How Much Do You Feed Your Greyhound?

[Guest TeddysMom]

In reading this thread, I noticed that a couple of people said they feed their dogs Greenies. Please re-think letting your dogs have them. I had a kennel in FL for rescued boxers, we got a case of Greenies donated and I began giving each dog a Greenie during the day. I ended up with 2 dogs with bowel blockages and having to have surgery. Turned out these two were not the only patients the vet had had to operate on for blockages due to Greenies. He said they do not digest and will form a sticky ball in the intestines, I saw it for myself and I went home and threw out all the greenies. I would hate to think of any of you having to go through this. I think there are some write-ups now on the internet about this.

[brandimom]

Brandi is a small grey and I keep her weight at 58 lbs so I can see a few ribs and she has an hour glass figure. Also she had the weak hind legs so keeping her lean is very important. I feed Acana fish protein, 1 heaping c. in a.m. and p.m. No free feeding.

[Guest saltwaterron]

i feed riley 1 3/4 cups twice a day. she acts like she's starving all the time. if i add yogurt to her food, when she finishes she will walk away and come back to lick the bowl. do all greys act like they're starving?

[Guest kydie]

3 out of 4 of my pups always act like they haven't eaten in days

[Guest kimmel729]

My girl gets 2 cups 2x a day. When I first got her I thought she looked too skinny, she looks better to me now but I'm not sure if its because she gained 1.5lbs or because I'm just used to how she looks... Most of our "walks" turn out to be jogs anyways. She's a trim 59lbs and still looks good and strong.

[Guest Fluffy]

Badger right now gets either 3 or 3.5 cups a day (1.5 cups x2 meals a day, plus an extra half-cup on weekdays in his kibble kong), mixed with about 2 tablespoons of yogurt, 2 of pumpkin, and 1/4 cup of rolled oats per meal. He's chubbing up on this regimen, though - he came to me at 75 pounds and he was cleared as "the perfect weight" by the vet at 77, but his ribs have become less prominent since that checkup and I suspect all the mix-ins are adding more calories to his meals than I had been assuming. I'm probably going to cut a half-cup of kibble out of the daily ration and see what sort of difference that makes.

 

And yes, he always acts like he is starving.

[sarabz]

Bella is on Earthborn Holistic and is currently getting the recommended 2 1/2 cups per day. This is split into two meals of 1 cup each, with a couple of tablespoons each of pumpkin and yogurt. She also gets a squirt of salmon oil per meal, and a melatonin tablet in the morning.

 

She also gets a daily Kong which has the other 1/2 cup of kibble, a few charley bear treats, oatmeal and a little more pumpkin or peanut butter, frozen.

 

She had chunked up and is now looking good so we may need to increase her kibble just a little to maintain. This kibble is slightly lower protein than the last one she was on, so I think it's working better for her.

 

She's 68 pounds, 5 years old and probably gets close to an hour of exercise a day - mostly walking, some short runs.

[Guest FastDogsOwnMe]

3 cups/day is about average for all my dogs once they're at the weight they need to be. During racing season, though, they can eat up to twice that much. Summer time we don't do much exercising due to the heat.

[Guest BlingDogs]

**oh and I also give 6 or 7 cookies a day.

 

Whoa, that's a lot of treats! A dog should only have 10% of their daily calories in treats, which usually means one or two.

[Guest ryeamans]

I selected "5 cups/day", as I give Charlie 2.5 cups each meal. However, often he does not finish at least one of the meals. It's usually breakfast that he doesn't finish, but then he'll definitely eat the 2.5 in the evening (unless it's a million degrees out and he's too hot to eat). He's probably about 66-67 lbs and holding steady.

[Guest pichick712]

Indy gets 4 cups total (not including the cat food he steals from my cats and the mice he has started snacking on outside). It's a mix of Nutro and some Chef Michael's. He seems to like it a lot. He will never starve.

[Guest kelsosaurus]

2.5 cups of Blue Buffalo for a 54 lbs girl

[Guest FlosMomma]

My girls get 1 cup dry Iams, 1/2 canned or steamed veggies, and 1/2 c boiled chicken meat with a dollop of yogurt twice a day. Milk Bone before bed and potty treats throughout the day,

[cleptogrey]

as felix approaches his 6th birthday i've cut back on his food. he was a stable 76-77# and went up to 79! so, he's down from 4 cups daily to 3-3.5 cups. annie too has just cut down from 3 to 2.5 cups. one kong a day, one maybe 2 large biskets, no additional treats. i think it's dh whose sneaking treats,....now their intake must be reduced. the caloric intake of blue seal is about the same- 387 calories per cup, exercise only a tad less during the winter, but i think it's maturation or dh!.

[Guest Rhea]

I use the Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice formula. Currently I'm feeding Dane two cups a day as per the advice of his former foster, but I'm wondering if it's enough. He's been a little whiny during random times during the day, but he isn't being destructive either... Though he is strangely insistent on eating grass (which he was doing the first couple days here instead of really eating his dog food.) And looking at the Diamond label now, it seems like I should be feeding him a little more, perhaps.... Hrm...

[Guest oldgreymom]

Wow. I thought my guy ate a lot. People actually feed ONE dog 7 cups of kibble a day??? They must be some active puppies

[JJNg]

I use the Diamond Naturals Lamb and Rice formula. Currently I'm feeding Dane two cups a day as per the advice of his former foster, but I'm wondering if it's enough. He's been a little whiny during random times during the day, but he isn't being destructive either... Though he is strangely insistent on eating grass (which he was doing the first couple days here instead of really eating his dog food.) And looking at the Diamond label now, it seems like I should be feeding him a little more, perhaps.... Hrm...

 

Base your assessment of whether you're feeding enough on the dog's weight, not on the dog's behavior... If he's losing weight, you're not feeding enough. If his weight is stable, that's a good amount for him. The label on the back of the back is just a suggested guideline. Every dog's metabolism is different, and most of the suggested amounts are based on studies done with intact dogs (neutered/spayed dogs have a lower metabolism). Most greyhounds love their food and will eat as much as you'll give them and still want more. There are also other reasons for dogs to be whiny, such as being bored, wanting attention, etc. Also, eating grass usually isn't a sign of hunger. Some dogs eat grass when they have an upset stomach, others just seem to like grazing.

[Guest Scarter55]

I hope to have Lady on (the equilivent of) 4 cups a day at some point but it is hard to keep the weight on her right now, so we are at about 5. But she often doesn't even finish all of it. Maybe we just need to increase the fat content of her diet.

[Guest Rhea]

 

Base your assessment of whether you're feeding enough on the dog's weight, not on the dog's behavior... If he's losing weight, you're not feeding enough. If his weight is stable, that's a good amount for him. The label on the back of the back is just a suggested guideline. Every dog's metabolism is different, and most of the suggested amounts are based on studies done with intact dogs (neutered/spayed dogs have a lower metabolism). Most greyhounds love their food and will eat as much as you'll give them and still want more. There are also other reasons for dogs to be whiny, such as being bored, wanting attention, etc. Also, eating grass usually isn't a sign of hunger. Some dogs eat grass when they have an upset stomach, others just seem to like grazing.

I think I was definitely feeding him too little, he seems much happier now that he's getting about 3 1/2 cups a day. It also took him a little while to feel comfortable here, which is why he was skipping meals and so forth. Now that we've bonded and he's figured out that this is 'home' he's eating both meals happily. At the start he'd skip breakfast or dinner. (So for the first 2-3 days he was really getting by on one cup of food, p. much).

[moofie]

I don't know what a 'cup' equates to as it's not a measurement Brits use. On current kibble they get the following:

Hattie 26kg 320grams per day

Throp 29kg 360g

Pru 27kg 360g

 

Can be more or less depending on quality of the kibble, a cheap brand we were given at adoption we fed about 500g but was all unknown cereals & meat derivatives so not surprising really.

Edited August 7, 2013 by moofie

[Guest chickenpotpie]

In the morning I give her a handful of kibble, coconut oil, teaspoon of yogurt, a spoonful of 5 grain oats. She's not big on eating in the morning, though she does like to have SOMETHING. During the day she will use her wobbler to feed herself if she gets hungry...1/2 cup of kibble in there. In the evening she gets her raw turkey neck or or chicken leg quarter with 1/2 cup of veggies along with flax/fish oil.

She dosen't go treat-less though! She gets a couple of cookies and a couple of chicken livers a day as training treats, if its really hot and she's not eating much, I make her icemilk with a teaspoon of whey powder, peas, corn, brocolli, or green beans and peaches, which helps her to cool down.

 

At night for dessert she gets a 2 of those 3-dog creme filled cookie.

 

She gets a lot of exercise. In the a.m., she walks for 1-1.5 miles. in the evening could be up to 3 miles if its cool enough and not raining. On the weekends we hit the hiking trails and hike for 2 or more miles a day (or whatever she can tolerate)

 

Weight wise she's doing very well as she's currently 64lbs. The vet says she's at a very good weight, and she's actually muscled up quite a bit from all the activity we do. He did warn me that I may have to feed her more if I continue with this level of activity.

[tyguy7760]

Piper gets about 1.25-1.5 cups of food twice a day, with a tablespoon of yogurt in each meal and a tablespoon of pumpkin once a day. Does anyone have any other suggestions as far as add ons instead of pumpkin? She eats purina one sensitive systems and her foster gave her pumpkin to firm up the poop. I don't want to change her food as she isn't having any issues with it. I'm not really sure if she needs the pumpkin or not but our grocer just doesn't keep much of it so I was wondering if there is anything else we can give her to firm it up in a pinch?

[FiveRoooooers]

Piper gets about 1.25-1.5 cups of food twice a day, with a tablespoon of yogurt in each meal and a tablespoon of pumpkin once a day. Does anyone have any other suggestions as far as add ons instead of pumpkin? She eats purina one sensitive systems and her foster gave her pumpkin to firm up the poop. I don't want to change her food as she isn't having any issues with it. I'm not really sure if she needs the pumpkin or not but our grocer just doesn't keep much of it so I was wondering if there is anything else we can give her to firm it up in a pinch?

Sweet potato, green beans, carrots, apples. My young'uns love these.