How much should I feed my adult female dobie? - Doberman Forum : Doberman Breed Dog Forums

eleteacher08 · 07-15-2011, 01:34 PM

Does anyone know how much food I should be feeding my female doberman? She's three years old and normally weighs around 75 pounds. When the vet weighed her today, she was 101 pounds. I feel ashamed for not recognizing sooner that she had gained "that much" weight. Any advice or questions would be much appreciated! Thanks!

brw1982 · 07-15-2011, 01:47 PM

How much do you feed her and what are you feeding her (all snacks and treats included)? Also, how much and what kind of exercise is she getting?

How tall is she? At 101-lbs she's it's safe to say she is overweight but the 'correct' weight varies from dog to dog depending on frame and height.

Example: Tali is 24" at the withers and looks her best around 58-lbs. Fiona is 26" (maybe just a hair over) and she's maturing around 70-lbs (and she is trim - you can see her last few ribs when she moves and she has a good condition line and tuck-up). Tali eats 2 cups of Acana per day and Fiona eats closer to 4 cups per day - but Fi is also waaaaaaay more busy and a year younger than Tali. Tali can gain weight looking at food and Fiona can burn calories faster than anyone I've ever known.

Most standard size female Dobes will be in the 60-65 lbs range when healthy. But Tali happens to be on the small side of the standard and Fiona is on the tall side of the standard, so their ideal weights vary outside that range.

eleteacher08 · 07-15-2011, 02:02 PM

Thank you so much for replying to my post! What is withers? I went ahead and measured her height using a yardstick and it looks like she's between 34 and 35 inches tall. I wish I had a conversion chart of how much she should weigh according to her height lol! :-)

brw1982 · 07-15-2011, 04:26 PM

Withers = top of shoulders

What do you feed her and how much? (Meals, snacks, treats, everything)

What exercise does she get? How often?

I accidentally let Tali get fat last year and I took weight off her by cutting her meals in half, cutting out any and all high calorie treats/snacks, and increasing her exercise.

eleteacher08 · 07-20-2011, 02:55 PM

I took your advice and cut back on her diet and have been walking her every day! She has already lost 5 pounds! I have been feeding her Purina Pro-Plan, but went to Bismarck yesterday for a vet appointment and bought her a new chow called Annova. It's supposed to have less fat in it. Anyway, I have been feeding her twice a day using three cups of food per feeding. I hope that I'm not starving her, so if you think that I'm not feeding her enough, let me know! I really appreciate your advice and I'm so glad that I joined this forum! Your Dobies are gorgeous and I hope Sable Ann will look like them once her belly gets thin again!

Audrey1 · 07-20-2011, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eleteacher08

. Anyway, I have been feeding her twice a day using three cups of food per feeding. I hope that I'm not starving her,

Wow, that seems like a lot of food. Look at your dog kibble bag and it should tell you how many total cups per day you should be feeding your dog. I think you should go for the range of her ideal weight rather than her present weight. i.e. if her ideal weight is 65-70#, then maybe the bag says she should get a total of 3 cups. You should also see how many calories are in each cup of kibble. Again, for example, if it says she should eat about 3c a day and each cup is about 350 calories then you can figure that on the average, for a dog her weight, she should consume about 1050 calories a day.
If you are going to give her treats and other things, then you need to deduct that off the total. Basically, count calories and measure portions and be sure to include the calories for things like bananas, biscuits, etc.

stryker2 · 07-20-2011, 03:14 PM

I think you mean Innova dog food? Which Innova? Look on the bag it will give you a range of the dogs weight. If she looked good when she was 75# go with that weight. It will tell you how many cups to feed for a 75# dog. You should feed 2 times a day not just once. Most important exercise. We usually throw the ball around for an hour and go for 1-2hr walks.

eisel · 07-20-2011, 03:17 PM

just a note...for the most part fat is not bad, carbs are...If you want the dog to be 75lbs or so, 2 cup a day of whatever food should help. heck, my basset hound is about 45 lbs and needs only a cup a day of Orijen. Depending on food you could easily find 1.5 cups a day is fine for a dog at 75 lbs. Maybe 2 of the lower calorie foods.