[Kass's mom]

I am curious what do you feed your beagles if they are over weight and under weight?
Kass is 48.6 pounds,not sure what to feed him anymore he was doing really well with his weight now he is big again,He gets walked 2x a day for approx.30 mins each,he gets 2.5 cups of food divided into 3x a day,he is eating Nutro all natural food mixed with blue buffalo wilderness.
Jake is 24.6 pounds and really looks underweight everything is the same as with Kass just more food 4 cups of food a day(gained about 3 pounds this week)can no longer see his ribs as much.
I just do not know what to do with Kass so he doesn't gain more weight.....

 

[Murphys Dad]

Kass is overweight. That much weight will tax his knees, back and heart. I would cut his food back to 2 cups (1 cup twice a day)

Jake is about what is considered optimum for a 15 beagle. He should do well on the same amount.

Do consult you vet about Kass's weight. They may suggest Science Diet / Weight Control.

 

[Shep]

I'd agree that Jake's weight seems perfect, he probably looks thinner because of the company he keeps and because of the old do I look full? look that I am sure we all know.

The other thing to consider with Kass is if she is supplimenting her diet by nefarious means, we all know what beagles are like!

 

[Smeagle]

Oh my, four cups a day! That's more than I feed my 27kg Siberian Husky. He has a slow metabolism as all Sibes do, so he has one cup of high protein dried food a day.

Daisy has 1/2-3/4 of a cup of dried food and both she and my husky have a bone at night time (chicken wings, chicken necks, beef bones, etc).

Beagles seem to put weight on quite easily because they are such gutses. They should be quite a lean looking dog though.

Just wanted to add: Kass shouldn't be eating three times a day - only pups need to eat this much. When Daisy was overweight (she was overweight by three kilos) we cut her meals down to one a day, with a bone at night, and her main meal was fed in the morning as this helps with weightloss.

I would cut Kass's food down to 1 cup or 1 1/2 cup of food each day in the morning and maybe a bone like a chicken wing at night until he is at his ideal weight.

 

[DaisysMom]

Daisy gets one cup of food per day and a couple of treats but that's it otherwise.

 

[jassy]

Maggie gets a half cup of food in the morning and a half cup at night. I add green beans in the morning. I feed her Orijen. If her weight goes up when I am working, during the school year, because my husband gives too many snacks, I put her on the Wellness Core, low fat food. She always loses weight on that.

 

[beaglesmom]

My bigger beagles all get 1/2 cup twice daily. They don't get a lot of snacks - tiny bites of cheese, thin slices of hot dogs, but no cookies or other fattening treats. If they gain a little weight I cut them back a little - and it usually comes off quickly. I don't have a skinny beagle in the bunch - I feed Nutro Natural Choice - because it's the best I can do locally. they occasionally get a raw beef bone as a special treat. The two little girls (Chloe and Lottie) get about 1/3 cup twice a day, and their treats are limited because they're so small they gain weight easier than some of the others.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Chloe gets between 0.75 to 1 cup a day. and She only has the food available for her for 30 minutes: you snooze you lose.

 

[Murphys Dad]

There is some SERIOUS tough love going on here!

 

[Murphys Dad]

Originally Posted By: Joe BeaglesThere is some SERIOUS tough love going on here!

Hey! I don't have any other option.... she will poop all hours of the day if not on a schedule.

 

[Smeagle]

Ha, you're nicer than me, Chloe's mum. Our dogs get 15 minutes to eat their food and then its gone - but my dogs are total gutses and will eat their food in about 10 seconds

 

[BookerMoose]

Originally Posted By: SmeagleHa, you're nicer than me, Chloe's mum. Our dogs get 15 minutes to eat their food and then its gone - but my dogs are total gutses and will eat their food in about 10 seconds

I was going to say something along the same lines - we really don't need to have a set time limit for how long the food can stay out before it is taken away, because ours don't really even stop to breathe until their food is gone!

 

[harehunter]

Sounds like both dogs need some running to balance out their nutritional intake. I feed my big Cletus dog 2 cups daily split into 2 meals and my little Daisy dog 1 1/2 cups divided by 2 meals. These dogs are runing beagles who get to get at least 4-6 hours of running each weekend day.

 

[Brisen]

Maggie also only gets one cup of Innova per day...1/2 cup in the am and 1/2 cup in the pm. I'd love to say that I only leave it down for 15-30 minutes, but she has been such a picky eater from the get go that my husband still hand feeds her the two meals. We really, really, did try the you snooze, you loose thing, but she actually went 2 days one time without eating. Did I say she was picky? LOL

 

[Kass's mom]

I did consult the vet with both of them and Jake is underweight you can see his rib cage very well he needs to gain about 2-3 pounds to get to an ideal look and Kass was getting that much food because the vet told me to feed him that much(i will never listen to a vet again with feeding instructions though) and my vet did recommend SD but i will not feed that to my dogs.My dogs get ran about 2-3 days a week for about 1 hour 2x a day on top of their usual walks.Kass though being over has no problem whats so ever keeping up with the puppy and Jake.
But yet still Kass is alot smaller then when i got him he was almost 60pounds.so he lost 12 pounds in about 1 year(which is good) he was at one point down to 43.4 pounds.

 

[beaglina]

Originally Posted By: BookerMooseI was going to say something along the same lines - we really don't need to have a set time limit for how long the food can stay out before it is taken away, because ours don't really even stop to breathe until their food is gone!

Mine too! When she was a pup I had the 30 minute rule as she was on wet feed and I didn't think it was healthy to have food hanging around in summer. I also notice that she really speeds up after a couple of days with my friend's dogs!

 

[Rocky D.]

I believe Rocky is 25-26 lbs and Daisy is around 19-20 lbs
We are in the process of switching them over to Innova from Eukanuba Lamb and Rice and they get about 1.25 cups a day. We walk them atleast once a day usually...think we walk about a mile when we walk

 

[fauxpasta]

I was so pleased to find out this morning, when readjusting the dogs' feeding amounts, that some pet food sites, such as Innova, have online food calculators where you can enter the dog's weight, activity level, age, and particular line of that brand of food to find out how much you should be feeding.

http://www.innovapet.com/tools/feeding.asp


Though we switched completely to Innova early in the week, I'd been sticking to the Nutro formulas for the last 3 days.

No wonder the dogs were hardly eating again - I was feeding them at least twice as much as they should be eating of the Innova!

Bones, at 21 pounds, gets half a cup twice a day, and Spock's 26-pound frame gets 3/4 cup twice a day. Spock is not chunky, but he is definitely a solid boy, so I'm glad to know exactly how much I should be feeding him to help control his weight. Bones has been filling out the last couple of months as she physically develops further into adult from puppy, but she is still fairly svelte, being slightly more active. She probably burns at least 300 calories every day through vigorous tail-wagging.

 

[Murphys Dad]

I spoke with our vet. We are over feeding Summer. 2 cups a day is too much. She is being cut back to 1.25-1.5 cups a day. Summer is NOT happy.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Joe -- think you could convince Summer that green beans are biscuits in disguise? I bet she is going to be real interested in Kali's food bowl!