[Beth F]

We are slowly transitioning to all homemade, currently feeding Purina 1 with Chicken and Rice (the healthy one) and then adding homemade in gradual amounts. Right now I feed them 2 cups twice a day of this. My female is 2 years old, about 75 lbs, maybe a bit less, and my male is 10 years, very big boned, long coat, weighs 129 lbs! Both are GS, though my female is short coat and smaller build. I am following the Holistic Vet recipes but the amount she suggests to feed them daily seems HUGE! Like 7-10 cups a day????

My vet said 2 cups, I am assuming at each meal? For a total of 4 cups each a day. I think that sounds okay for my female, but should I be giving my male more? He is not high energy at all, spends most of his time lounging to be honest. He doesn’t feel “fat” to me, but he is very solid. My female is very high energy (she’s still in puppy mode, LOL!)

Any suggestions from other shepherd owners would be greatly appreciated. I love the idea of cooking for them because they hate their kibble and canned is too expensive. Thanks for anything you can send my way!

Beth
Mom to Lucas and Lacy

[Pat C]

The recipe should have number of calories per batch or per ounce or cup. From there you’ll need one of the online calculators to put in your dogs current weight or ideal weight and it will tell you how many calories per day.

I also make homemade and my 6 year old, 15 lb Cavalier needs about 365 calories (plus treats)per day to maintain ideal weight. No matter what the calc says you’ll need to watch their weight to make sure it’s right for them as activity level makes a big difference.

If for some reason they did not include calorie info, I just found an invaluable site for homemade food wwww.nutritionvalue.org. It’s for humans but I put my ingredients and it tabulates calories per batch as well as shows how much of each nutrient…the pain is looking up minimum NRC or AAFCO requirements.
My Cavalier has just been diagnosed with MitralValveDisease so I’m watching sodium levels and making sure she has enough Vitamins, C,D,E and Omega3.

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