# 7 cups of food a day for my big guy



## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

I'm not sure what my 16 month old male weighs, but he is huge. In fact, he looks twice the size of his sisters. He currently eats at least 6, but usually 7 cups of Wellness puppy food a day. 
I am in the process of switching him over to an adult food. I bought Taste of the Wild Salmon and am slowly incorporating it in his food. 
7 cups of food seems like ALOT to me, but I guess a big dog = a big appetite!


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Taste of The Wild Salmon is a fairly low-calorie food. You'd be able to feed less if you fed something with more nutrition per cup.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

7 cups? Wow that's a lot of food. I feed raw but am currently all out of raw food so I picked up a couple of bags of Nature's Variety that should last a week. It calls for 3-4 cups a day and Koda is a huge puppy, he is just over 90 [email protected] 9.5 months old. 

I got 2 small bags because the store was offering $5 off per bag.


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

I just looked up the calories per cup for Wellness Puppy (450) and TOTW is about 100 calories less per cup. I guess that wasn't a good choice for him.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

TOTW Pacific Stream (Salmon) is 3600 kcal/kg.
There are 2.2lbs in a kg, so dividing 3600 by 2.2 gives you 1636.4 kcal/lbs.
There are 16 oz in a pound, and a cup is 8oz, so dividing 1636.4 by 2 gives you 818 calories/cup.
My 6 year old active female adult gets 3 cups per day, or 2454.5 calories. Recently due to excercise restriction (being a bum in the house) she is down to 2.5 cups per day, or 2045 calories. Now, I won't deny that _perhaps_ a young male needs a bit more calories than an older female, but If you were to feed this food at 7 cups per day, that would be a whopping 5727 calories!

Honestly, I'd guess that you are overfeeding your dog.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Boo... edit timeout.


Sorry for the miscalculation above. I was incorrectly thinking about an 8oz cup. However, TOTW is not 8oz/cup. Here's the proper math:


*TOTW Pacific Stream (Salmon)* is 3600 kcal/kg and *360 kcal/cup*
There are 2.2lbs in a kg, so dividing 3600 by 2.2 gives you 1636.4 kcal/lbs.
There are 16oz in a pound, so dividing 1636.4 by 16 yields 102.275 kcal/oz
There are 360 kcal/cup, so dividing that by 102.275 gives you* 3.51 oz/cup*, which is interesting but not super useful. It might help you evaluate the density though.
And the proper calorie count for my dog (which I was using as a comparison)-

My 6 year old active female adult gets 3 cups per day, or 1080 calories. Recently due to exercise restriction (being a bum in the house) she is down to 2.5 cups per day, or 900 calories. Now, I won't deny that _perhaps_ a young male needs a bit more calories than an older female, but If you were to feed this food at 7 cups per day, that would be a whopping 2520 calories!

Again- sorry for the miscalculation. So engrained to think of a cup as 8oz.


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## gsd_newbie (Aug 23, 2011)

They said the standard cup weights 95 grams, so 07 cups per day (665 grams) is okay for your dog, just my opinion. Before I switch my dogs to RAW, they all have about 600 grams of RC per day in one meal (a little bit more or less as I didn't weight).


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## Duke and Dylan (Jan 2, 2012)

I have a 3 year old sheperd, 92 pounds, very active about 3 hours of playing ball a day, eats 8 to 10 cups


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

SARAHSMITH, Why are you still feeding puppy food to a 16 month old?

Duke and Dylan, what are you feeding that you have to feed that amount? Wow, bet you go thru alot of food!


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Duke and Dylan said:


> I have a 3 year old sheperd, 92 pounds, very active about 3 hours of playing ball a day, eats 8 to 10 cups


Three hours a day of playing ball? For real?


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## Stevenzachsmom (Mar 3, 2008)

Psst! Willy.....Math gives me a headache. LOL!


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## Rerun (Feb 27, 2006)

I can not even begin to imagine a dog even on crappy quality food eating 8 - 10 cups a day, and my ball crazy dogs wouldn't be ball crazy for long at 3 hrs a day of fetch...I can't see how anyone can throw a ball for 3 hrs, mentally or physically. Even if it was an hr 3 x's a day, I think most would be in the dr soon for joint/tenden pain.

7 cups still sounds nuts to me, and I wouldn't feed a 16 mo old puppy food.

I've raised a lot of young active male GSD's and one malinois and the MOST any of them ate was 5 cups/day and that kept them at a great weight.

I would love to see current side and top shots of this dog....


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

I've gained so much info from this site so perhaps I messed up when it comes to the food, but I thought I read a puppy food like Wellness Puppy for large breeds was a good choice for him until about this age. Because it will drive me crazy, I'll have to try to find that info again. Hope I didn't mess up!


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

SARAHSMITH said:


> I've gained so much info from this site so perhaps I messed up when it comes to the food, but I thought I read a puppy food like Wellness Puppy for large breeds was a good choice for him until about this age. Because it will drive me crazy, I'll have to try to find that info again. Hope I didn't mess up!


FWIW- I fed my dog puppy food until 18 months old (or 1.5 years). I've also seen this number on the forums concerning how long to feed puppy food. I don't think you messed anything up- it's a personal choice how long you want to feed the puppy food. That said, I do believe you are over feeding at 7 cups/day.



Stevenzachsmom said:


> Psst! Willy.....Math gives me a headache. LOL!


Not the first time I've gotten that response! Perhaps even from you! lol! I just wish I could delete the erroneous post with the incorrect math.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Jazz is 2 years old, 27" tall, 82 pounds. He's not overweight at all and that is something I'm very conscious of. He eats 6 cups a day of high calorie kibble. Some dogs just have higher metabolisms I guess. I would love to feed less and am hoping someday I can


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## VegasResident (Oct 4, 2006)

My boy eats about 5 cups of food a day then I also supplment it with about 18 ounces of 100% rabbit canned per day since he would reject a larger amount of kibble. He can only eat rabbit so there is little out there for choices as far as kibble. 

I cannot even use NV Instinct because he is allergic to salmon (yes salmon) and the NVI has salmon meal as the second ingredient. 

But with the high calorie 100% rabbit meat canned I am able to pump up the calories.

He is at about 2200 claroies per day and still I have trouble getting weight on him. He plays at daycare and apparently is go go go for 8 hours.


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## nomansland4404 (Jun 15, 2010)

jocoyn said:


> Three hours a day of playing ball? For real?



Agreed that seems a bit far fetched. That or you have more time then most.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

nomansland4404 said:


> Agreed that seems a bit far fetched. That or you have more time then most.


And one big beefy throwing arm.


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## N Smith (Aug 25, 2011)

nomansland4404 said:


> Agreed that seems a bit far fetched. That or you have more time then most.


I think the 8-10 cups is probably miscalculated or he actually feeds a lower quality/calorie food, but as for the exercise, I have to exercise my Shepherds 3-4 hours a day or I have two tasmanian devils in my house.

When I first got my female pup, I was in a leg cast so I spent 3-4 hours a day throwing a ball and doing OB. My girl will still do this, if I let her. I do try to diversify their exercise more though, doing hiking, biking, roller blading, kayaking, swimming etc...either way, they need the 3-4 hours a day...just the way it is.

I definitely DON'T have more time than most. I work full time, am a dog trainer evenings and weekends, have a husbsand, 5 year old son, 5 dogs and three cats...just because someone says they spend that amount of time exercising their dogs doesn't mean its untrue.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Could you please post pictures of your dog? From the top looking down and then one from the side? 

My guess is you are over feeding him and he is probably overweight. I think the TOTW bag is 3.5 - 4 cups PER day, not per feeding. Even Merrick is 3.5 - 4 cups per day.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

A friend of mine who no longer post here HAS to exercise hsr dog for over 2 hours, I don't believe I have ever met a dog that has the kind of energy, for what it's worth- he's a showline too. 

He has to run for about an hour- (my friend on his bike) then they get home, he has to play fetch for a good 45 minutes, then goes swimming.


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## chicagojosh (Jun 22, 2010)

Cody is 2, 100 pounds on the money, and he eats 3-4 cups of TOTW high prairie a day. He gets about an hour of fetch (give or take) and a 30 min brisk walk per day.


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## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

7 cups sounds like a lot, but the best indicator is by looking at them. I agree some pics would help determine if he is overweight. I have a 9 month old Mastiff/GSD x who is 92 lbs, takes 2 walks a day, with 2-3 fetch sessions (no where near 3 hours) and he eats 4.5-5 cups a day. 










Sorry, best side pic I could find was him trying to pull my husband off the couch so they could play


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## Frankly I'm Frank (Jan 2, 2012)

wildo said:


> Boo... edit timeout.
> 
> 
> Sorry for the miscalculation above. I was incorrectly thinking about an 8oz cup. However, TOTW is not 8oz/cup. Here's the proper math:
> ...


1 kcal is 1000 calories so 360 kcal per cup is 360,000 calories per cup.
For the record, a KCal in science is a Calorie (w/ capital C), and is equal to 1000 calories (lowercase c). So, 1 cup is 360 big calories or 360,000 little calories.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Frankly I'm Frank said:


> 1 kcal is 1000 calories so 360 kcal per cup is 360,000 calories per cup.
> For the record, a KCal in science is a Calorie (w/ capital C), and is equal to 1000 calories (lowercase c). So, 1 cup is 360 big calories or 360,000 little calories.


Calorie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


> The gram calorie, however, is a very small unit for use in nutritional contexts. Instead, the *kilocalorie* (symbol: *kcal*) or large calorie is used. In such context _calorie_ and _kilocalorie_ are equivalent.


 Underline emphasis mine.


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Frankly I'm Frank said:


> 1 kcal is 1000 calories so 360 kcal per cup is 360,000 calories per cup.
> For the record, a KCal in science is a Calorie (w/ capital C), and is equal to 1000 calories (lowercase c). So, 1 cup is 360 big calories or 360,000 little calories.


Yeah, but literally nothing you can eat only has a couple of little calories, so nobody uses it. Bringing it up muddies the issue. 

1Kcal= 1000 calories or 1 Calorie. The word Calorie with an uppercase C has the same meaning as Kcal. In the common vernacular, it's understood that anyone referencing calories or Calories is talking about Kcal. Not everyone here is a scientist or a nutritionist.


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## Lilie (Feb 3, 2010)

wildo said:


> Boo... edit timeout.
> 
> 
> Sorry for the miscalculation above. I was incorrectly thinking about an 8oz cup. However, TOTW is not 8oz/cup. Here's the proper math:
> ...


Great....now my brain is over heated....


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## Frankly I'm Frank (Jan 2, 2012)

wildo said:


> Calorie - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
> Underline emphasis mine.


Pretty sure that is what I was saying. Probably not clearly, sorry bout that.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Why is a puppy already a big boy at 4 months old? And 7 cups a day... wow is that a lot of food.

And for the person who's dog get 3 hours of ball a day and eat 10 cups of food. Not sure which to address first... the possibility of really playing 3 hours of ball a day or the 10 cups of food this dogs eating.

I'd love to see a picture of both of these dogs. That's a whole lot of food to be eating on a daily basis.


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

Some pics.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Wow... good looking dog you've got there and he looks to be in good shape. Maybe switch to another food because 7 cups is a whole lot of food to look like that. If that doesn't work... I'll take him.


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## Josie/Zeus (Nov 6, 2000)

Sarah, your dog looks perfect.


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## Jax08 (Feb 13, 2009)

Whew!!! NICE looking boy you have there! He certainly isn't overweight...looks just right. I would switch to a different food with a better calorie content per cup.


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## wildo (Jul 27, 2006)

Lucy Dog said:


> Wow... good looking dog you've got there and he looks to be in good shape. Maybe switch to another food because 7 cups is a whole lot of food to look like that. * If that doesn't work... I'll take him*.


I agree! :rofl: Beautiful dog.


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## mysweetkaos (Sep 20, 2011)

He is beautiful! I think his weight looks great....I'm no expert Like some suggested it may be more cost effective to switch to a higher calorie food to bring down his intake....and your bills!!


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## 1sttimeforgsd (Jul 29, 2010)

Handsome boy!


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

SARAHSMITH said:


> Some pics.


Holy crap he could be Kopper's twin brother! Mind if I ask what his lines are?


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

Rerun said:


> I can not even begin to imagine a dog even on crappy quality food eating 8 - 10 cups a day, and my ball crazy dogs wouldn't be ball crazy for long at 3 hrs a day of fetch...I can't see how anyone can throw a ball for 3 hrs, mentally or physically. Even if it was an hr 3 x's a day, I think most would be in the dr soon for joint/tenden pain.
> 
> 7 cups still sounds nuts to me, and I wouldn't feed a 16 mo old puppy food.
> 
> ...


2 to 3 cups a day, that's what mine get. One of them only one cup per day and he's still chunky...


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

Lucy Dog said:


> Why is a puppy already a big boy at 4 months old? And 7 cups a day... wow is that a lot of food.


He's 16 months, not 16 weeks.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Emoore said:


> He's 16 months, not 16 weeks.


I knew that... I was just testing everyone else here. Emoore... you passed my test. 

Still a lot of cups of food for a 16 month old dog too. That's got to produce a whole lot of poop.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Lucy Dog said:


> I knew that... I was just testing everyone else here. Emoore... you passed my test.
> 
> Still a lot of cups of food for a 16 month old dog too. That's got to produce a whole lot of poop.


Jazz gets 6 cups and did at that age as well and surprisingly the poop production is normal in size and quantity.


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## phgsd (Jun 6, 2004)

When Kessy was around that age she was eating that much or more, it was nuts and got very expensive!! It was all pricey grain-free kibble...
I switched her to raw - thinking she'd still eat twice what she should for her weight - but she actually eats an "average" amount of raw, about 3% of her body weight.
I don't know if trying raw would be an option for you - but it worked for us and we haven't gone back since


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

phgsd said:


> When Kessy was around that age she was eating that much or more, it was nuts and got very expensive!! It was all pricey grain-free kibble...
> I switched her to raw - thinking she'd still eat twice what she should for her weight - but she actually eats an "average" amount of raw, about 3% of her body weight.
> I don't know if trying raw would be an option for you - but it worked for us and we haven't gone back since


You're lucky because when I fed Jazz raw he required abnormally large amounts as well and I just couldn't afford the cost. It's very expensive here to feed raw unfortunately. I must admit though, he did the best on raw


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

I will have to find out what lines he is from. Our breeder is a couple who live behind us and are good friends of ours. They told us about the importance of good hips and showed us the male they breed their girl to and the lines he was from. We loved their girl so we bought one of their puppies. Zeppelin's father had titles but I must admit I knew very little, even less than I know now, about that so I can't recall what they were. I think Schutzhund.

I should really do some type of training with him as he loves to work. He'll turn down a treat if he has the choice between the food or chasing his frisbee. Schutzhund training is done by a women right behind our house but I'm not really interested in that. Perhaps agility training although my friend laughed at that saying that because of his size that might not be what he does best.

Thanks for all the compliments!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

fuzzybunny said:


> Jazz gets 6 cups and did at that age as well and surprisingly the poop production is normal in size and quantity.


What are you feeding if you don't mind me asking and what do you consider normal poop production?

That just seems like an awful lot of food coming in. If it's coming in.. it's got to go out too.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Lucy Dog said:


> What are you feeding if you don't mind me asking and what do you consider normal poop production?
> 
> That just seems like an awful lot of food coming in. If it's coming in.. it's got to go out too.


Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach. We've tried many other kibbles and this is the only one we found that worked.

Normal to me is pooping 2 times a day. It's hard for me to describe the size but it's normal IMO for his size. I don't have trouble or anything picking it up.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

sheperds eat a lot more than Shepherds.



Duke and Dylan said:


> I have a 3 year old sheperd, 92 pounds, very active about 3 hours of playing ball a day, eats 8 to 10 cups


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

you're feeding your dog 7 cups per day based on what??



SARAHSMITH said:


> I'm not sure what my 16 month old male weighs, but he is huge. In fact, he looks twice the size of his sisters. He currently eats at least 6, but usually 7 cups of Wellness puppy food a day.
> I am in the process of switching him over to an adult food. I bought Taste of the Wild Salmon and am slowly incorporating it in his food.
> 7 cups of food seems like ALOT to me, but I guess a big dog = a big appetite!


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

fuzzybunny said:


> Purina Pro Plan for Sensitive Skin and Stomach. We've tried many other kibbles and this is the only one we found that worked.
> 
> Normal to me is pooping 2 times a day. It's hard for me to describe the size but it's normal IMO for his size. I don't have trouble or anything picking it up.


Yeah... that's about how much Lucy goes every day. Once first thing in the morning and once late at night.

Six cups of that pro plan is a lot of food. At 100 pounds, the bag calls for 4.5 cups. Feeding 6 cups at 420 calories per cup is a lot of calories per day - about 2500 calories every day. Any reason he/she's getting so much food? Is he/she extremely active? How's the body weight? That's about 1000 more calories every day that I feed to my active 70+ pounder.


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

doggiedad said:


> you're feeding your dog 7 cups per day based on what??


Not sure what you are asking but my best guess is how I came to this amount. He was eating less and all of his ribs were showing so we fed him more. Now he looks the correct weight so we base his food input on whether his weight looks healthy.


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## Mrs.K (Jul 14, 2009)

I'd almost say he could have two or three pounds more, based on the pics. But don't feed him 10 cups, switch the food LOL


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Yeah.. definitely switch the food. Preferably something that has more fat than what you're feeding right now... that could help. 

Based on those pictures, he's definitely not overweight.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Lucy Dog said:


> Yeah... that's about how much Lucy goes every day. Once first thing in the morning and once late at night.
> 
> Six cups of that pro plan is a lot of food. At 100 pounds, the bag calls for 4.5 cups. Feeding 6 cups at 420 calories per cup is a lot of calories per day - about 2500 calories every day. Any reason he/she's getting so much food? Is he/she extremely active? How's the body weight? That's about 1000 more calories every day that I feed to my active 70+ pounder.


Oh I'm well aware of how many calories it is and how abnormal it is. It's 1400 calories more than I feed my 69 pound female. The problem is if we feed him the recommended amount he becomes underweight. He's 27"-27.5" tall and 81.5 pounds. When I fed him the recommended amount of 4.5-5 cups last year he was quite underweight at 70 pounds. All his ribs and spine were protruding. Finding a kibble that worked was awesome and it took 6 cups to get him to a normal weight and he maintains that weight with 6 cups. 

In terms of exercise, I don't think he gets an above average amount. They get about 1.5 hours of off-leash time. When it's warmer, probably 2-2.5 hours. He does have an extremely high energy level though. In my opinion to honestly tire him out would require at least 3 hours a day.


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## Frankly I'm Frank (Jan 2, 2012)

I sometimes wonder if people have scoops that are 1/2 cup or something other than a cup and think a scoop is a cup. 6 or 7 cups is A LOT OF FOOD.


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Frankly I'm Frank said:


> I sometimes wonder if people have scoops that are 1/2 cup or something other than a cup and think a scoop is a cup. 6 or 7 cups is A LOT OF FOOD.


I can assure you in my case I am using a measuring cup that is 1 cup.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

fuzzybunny said:


> Oh I'm well aware of how many calories it is and how abnormal it is. It's 1400 calories more than I feed my 69 pound female. The problem is if we feed him the recommended amount he becomes underweight. He's 27"-27.5" tall and 81.5 pounds. When I fed him the recommended amount of 4.5-5 cups last year he was quite underweight at 70 pounds. All his ribs and spine were protruding. Finding a kibble that worked was awesome and it took 6 cups to get him to a normal weight and he maintains that weight with 6 cups.
> 
> In terms of exercise, I don't think he gets an above average amount. They get about 1.5 hours of off-leash time. When it's warmer, probably 2-2.5 hours. He does have an extremely high energy level though. In my opinion to honestly tire him out would require at least 3 hours a day.


If it works, stick with it. It sounds like the 6 cups are fine. 

Not trying to grill you or anything... i've just never had a dog that i've fed that much food to. Seemed like a lot when you first mentioned it, but it sounds like you know what you're doing. 

He has a yearly checkup and he's been checked for worms, right?


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

Frankly I'm Frank said:


> I sometimes wonder if people have scoops that are 1/2 cup or something other than a cup and think a scoop is a cup. 6 or 7 cups is A LOT OF FOOD.


OMG that would something I would do. I'm going to check right now!


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## fuzzybunny (Apr 29, 2011)

Lucy Dog said:


> If it works, stick with it. It sounds like the 6 cups are fine.
> 
> Not trying to grill you or anything... i've just never had a dog that i've fed that much food to. Seemed like a lot when you first mentioned it, but it sounds like you know what you're doing.


No worries, I completely understand. Before I got Jazz, I would have thought the exact same thing if I read my post, lol.


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## SARAHSMITH (Sep 19, 2010)

It's a cup. 

Zeppelin is very high energy though. Like today, I threw his ball for 1.5 hrs in our basement (our basement is massive as we own a large ranch house). But that exercise is nothing to him. That amount of exercise only makes him tolerable so he's not bouncing off the walls. I guess if he was a person he would be one of the lucky ones, like a friend I have at work. Eats twice the amount as normal and is skinny.


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## Frankly I'm Frank (Jan 2, 2012)

SARAHSMITH said:


> It's a cup.
> 
> Zeppelin is very high energy though. Like today, I threw his ball for 1.5 hrs in our basement (our basement is massive as we own a large ranch house). But that exercise is nothing to him. That amount of exercise only makes him tolerable so he's not bouncing off the walls. I guess if he was a person he would be one of the lucky ones, like a friend I have at work. Eats twice the amount as normal and is skinny.


After all of that exercise, how many cups do YOU eat?


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## kitmcd (Aug 31, 2011)

My 5 month old is eating 6 cups a day plus training treats. When she was at vet recently I asked if I was feeding too much. His answer was "look at her, no way is she heavy at all" "as she matures, you will have to probably cut down".


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## Emoore (Oct 9, 2002)

SARAHSMITH said:


> Perhaps agility training although my friend laughed at that saying that because of his size that might not be what he does best.


Forget what your friend says and give agility a try! It's the most fun you can have with your dog, and nobody says you have to become national champions. Kopper's not exactly built for speed either, but he loves it!


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## Samba (Apr 23, 2001)

My male eats 7 cups a day. Looks great!

He was also fed large breed puppy food until 16 months old. I prefer ro keep them on it that long and it is a recommended practice. His growth plates did not close until about that time. The admonitions about puppy food are about food for small pups.


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