General Question Who should I listen to? My vet or the breeder?

Izzy's Mom

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Izzy is almost 5 months now and she is still on the small side. I keep seeing pictures of some other puppies on her litter and they are way bigger and heavier than she is. I am currently feeding her Fromm Beef Fritatta and I am still stickking to 2 cups a day (according to her weight and Fromm's direction).

Her vet think that she is healthy and I should not increase her food. Of course she is always STARVING and acts like I dont feed her!

Her breeder recommended that I increase her food intake to 3 cups a day and give her some cheese. Izzy looks very lean and small, because her legs look so long she looks like a Boxer puppy rather than an ebd. The breeder also told me not to worry about weight until Izzy is 2 years old because she still growing.

Who should I listen? The vet that wants me to stick to 2 cups a day or the breeder?
 

BruceP

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Aug 12, 2010
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I think most puppies get more than 2 cups a day. Listen to [MENTION=2]desertskybulldogs[/MENTION] and/or [MENTION=2291]cowsmom[/MENTION]
 
M

mabel lou

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I was feeding mine 3 cups a day per her vet and the rescue girl as well per her vet but that does not mean they can always tolerate that much food. She said it didn't matter how I fed her (Thelma) just as long as she was getting 3 cups a day. Both of my girls have done well on this amount. They would prefer me to feed them 3 meals a day whereas I like for them to have 2. Next vet visit we will see how this has worked out, weight wise. I personally haven't seen an increase in their weight to a point of concern. Thelma weighed basically 50lbs when I got her and the vet said she would like to see her weigh in at 55. She was unhealthy and round like a butterball seriously but now she is still round but she has signs of having a beautiful figure 8 so I think with all the activity she does here and the food is working how it should be that she is on her way to being fit and trim. Mabel weighs approx 45lbs and each time I take her to the vet for weight it only shows a increase of a couple lbs and the vet says she looks fab. We will see at our next weigh in!
 

ModernFemme

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Izzy is almost 5 months now and she is still on the small side. I keep seeing pictures of some other puppies on her litter and they are way bigger and heavier than she is. I am currently feeding her Fromm Beef Fritatta and I am still stickking to 2 cups a day (according to her weight and Fromm's direction).

Her vet think that she is healthy and I should not increase her food. Of course she is always STARVING and acts like I dont feed her!

Her breeder recommended that I increase her food intake to 3 cups a day and give her some cheese. Izzy looks very lean and small, because her legs look so long she looks like a Boxer puppy rather than an ebd. The breeder also told me not to worry about weight until Izzy is 2 years old because she still growing.

Who should I listen? The vet that wants me to stick to 2 cups a day or the breeder?

Remi is 5 months, 30 pounds, and we just increased his food to 3 cups a day. I know females tend to be a little smaller than their male counter parts. What is her current weight?
 
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Izzy's Mom

Izzy's Mom

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I was feeding mine 3 cups a day per her vet and the rescue girl as well per her vet but that does not mean they can always tolerate that much food. She said it didn't matter how I fed her (Thelma) just as long as she was getting 3 cups a day. Both of my girls have done well on this amount. They would prefer me to feed them 3 meals a day whereas I like for them to have 2. Next vet visit we will see how this has worked out, weight wise. I personally haven't seen an increase in their weight to a point of concern. Thelma weighed basically 50lbs when I got her and the vet said she would like to see her weigh in at 55. She was unhealthy and round like a butterball seriously but now she is still round but she has signs of having a beautiful figure 8 so I think with all the activity she does here and the food is working how it should be that she is on her way to being fit and trim. Mabel weighs approx 45lbs and each time I take her to the vet for weight it only shows a increase of a couple lbs and the vet says she looks fab. We will see at our next weigh in!

How old is Thelma and Mabel?
 
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Izzy's Mom

Izzy's Mom

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Remi is 5 months, 30 pounds, and we just increased his food to 3 cups a day. I know females tend to be a little smaller than their male counter parts. What is her current weight?

Izzy is 23 lbs right now. So did you also feed Remi 2 cups until recently? I noticed that Izzy has been pooping more...not sure if this means anything... I thought that the more poop would represent that her body is using less of the food.
 

ModernFemme

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Izzy is 23 lbs right now. So did you also feed Remi 2 cups until recently? I noticed that Izzy has been pooping more...not sure if this means anything... I thought that the more poop would represent that her body is using less of the food.

Remi came to me on Diamond, and we gave him at least 2 cups then. As he increased in weight, we increased his food, based on what the food package said. (NVI Lamb) In fact, if we calculate ours online, it says to feed him 4 cups a day since he's a puppy under halfway grown. We think that's way too much for a bully breed, so we're sticking to the puppy over halfway grown calculations which is just about 3 cups. Why don't you increase to 2.5 cups? If her stools become soft, you'll know that's too much, or, it could be just right.

Usually more poop = more fillers, but Fromm is obviously a nice food. We'll have to ask the veterans. Do you feed treats, or anything like that?
 
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Izzy's Mom

Izzy's Mom

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Remi came to me on Diamond, and we gave him at least 2 cups then. As he increased in weight, we increased his food, based on what the food package said. (NVI Lamb) In fact, if we calculate ours online, it says to feed him 4 cups a day since he's a puppy under halfway grown. We think that's way too much for a bully breed, so we're sticking to the puppy over halfway grown calculations which is just about 3 cups. Why don't you increase to 2.5 cups? If her stools become soft, you'll know that's too much, or, it could be just right.

Usually more poop = more fillers, but Fromm is obviously a nice food. We'll have to ask the veterans. Do you feed treats, or anything like that?

I was just following Fromm instructions since it is supposed to be such a good food! But I also want to make sure my baby gets the right nutrition for her age. Yesterday I gave her an extra 1/2 cup during lunch and she did fine, pooped a little more but it was hard. I also give her treats - a few dried liver a day (maybe 3 pieces), 1 large treat for joints (bought at Wholefoods) and 2-3xweek I give her a stuffed frozen KONG with almond butter and plain greek yogurt (that's additional calories for my baby). Other than that that's all she gets. The only "human food" she ever got was grapes.... she seems to love them so I might give her 1 or 2 if I am eating them.
 
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kim n the guys

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I was just following Fromm instructions since it is supposed to be such a good food! But I also want to make sure my baby gets the right nutrition for her age. Yesterday I gave her an extra 1/2 cup during lunch and she did fine, pooped a little more but it was hard. I also give her treats - a few dried liver a day (maybe 3 pieces), 1 large treat for joints (bought at Wholefoods) and 2-3xweek I give her a stuffed frozen KONG with almond butter and plain greek yogurt (that's additional calories for my baby). Other than that that's all she gets. The only "human food" she ever got was grapes.... she seems to love them so I might give her 1 or 2 if I am eating them.

grapes are toxic to dogs. Stop feeding the grapes, please!!!!
 

izstigspunks

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I was just following Fromm instructions since it is supposed to be such a good food! But I also want to make sure my baby gets the right nutrition for her age. Yesterday I gave her an extra 1/2 cup during lunch and she did fine, pooped a little more but it was hard. I also give her treats - a few dried liver a day (maybe 3 pieces), 1 large treat for joints (bought at Wholefoods) and 2-3xweek I give her a stuffed frozen KONG with almond butter and plain greek yogurt (that's additional calories for my baby). Other than that that's all she gets. The only "human food" she ever got was grapes.... she seems to love them so I might give her 1 or 2 if I am eating them.

I have to repeat what Kim said above, no grapes, raisins, chocolates, large amount of garlic, and a couple of other things.

If I can recall correctly, we fed Stiggy 2.5 cups of Fromm when he was puppy/teenager.
 

cowsmom

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i think at 5 months she should be eating more than 2 cups a day. i think 3 cups is the norm. id just up it to 2 and 1/2 and see how she takes it then you can check her weight and see if shes gaining or not. grapes are not good for dogs but you can give bananas or strawberries. yugurt is good or cottage cheese just watch how she does with milk products. if her poop is ok with 2 and 1/2 then you can up if more if needed or if not then u can cut back.
 

bullmama

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First, no grapes! No no no, they are toxic to dogs... So glad you told us!!!

I find Fromm beef to be very lean, and at this age in combination of the lean food, is why she is not carrying the extra fat. I feed my pups 3 cups a day from about 4-5 months to about a year, then I reduce it back to 2 cups, depending on their look weight wise.

However, she will eventually catch up. Bullies can look like boxers at that age. Lean is best health wise. They do not reach their full bulldog look until they are two. Around 10 months you will start to see the broader chest. Females are smaller and less broad than males. Females also have smaller heads.

If you decide to give her more, just watch her poo. If it gets too mushy like ground up dog food, she is not needing or absorbing it all. It's just waste. Jakeisgreat's Jake for example could not tolerate more than 2 cups a day.
 

kim n the guys

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you're welcome and now you know!!! My dogs love bananas and watermelon is puppy crack at my house for alternatives to grapes. My boys would probably like grapes too but they've never had any.
 
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Izzy's Mom

Izzy's Mom

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Thank you so much for all the advice and I just google about grapes and read articles on it. I am sooo glad you all told me! I never heard about this before, maybe is because I am from Brazil and I don't recall this being a known issue down south. I dont give her anything else, no chocolate either! The only reason I gave her the grape was because one day I getting some for my myself and 1 felt out of the bag into the floor and Izzy started playing with it and then she ate it. But I don't plan to feed her any human food, I want a healthy dog for sure.

I will take her weight down today and check again in a week since I will stick to increasing her food to 2 1/2cups a day.

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
 

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