They have a couple good 20 minute play sessions a day running around, and wrestling, and chasing each other, plus playing with the lure pole.

 

I agree with Kristie that every dog is different, and that you should feed whatever the amount of the food you've chosen is to have them maintaining their weight and condition on the amount of activity they get. Their age also does play a part, as I want a senior to have a tiny bit extra in case they get sick and drop a bunch of weight too quickly.

[3greytjoys]

One cup of kibble is not enough food for a Greyhound considering any kibble I've ever seen. Caloric content varies greatly. Some kibble is in the 300(+) range vs. one example is Innova's 519 calories per cup (per Innova's current website). When we fed Innova (long ago) all our Greyhounds maintained healthy pet weight on approx. 3(+) cups kibble per day.

Kibble manufacturers list feeding guidelines on bag for their specific food's caloric content, per AAFCO guidelines.

 

Quoted below is from “Feeding” by Joan Martin (see pet Greyhound caloric needs chart in red bold):

“A highly conditioned dog will have more muscle mass, which is both denser and heavier, than the same size dog that is out of condition. Age, exercise, stress caused by both heat and cold, and general health all influence the best weight for an individual dog.

 

The following chart shows the calories needed to maintain weight for dogs kept as pets getting moderate exercise:

weight (lbs) / calories

50 1,350

57 1,482

66 1,650

88 2,112

End quote.

Source: http://www.adopt-a-greyhound.org/advice/general_advice/feeding.shtml

Edited December 9, 2016 by 3greytjoys

[Hubcitypam]

It's all water under the bridge now and wishing you and your charge a bright future,: No lectures from here.

Edited December 9, 2016 by Hubcitypam

[jetcitywoman]

Thanks everyone.

 

As per here is a picture. It's not a terrific one, but... it does show his adorbs folded-up ears. Those ears go everywhere except back in the typical streamlined "ducktail" do. His personality is even cuter. He's a huggy, kissy, playful boy.

 

[NeylasMom]

He's adorable.

 

One thing to consider though based on your description of his energy level this doesn't seem to fit - hypothyroidism will often cause a dog to gain weight abnormally. So if he's hypothyroid I could see how feeding him so little could keep him at an appropriate weight.

 

And as someone else mentioned, for all we know the owner was giving him lots of treats or table scraps and barely exercising him.

[XTRAWLD]

Wookit dat faaaaace......

 

And

 

EARSIES!!!

 

He looks pretty good in the pic....got a side view?

Edited December 9, 2016 by XTRAWLD

[krissy]

Another thought. Did the food COME with a measuring cup they were using? We are making the assumption that when they said 1 cup that they meant 1 measuring cup... but I have come to realize this is often not the case. I have had people tell me "1 cup" meaning: 1 coffee mug, 1 juice glass, 1 dixie cup, etc. 1 dixie cup is almost 3 actual cups! So I suppose you could also see if it's possible to double check if 1 cup means 1 cup.

[Batmom]

He's darling .

[jetcitywoman]

Ah, Kristie, that's an extremely good point. No, she only gave us a bag full of kibble with no scooper. For all we know her "cup" was 3 measuring cups...

 

Over the past week we've discovered that he's super food motivated, super smart, and also toy-motivated. He gets into things like the recycle bin and redecorates the living room with torn plastic bags (bad husband, who was working from home that day but ignoring the dogs...!) unless we keep him well exercised. This morning I took him out in the back yard to chase toys around and ended up teaching him to fetch. He's very happy to bring the toy back and drop it near my feet in exchange for a bit of treat.

 

I'll have to get a good side-view picture. He looks fine, a little bit on the thin side for a recently retired dog, but not emaciated.

[3greytjoys]

Oh goodness, he's adorable! Love those darling earsies!

Thank you for caring for him.

(Secretly hoping he might snuggle his way into your hearts forever. )

[Guest Jordan33]

He's adorable!

 

Adrien eats 1/4 cup of wet food (Honest Kitchen brand) and a cup of dry (Wysong brand) twice a day. When she first arrived she was 54 pounds with too many ribs sticking out so the vet suggested feeding her three times a day. Not knowing how much to give her, I think I over fed her until she gained the weight rather quickly, and then stopped eating her meals partway through. Lol, I've heard other greys will just eat anything put in front of them, but not Adrien, which is good, as it helped me figure out the proper amount to give her. Anyway, she's 64 pounds now, and looks great! But, while she likes treats, she's not very food motivated and we don't excercise as often as we probably should.

 

It also sounds like this elderly lady you speak of needs a smaller female that might not be as strong or energetic, or frightens easily. Judging by the accident you described. But I wasn't there when she adopted so I don't know how she was matched up.

 

Anyway, good luck! I hope things go well for you and the dog.