# How Much Should She Eat?



## LookingForTheLight (Apr 27, 2014)

Hello All! I have a 10 month old, roughly 40-50 pound GSD and Australian Shepherd Mix. When we first got her at 8 weeks you could count her ribs... and that went on for a few months, and around 4-5 months she filled out. Now at 10 months she is starting to show rib again, I did not even take into consideration she was growing and her feedings sizes needed to increase... I have no idea how much to feed her, and how many times! I need some advice. I am thinking of switching to Fromms Dog Food, this one in particular: Fromm Gold Holistic Large Breed Adult Formula Dry Dog Food ; Any advice is much appreciated!


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## LookingForTheLight (Apr 27, 2014)

:bump:

Sorry I wanna get some feedback so I can start her new schedule this morning.


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## CroMacster (Oct 23, 2013)

For a general guide it usually says on the bag. I am not familiar with Fromm, but I believe this is fairly standard practice.

As to a little rib showing, really nothing wrong with that. Good description I got was: close your hand into a fist, run a finger from the opposite hand across the Proximal Phalanges (first finger bones). The dogs ribs should feel around the same. Then you just have to monitor his intake vs is body composition. If he gets too bony, up the intake, if he gets too soft cut back.

Most people will feed twice a day (morning and night), some feed once a day. 3-4 cups daily seems like fairly common amount for a GSD. When my boy was a puppy I was feeding 6 cups and he still had some rib showing at that level. Now that he is done growing he gets 4 cups and has maintained the same composure. Always good to keep them on the lighter side.


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## Harry and Lola (Oct 26, 2013)

I am sensitive to skinny dogs, having an EPI dog. 

I have learnt (and are still learning) to go by the look of your dog. Your GSD should have a nice waist when looking from above, you should be able to feel ribs through a thin layer of fat. You should not be able to see the ribs. This is my school of thought.

For GSDs, she is just out of the critical growth period, usually between 2 to 9 months and at 10 months will probably only have about another 3 to 4kgs (6.6 to 8.8 pounds) to gain until fully matured at around 3yo.

A 10mo GSD girl, you would want her around the 57 to 61 pound mark, however because she is mixed with Australia Shepherd, this may not be applicable to her as I would imagine she would be smaller than your average GSD bitch?

So I would go with how she looks, if you can easily see her ribs, then increase her food to the point where you don't see them, but can easily feel them through a thin layer of fat and always make sure she has a nice trim waist.


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## LookingForTheLight (Apr 27, 2014)

Harry and Lola said:


> I am sensitive to skinny dogs, having an EPI dog.
> 
> I have learnt (and are still learning) to go by the look of your dog. Your GSD should have a nice waist when looking from above, you should be able to feel ribs through a thin layer of fat. You should not be able to see the ribs. This is my school of thought.
> 
> ...


Hi. Thank you for the feedback. Yes, her father was an Australian shepherd (purebred) of 55 pounds, and her mother a GSD (purebred) was at 90 pounds. I can not easily see her ribs, but they are there. You can see a faint view of the bottoms ones. She does not look skinny per say, more of an athletic build. I am considering kicking up her food intake.


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## Sabis mom (Mar 20, 2014)

LookingForTheLight said:


> Hi. Thank you for the feedback. Yes, her father was an Australian shepherd (purebred) of 55 pounds, and her mother a GSD (purebred) was at 90 pounds. I can not easily see her ribs, but they are there. You can see a faint view of the bottoms ones. She does not look skinny per say, more of an athletic build. I am considering kicking up her food intake.


If all you can see is the outline of her rib cage, she is probably the correct weight. My 65 and 90 lb dogs get 2-3 cups of kibble per day in 2 meals. It has been my experience that dog food companies like fat dogs. I feed my dogs 1 cup less then the bag recommends on their current food, but with past foods it's been up to half the recommended. As she is still young and growing, her needs may be more.

Some good rules of thumb:

When seen from above the dog should have a noticeable waist.
You should be able to easily feel the ribs under a thin layer of fat
There should be a noticeable tuck to the stomach behind the ribs

If you can see each rib, more then the last rib defined she is to thin
If you can visually define spine or hips, she is to thin.

It is really hard to get weight off dogs, and there are significant health risks to being overweight. It will not hurt your dog to be a bit thin, but being overweight will hurt her.

Hope that helps.


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## Wicked Seraphim (May 17, 2014)

Agreed! A little less is better than a little more.


I've got a girl that's put on some weight ( she's sitting at 100 lbs.) and that is not a good thing. She will be 11 yrs old next month & that plays a part in it, and increased inactivity due to grieving this winter for the loss of her buddy was another, but having HD and arthritis, its important she lose the weight.. so lightly steamed green beans and carrots mixed with a smaller portion of kibble started this weekend.
She'll have her girlish figure back in no time. :wild:


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## lionelchia1986 (Mar 23, 2014)

I've noticed the feeding guidelines in kibbles are lesser than the amount needed. But most of the forumers claims opposite. 

My kibble feeding guideline suggested 400grams of food daily for my GSD but i've been feeding him 600 grams already.


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