Not eating enough?

[gooeydog]

Lately Goo has taken to eating her food at suppertime, then after everyone is done, she goes over and checks the other dogs' bowls, then sometimes goes and chows down on their dry food (which is NOT very good quality food, so I shoo her out of it :oops: ). I've noticed this on and off ever since I switched her food, though it does seem like maybe since she doesn't always have easy access to the dry food, it's more common. She usually has dry food down in my room, but I have to keep the gate up or Haley goes in there and pigs it all down, or else let the gate open and put her food up. When it's down, she usually just picks at it, gets a few bites here and there throughout the day, though if I'm "late" getting her supper, she'll go in and eat the whole bowl (usually has a cup or less in there, and I keep an eye on how quickly it goes).

Anyway, my mom thinks I'm not feeding her enough, and that I need to give her more. She gets 1 cup of Natural Balance dry food, soaked in warm water for about 1/2 hr beforehand, plus a bit less than a can of Nutro canned food (a can is 12ox, so I'd guess she gets 5oz). She's a bit rangy at 21ish" and 55 lbs or so, but is fairly light framed, so I figure she's about right as far as weight goes. I can easily feel her ribs, but you can see a few (not really prominent, but visible) of her vertebrae when she lays down or stands certain ways, which I think is still pretty normal, because I can see two even with overweight Haley.

She's 11 yrs old now, but I do try to keep her active, and with the weather warming up, we've been out a lot. Usually she gets at least a mile long walk (moderate-fast pace), along with either playing ball, or another walk, or a wander around on the long lead, and several other shorter walks a day, and we're going to work up to longer walks as it gets warmer.

Given that my mom feeds the other dogs enough that they're all a bit overweight, I don't know that her advice is really the best to take :lol:

I have been toying with the idea of feeding her and Annie twice a day, and may do that, as Annie eats so much that I worry about bloat feeding all in one meal. I supposed it would help with Goo being hungry as well, since she'd have some food in her belly in the morning as well as evening, and less time to get hungry. Also, I've read in some places that it's good to feed a little while after exercising them, though I don't actually remember why it said... any truth to that?

Also, she used to get more volume of food, before I switched her over to her current food (other food wasn't had more fillers and junk, so she needed more to maintain her weight), so maybe her belly just doesn't feel as full until a bit after, and she thinks she still needs to eat more?

[imported_Cassie]

I have always fed my dogs twice daily...a nice light meal for supper and their bigger meal in the morning. It is also wise not to let your dog get over weight...over weight dogs are prone to diabetes, thyroid problems etc.
What I usually do is in the morning I feed my dogs then give them an hour to digest...then I take them for a walk. This gives them a chance to digest and then do their business before I go to work. If its on a weekend when I take them for a longer hike I will wait to feed them after the walk.

May be you could give goo a little variety to his meals...some times I will give my dogs yogurt & field berries sprinkled with ground flax seed & pumkin seed. For some meals I feed boiled,steamed or raw meat with steamed veggies...I feed them their regular kibble mixed with soft food (as you are doing), some times I put sardines in their kibble or canned salmon...etc. you may also want to look into buying another good quality dog food and switching goo over slowly...its good to change your dogs kibble every few months...I switch brands for my dogs about 4 times a year...this year they had solid gold hund's n flocken, solid gold Mmillennia, wellness, Wysong...I loved feeding my dogs the hund's n Flocken..it made for a great conversation topic when I advised people I had to pick up my Flocken food...peoples reactions were hilarious. :lol:
Some times with the lower quality foods the dogs love it as it has preservatives to make it appeal to dogs...like rancid grease from restaurants :-? this could be a reason goo wants the other dogs food....possibly.

[gooeydog]

Thanks Cassie :lol: I'm leaning towards feeding twice a day right now, and may give it a try within the next few days. Haley (the overweight one) already has diabetes (though she was actually underweight when she developed it), but until recently, my mom didn't think she was overweight. She's been switched over to a "lite" food now (though I know most of them aren't very good, I'm not the one who feeds her, so I can only do so much), so hopefully she'll lose the excess weight, and I can get my mom to put her on a quality food.

Re: variety, I do give fruits and veggies with some meals, sometimes meat or broth (cooked though), along with some "good" bits of our food (either after I eat, or mixed in with her food). I have a bit of a hard time with switching foods right now, as there are few places that sell decent food within that range that I can get someone to drive me. She was on a different, slightly less quality but still decent dry food for a couple months over the winter, when I the place that stocks the NB was out of it, but is back to the NB now. She has a sensitive stomach, so it's hard to find foods that don't make her sick, especially when my options are already limited by whats available in this area. I should hopefully have my license by this summer, then I'll be able to drive wherever to get her food, until then, I'll try to add a bit more variety to her "add ins".

I didn't know about the preservatives making the other food taste better, I suppose that could be a possibility, as even when the gate to my room is wide open with food out for her, she sometimes goes in and tries to eat some of Haleys. She seems to like her food as well though, more than most I tried. I guess I'll just keep trying to shoo her out and redirect her to her own food :-?

[TDG]

preservatives don't make a food taste better, they do just waht their name reveals: preserve the food from spoilage, or in the case of poor quality foods, prevent spoilage further than it had already progressed before the manufacturing process.

it is correct, however, that lesser quality foods are treated with a lot of flavoring agents to make them more appealing to the pets, and often also contain a large amount of salt for the same reason. this is why a dog will often not pick a better quality food over a poor quality food - the quality stuff lacks all the ingredients that are specifically added to make the food interesting to the dog. that is one of the reasons why "palatability tests" are just another bogus advertising gimmick of the companies that make cheapy foods from poor quality ingredients.

and that may just be the reason why your dog tries to get into the other dog's foods. :(

her weight and condition sound excellent for an older dog. keep in mind that even if she is slightly underweight, that is far more beneficial for her health as it would be if she was slightly overweight. also, the metabolism of older dogs tends to slow down so they can't extract as many nutrients from the same amount of food as in their younger years. you might want to consider feeding a high quality supplement that has enzymes, such as for example nupro or doc kruger's. one thing i would definitely not recommend is putting her on a senior food, since those mostly contain less nutrients than the regular adult types. if you consider any changes, you should increase quality protein intake and try to cut down on carbohydrates, not the other way around. :)

[gooeydog]

re: preservatives, flavoring, etc..... makes sense to me :)

About older dogs... I've read two sides to that.

One says that older dogs need less protein because it's harder on their kidneys (or is it liver?) to process the stuff as they get older, so too much will speed up failure of those organs.
The other says to feed a higher level of protein, because the dog isn't as efficient at collecting what it needs, so more protein will ensure that they get what they need.
Which is right? Or is it a combination of the two somehow?

When I switched her over to her current food last summer, I did do some checking into senior formulas, but most had crappy ingredients (lots of filler, which I've since learned is common), and I didn't see any reason to switch to a lower protein/fat diet when she was doing fine with what she was getting. Her current food is 23% Protein, 13% fat for the dry, and 8.5% protein, 7% fat for the cans. I tried to stick with a medium-ish number, figuring it would be safer until I could figure out what is better and why. She has pretty good muscle tone for her age, though she did get a bit "soft" during the winter, she seems to be toning back up again with more regular exercise. I'll look into the supplements, I've heard of Nupro before, and have seen Missing Link in a few stores (though I dont know if that's the same thing or as high quality?). Thanks again for al lthe help :D

[TDG]

if you are feeding a quality food made with highly digestible animal protein instead of animal byproducts or poor quality protein fillers, there isn't a real problem for your dog's kidneys, unless the animal is not drinking enough water or unable to process enough water to help the kidneys in processing all the nitrogen in the food (this is where prescription protein-reduced foods make sense). since you are feeding soaked kibble and canned food, this should not be an issue tho.

there are also theories that high quality, easily digestible protein poses much less of a problem than poor quality protein (byproducts, meat & bone meal etc.), for which the body has to work hard to extract the nutrients.

nupro or doc kruger's are enzyme supplements that directly affect how the food is digested. missing link is basically a natural multivitamin and mineral supplement, but doesn't specifically contain high amounts of enzymes that affect how the dog digests and metabolizes food.

[gooeydog]

I think I'm going to try the Nupro. Another question on that though, would it be worth it to buy the joint support formula rather than just giving joint supps seperately, and are the amounts in the formula enough, or is it like in dog food?

[TDG]

i'm afraid i can't comment on the glucosamine and chondroitin much, other than it being added to dog food is pretty much a marketing gimmick, since the amounts are too low to actually have a therapeuthic effect. a dog would have to eat ridiculous amounts to get enough of it to make a difference.

you'd have to look into the amounts contained in the supplement.

all the folks i know who have older dogs or dogs with orthopedic issues feed a specific, high-dose G/C supplement.