Reducing Meals

[Husky Mad]

Hey guys,

As Saber has just hit 4 months old, the breeder suggested that we reduce him from 4 meals to 3 around the 4/5 month mark. As i'm going to start work next week, 3 meals a day would be a lot more manageable for our household.

However we have had a lot of trouble with food amounts and squirts with him. We are feeding him James wellbelloved ocean fish and rice puppy kibble. At 3 months it recommended we feed him 80gs for each meal at 4 meals a day. This was too much and he got the squirts, so since 2 months he's been on 60g each meal for 4 meals a day. Now he's 4 months it recommends he gets 95g per meal for 4 meals.

We are confused on what to do as every time we try to up it, he gets the squirts and we also don't want to keep him at 60g all his life lol, he seems to be getting a bit thin, however he's still been putting on regular weight. His weight is 9.4kg at the moment.

Yesterday we cut him down to 3 meals but kept the food amount the same but split it into 3 meals instead of 4. So he's been getting about 80g per meal, 3 times. But now he has the squirts

I know he will just keep on getting thinner with all the water and etc he's loosing each time he get's the squirts.

Has anyone gone through this or can anyone offer any tips?.

A friend suggested that maybe the food is just too rich for him and we try another brand or switch to RAW/BARF? but, he has always been firm on 60gs. Also, how do you guys gauge when to up the feeding?

Many thanks for any help

Tom

[gefref]

Hi Tom,

I feel your pain but you're in the right neck of the woods to get your answer.

I recently went through something similar but we didn't realise that over feeding him was giving him the squirts.

At least you've identified that early. From my experience you have to judge it for yourself on the levels to feed, what's written on the food pack wasn't written for huskies.

Try reading these threads;

There are members on here way better to answer your question then me but you are on the right track.

Try the food and diet forum on here too for more answers.

[Chezell]

does the feeding guide give a min/max amount

Sasha is only 10 months old, but she get's 300g of Wainwrights per day (split into 2 meals)

for her age group and expected adult weight my bag say's..260-370g per day...she's a healthy weight for her size (Sash is a midget dog)

[Sarah]

Is this the food that's been fed since you got him? You're right, over feeding is the most common cause for the squits. Feeding raw is good - Sid_Wolf on here will be able to give you loads of pointers and even work out a personalised feeding plan for you if you like

If you want to keep to the kibble, maybe try feeding 65 gms per meal for 3 meals and see how he gets on - or try 2 meals of kibble and one meal of raw - maybe 3 / 4 chicken wings - you'll find adding raw in some way will help beef him up (no pun intended honest )

[Andy]

Koda is 4 months she gets

2 chicken wings approx 100gms in the morning

1 chicken wing lunch

2 chicken wings evening.

we were giving her Harringtons puppy kibble at lunch but found that was making her loose.

we are now avoiding all kibble until she has been solid non stop for a month then we are going to try reintroducing small amounts of Harringtons kibble.

We found previously that we were overfeeding her, and as her stomach didn't have time to fully process so much food so it was pushed

out before it was digested. . result runny poo.

Chicken wings digest much quicker. . .solid poo. . . AND she loves them

[valkyries]

Hi i hope you sort this out but as said try the raw chicken wings they work wonders for runny poo, good luck xxx

[Husky Mad]

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for your help. The guideline recommends at 4 months he should be on 365g a day. But as i said no matter how we split it, that amount brings on the squirts.

I'm going to switch back to 4 meals a day for the next week or so and give him 65g each meal, once he firms up i'm going to add in some chicken wings when we reduce back down to 3 meals a day.

Thank you so much

Tom

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Tom I would personally try cutting him down to three 60-65g meals with a gradual upping of the amount in each meal over a week or so till your up to the full amount of what it says he should be on.. huskies are well known for have sensetive tums and your best to try anything new with feeds gradually to prevent any upsets.

Andy you have that back to front its the kibble that goes through a dogs system quicker as their stomachs are not designed to actually interact with alot of the stuff thats put in the kibble so they cant really fully digest it, it will go through quicker and they will poo more regularly.

Where as the raw chicken is exactly what their stomach is designed to deal with so it will take its time digesting every nutrient it can from it and they will therefore get more nutrients from it and poo less as their bodies use more of it!

[Alex T]

When we cut Isis down from 3 to 4, we kept her quantities the same for the first few days and then began to slowly up it over about 2 weeks. Was a nightmare to get it right though - too much and she'd have the squits - not enough and she'd be pining at her bowl!