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How much do you feed your lab?

71K views 9 replies 8 participants last post by  tangelo53 
#1 ·
My yellow lab Sam is 2 years old and weighs 113 lbs. I'm feeding him 4 cups a day, 2 cups twice a day. I've been feeding him Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Lamb and Rice for about a year now.

How much do you feed yours and what kind of food do you like?
 
#5 ·
I haven't seen a bag yet that didn't overstate the amount of food recommended to daily feed a dog.  Sheesh!  It's so consistent, it makes you think they're trying to sell more dog food.

I'm extremely fortunate in having one of those rare, mutant Labs (10% or less of all Labs) which is self-regulating in food intake. 

Puff (YF, AKC field line, 63 lbs., dob: 8-'01) is well exercised.  She gets daily 70 minute off-leash early morning walks in a nearby nature preserve and gets 30-40 retrieves, some 1/8 mile long.  I walk 2½ miles and Puff must run and explore 2X-3X that amount.  In addition, she gets 10 minutes of retrieving at 2 PM at home. 

Puff eats Kirkland C&R (very similar to Diamond Natural C&R, made by the same company) sold only at COSTCO warehouse clubs.  It rates 362 kcals/cup and she eats 2½ cups/day (905 kcals) divided into two equal meals (7 AM & 6 PM).

When she gets a raw beef knuckle bone (@ Sunday) I trim off all the suet and fat I can but don't get it all so she spontaneously reduces her food intake the next 1-3 meals.

Kirkland/Diamond has the least overly-exaggerated recommendation for amounts of food to feed that I've seen.

Nevertheless, THEIR recommendation of the daily amount to feed a dog in the 60-80 lb. weight range is 3¼ to 3¾  cups (1177 - 1356 kcals).

Other brands I've seen are WAY over that amount.

A recent longterm study (about 17 years long?) by Nestle/Purina reported in JAVMA used Labrador Retriever littermates matched for weight, size, & gender; they fed one group a normal amount and another group 75 or 80% of what its littermate ate.

The reduced kcal group lived significantly longer and had significantly fewer health problems.

So the handwriting on the wall is clear -- a bit less is far better than a bit more.
 
#6 ·
113 sounds like alot for a male lab unless he's tall, like over 24".

We have a 5 y/o 90# male who is 24 1/2" at the withers who is not overly active, a 4 y/o 70# female who is 22" who is super active, and our 72# 21" 1 y/o who is a spaz, active but not overly so... They all get 1 - 1 1/2 cups of Nutro NC L&R per meal. Fed 2x a day.
 
#7 ·
Jack gets 1 cup of Diamond Low fat kibble and one 15 ounce cane of green beans 2x daily. He also gets 1 no salt saltine cracker with about 1/2 table spoon of peanut butter 3x daily as a vehicle for whatever meds may or not be administered. Jack weighs about 85 pounds and looks good according to the Vet and a couple of Lab Breeders at the dog training club.

Baby gets 3/4s of a cup of Diamond Low fat kibble and one 15 ounce cane of green beans 2x daily. She also gets 1 no salt saltine cracker with about 1/2 table spoon of peanut butter 3x daily as a vehicle for whatever meds may or not be administered. She weighs about 60 pounds. She looks pretty good.

Wife gives them a large dog cookie once a day as a bribe not to eat the house while she is gone. Baby hardly runs at all, does not like the pool and prefers to sit if she is outside or inside for that matter. Jack on the otherhand is always up for a game of fetch and will go swim in the pool just for fun if we aren't looking.
 
#8 ·
If I am just feeding kibble, mine get 3 cups a day plus extras (table scraps, bones, etc.). If I am feeding half kibble half raw, I will feed 2 cups of kibble in the AM and raw in the PM. My dogs are very active and get at least 2-3 hours of hard activity (off leash running, swimming, retrieving, playing) a day. I am currently in the process of switching my dogs to a food called James Wellbeloved. I want them all eating the same brand. Right now two are on Nutro, one is on ProPlan and another is on the Wellbeloved. During the shooting season I will switch Murph and Joker back to ProPlan performance (that is the plan, anyway!!)
 
#10 ·
Black lab- female 85 lbs (1.5 cups twice a day)
Chocolate lab- male- 90 lbs (1.5 cups twice a day)
Rottweiller- female- 98 lbs (2 cups twice a day)

They all are fed Wellness food.
I only give them carrots and other hard veggies for treats. I noticed that they gain weight quickly on other treats. But they LOVE carrots....just watch what you are feeding them for treats. I think that is what packs the weight on.
 
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