This month we’re participating in the first Keeping up with K9 Kamp mini challenge, hosted by Chester and Gretel at YDWWYW. The challenge was to determine if we were feeding our dog the right amount of food.
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| Kelly checks out the fridge for something good! |
Even though our vet discussed with us how much to feed Kelly several years ago, things have changed since then. Kelly’s older, less active, and other circumstances influence how much food she needs to stay healthy and not gain weight. We know from experience that when we’ve slipped and not paid attention to this, Kelly has put on a few pounds.
We used Slimdoggy app to find out how many calories Kelly should be eating.
I entered Kelly’s current weight (32) and desired weight (32). Kelly is presently at, or just under, her desired weight. Since she is a mixed breed there is no specific standard weight, but according to the vet she is at a healthy weight.
I then entered her activity level. I chose Low Intensity. Although we do take two walks a day and romps in the back yard, Kelly is a senior and does a lot of sleeping!
The app indicated that we should feed Kelly 694 calories/day. I was surprised at the results, because this is actually more than the 1-1/2 cups of premium dog food that we feed her daily (3/4 cup twice a day). However she does make up for it in veggies and several healthy treats used for training and rewards. And since she has worked hard to slim down (from 42 lbs) and keep her weight off, I feel as if we are probably feeding the proper amount. Sometimes she does pester me for more food late at night, so I give her a small amount, what we call second dinner. This usually satisfies her.
As suspected, most of the treats I feed Kelly don’t list calories. I was surprised at the suggested serving size. For instance, I have some jerky treats (made in the USA) that are certainly not small–about 6 inches long by 2 inches wide–suggest that I give a medium size dog such as Kelly 4 jerky treats a day! I can imagine that this would be a lot of calories!
I may try to increase the amount of her feedings slightly, while keeping tabs on her weight, to see if I can give her more calories without her gaining weight.
Here are some samples of the Slimdoggy app pages:
Thank you Slimdoggy for the great app!
FitDog Friday is hosted by Peggy’s Pet Place, Slimdoggy, and To Dog with Love.
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