Having recently started feeding a mixture of Lupo Natural Swiss Chicken and home cooked food with Natures Menu Mince and vegetables, my dogs are eating approximately one third of the volume they used to eat with a commercial kibble (I have worked out the daily requirements for the weight of the dogs and am feeding correct amounts). They are much keener to be fed as they run off to the utility room for their breakfast as soon as I come downstairs in the morning, and at 4pm they are doing the same. I am concerned they are hungry as the volume is much less and wondering whether to add additional fibre to fill them up??
as you probably know with the new diet you have carefully put together your dogs will be loving the new taste as for adding more fibre i would hold of that idea and what i do if i change my dogs diet is when i first did this i found out the right weight of his breed and got him to that weight and then weighed him once a week for a few months and when i changed his diet again i just weighed him once a week for two months which will give you a good idea and the peace of mind that the daily amounts are right
Hi Gillwright and thanks for posting. The new diet sounds great and, as Dieseldog suggests, a lot of your dogs’ new found enthusiasm may come down to the palatability alone. As long as the hunger isn’t creating problems, then I wouldn’t think a fibre supplement would be necessary. If, on the other hand, they are becoming distressed or if they start scavenging or stealing food then a bit of bulk might well help, at least until they adjust to the new diet.
Very well cooked brown rice or porridge oats (cooked only in water) are usually the best choices since they are very unlikely to cause any problems and they don’t tend to contribute to weight gain so you can just add a spoon or two on top of the normal feeding reigeim. You can cook a big batch at the start of the week and gradually take from that. Week by week, you can then slowly reduce the amount, allowing the appetite to adjust, until you’re no longer feeding any.
I am having the same response from my terrier about her new raw diet. She is very vocal at dishing up time now. I think there is definitely enthusiasm for the new food but I have noticed that she is suddenly deaf to’ leave it’ when she finds a snack when out. she has also eaten the odd bit of soil. I have upped the potion slightly as she has visibly lost weight. I will also be continuing to give her some ‘gentle’ as in between treats and monitor.
You always need to consider how active a dog is when calculating how much to feed. I have a 5.5kg jrt and 6.5kg one and feed both the same as the smaller is very high energy and similar with my medium dogs, one is only a year and races around with little jrt .Both are bitches and pick up hazel nuts and apples which the boys ignore. Body scoring is as good as anything in monitoring. I am pretty sure a rawhide chew would help as chewing stimulates insulin production which acts to tell you you’re full, would also help with teeth.