Self imposed limits

Comments

• lindsayt

  January 2009 edited November -1

  My kids will inhale their food after a busy day of running/hiking but are more apt to ponder a meal (Ike especially will leave pieces behind) if they have not had any activity that day which is rare. I think they limit what they take in on those occasions because their bodies aren't burning the calories. My mom's pom Buddy never finishes a meal except on the rare occasions she takes him for a walk. Then again some dogs are just pigs and some may truely be a little anorexic.
  
  For Tsuki to gain weight, maybe try increasing the carbs in the diet, adding some additional sort of starch. I guess this is the downside of doing grain free, we get ultra skinny buff dogs. And/or, try increasing the fat and protein in the diet. I know of some working border collie people who use a suet like fat/calorie booster to keep weight on their dogs (Red Paw). I think it has corn oil (she has allergy issues right?) http://www.redpawfeed.com/pages/p_fat.php
  
  There are probably similar products, but I wonder if there is an alternative that could be made at home to put in her food so she gets the extra fat and calories without the bulk.
• cmmookie

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Mookie used to not finish his kibble. He is on a normal twice a day feeding schedule but maybe this was our fault for just leaving it there until he finished. I think he was saving some for later because he would always go back an hour later to eat the last couple of pieces. Ever since we got Penny, he started finishing his food because he knows that Penny will eat it if he doesn't.
  
  How many times a day are you feeding her? Maybe you could try to add in an extra feeding and just feed her smaller portions that she feels like she can finish.
• dlroberts

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Melissa makes a good point. Perhaps an additional feeding would be good for her?
  
  Unless Lucy is having an IBD flare-up, she always finishes her meals. Joey, on the other hand, seems to self-regulate his diet. He'll go stretches of a few weeks where he will eat everything in his bowl at both feedings. Other times, he'll go a week or two where every other meal or every third meal he will only eat 1/2, or 1/4, or sometimes nothing at all.
  
  If you are concerned about her weight, then perhaps a calorie booster like Lindsay mentioned might not be a bad idea. If she is in good body condition and has enough energy, then I wouldn't worry too much.
• Calia

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Tetsu never finishes his meals and, even though we have kept a schedule with feeding times, he sometimes doesn't eat when we feed him. He'll just look at it and walk off while Tikaani tries to take the opportunity to scarf more food down. I have found that he really doesn't like eating out of the bowl, and would rather a flat surface, even when he was a puppy he refused to eat out of the bowl. I'm looking to find something similar to a popcorn tin lid, or maybe a pasta bowl for him.
• santuzza

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Tosca can be moody with her morning meals, as if she's suddenly started dieting, but come dinner time she's usually back to normal. The only real trouble she gave us about food was when we were first putting her on a feeding schedule; she'd been free-fed before.
• ljowen123

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Jazz eats 90% of her meal at one time. Usually, she comes back to it about an hour later and finishes it off.
• BradA1878

  January 2009 edited November -1

  maui does the same thing, he just naturally keeps himself from eating too much. he is always thin, but he never gets too thin.
  
  Shikoku are also self limiters, they will only eat as much as they need. we started fasting our shikas once a week because they would do it for us anyway and we ended up wasting the food.
• lindsayt

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Brad-that's a good idea. I forgot about fasting the dogs for a day. Do you think they should do a fasting day even if the appetite is good?
• Sangmort

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Now I'm curious...do you fast them the entire day? I imagine they still get water tho, right? ~
• Leonberger

  January 2009 edited November -1

  It's very rare for Kuma to finish a meal. He will leave anything from 1/4 to 3/4 of the bowl there, and sometimes won't even eat at all. The meals he finishes in a flash and I have to control it a bit are the sweet potato/tuna/spinach ones.
• tsukitsune

  January 2009 edited January 2009

  thanks for all the responses! It sounds like its not such a rare thing for a nihon ken to be a self-regulator during meals! I feel better about that!
  
  more insight:
  - Tsuki gets two regularly scheduled meals a day. If she doesn't finish it within a 20-30 min time frame, it gets tossed. I would consider another feeding, I'll have to see how that works.
  - Both dogs fast on Sunday (yes, they have 24/7 access to water even on this day).
  - They get two daily walks on weekdays and we hike on Saturdays weather permitting and veg out on Sundays. Its been near single digit temps for like the entire month of January so far so we've been walking a shorter distance and not hiking. You might be on to something here, Lindsay... but we do give them a rigorous play session each night after dinner/walk, maybe we'll have to do it before hand until the weather breaks to get her worked up to eat.
  - Tsuki is thin, but not too thin, kind of like Maui. She also has LP in her back left leg and I don't want to intentionally beef her up because of this.
  
  Maybe I'm giving her too big a portion? I base the measurements on 2.5% her ideal weight, which is about 17lbs. I don't want to encourage her to eat less by cutting the portion, but maybe I should at least during the winter?
  
  Do pet/house dogs eat more in the spring/fall/summer than in the winter?
• BradA1878

  January 2009 edited November -1

  We fast all of our adult dogs once a week, no food all day except for maybe a treat or 2. they do get water. theu really don't seem to mind it.
• miket

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Other than not wanting to waste food, is there any benefit to fasting a dog for a day?
  
  Remy inhales his meals everday...he goes ballistic at meal time since I switched over to Orijen Fish (man that stuff stinks!!). When he was on once a day feedings he puked up bile quite a bit, which I suspect was from being quite hungry (this has resolved with 2/day feedings thanks to everyone here).
• KFontaine04

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Im curious about fasting too. Although Miso and Sake both eat all their food so it wouldn't be needed in our house. Just curious.
• tsukitsune

  January 2009 edited November -1

  We fast because it helps clean out their system. It enables the energy used to digest food to be used for other things in the body. We fast with the dogs for half the day once a week and a full day once a month.
  
  I wouldn't fast with a dog under a year old without talking to a nutritionist/ holistic vet for the harms/benefits/etc.
• sunyata

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Hmm. Now I am curious about the fasting. Both Bella and Nola are free fed. It works for us, and they do not over eat. However, there are days that Nola does not eat until late in the day, and she usually vomits some stomach acid in the morning. When your dogs fast, do they get sick? (Yes, we have had Nola to the vet about this, but the vet and I both seem to think this is from her not eating for long periods of time... usually from 8pm to about 3pm.) There are also days when Bella will not eat all day, but she has not gotten sick from the lack of food in her stomach. Is it advisable to fast, or just a choice that you make for your dogs?
• tsukitsune

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Our two don't get sick when they fast, no. I can't scientifically explain why - but we greatly limit their activity on fasting days - just lounging around and back yard pottying - so maybe that helps keep the acid at a lull.
  
  We decided to start fasting when we started raw, to give the digestive tract time to energize and empty any remaining bacteria, etc, following a natural process of a natural (raw) canine diet. We would only fast twice a month or so. When we decided to reintroduce grain free kibble and cooked veggies, we started fasting them once a month because of the digestion rates now fluctuating between food types (raw is faster than cooked is faster than veg is faster than grain free kibble is faster than grained kibble).
  
  Our holistic vet thought it was a very good decision based on the type of weekly rotating diet we do with our dogs so we gave it a go and I really think we have very little digestive issues (knock on wood!) because of the fasting day. Our two haven't had a runny stool issue since ... I can't even remember when, and I contribute that to the method of rotation (between raw, cooked and kibble meals weekly) and the weekly day of fasting/healing.
  Its probably not for everyone, but I believe in the whole diet spectrum we do for us and our dogs.
• tsukitsune

  January 2009 edited November -1

  HEEEEY Lindsay!
  
  You are awesome. This week was 25 degrees+ so we were back to their normal walking, except we walked before we gave them dinner (usually we walk 1 hour after they eat) and Tsuki finished more of her portion than she has all winter! yay!
• lindsayt

  January 2009 edited November -1

  Brrr-that's a little too cold. Glad she is eating more guts:) I think I usually feed after walks. They're starving by then, usually.