Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul Question

[rinsav]

I have been feeding my dog Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul for a few weeks now. Some of you might remember, I had switched him to Nutro and he was throwing up each morning so I switched him to Chicken Soup instead. He's doing great on it! His coat is shiny, he has lots of energy, and he really likes it. However, I think he's been putting on weight and, when I looked closely at the feeding table, I noticed a line that read, "one measuring cup is equal to 3.3 ounces of Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul adult dog formula." What is that all about????? Does that mean that a normal cup isn't what they're talking about. I've cut back on what I was giving him but I'm still not exactly sure how much he should be getting. For his weight -
60-80lbs. it says to feed 3 1/3 to 4 cups a day. I'm now giving him 3 cups a day and that's probably too much but I didn't want to cut him back too much. He weighs about 75 pounds currently. Thanks for any thoughts you might have!

[Laurielee]

Rinsav, this is a problem with most dog foods, they only tell you how many cups you should be feeding and not how many calories. You need to look at calorie consumption. Below is a great tool to figure out how many calories your dog should be eating. PLease check it out - dont worry that is not the brand you are using, just pick the innova dry and go from there. I went and entered 75# and picked moderately active - so a 75# moderately active dog should be eating 1570 calories a day. your bag of food shouls show howmany calories are in a cup. If your food bag doesnt have it give them a call. This tool has worked well for me, because I have an overweight lab and needed to control his calories.

http://www.naturapet.com/display.php?d=profile-wiz

laurie

[ErinM]

Wow, I had no idea they made food.

When I started reading this thread, my first thought was "She's reading to her dog everyday????"




FWIW, I feed Cody Eagle Pack Holistic Select in Lamb and Rice. He loves the stuff like it's nobody's business! It's more expensive, but I know everything that goes into it.

In addition, he doesn't need to eat as much, because a little goes a long way. He's actually lost a little weight (not much, we're talking maybe 1/2 lb...he now weighs 12 total, which is right where he should)

[rinsav]

Thanks, Laurie! I'll definitely check that site out. I still question if a cup is really a cup? I mean, I thought 8 ounces was a cup but it seems like they're telling me that 3.3 ounces is a cup. I'm very confused!

I looked on the bag and it says 336 kcal/cup, but is a cup the cup I'm accustomed to using? Thanks!

Erin, you made me laugh!

[aggie94]

Originally posted by rinsav
I still question if a cup is really a cup? I mean, I thought 8 ounces was a cup but it seems like they're telling me that 3.3 ounces is a cup. I'm very confused!

8 fluid ounces of something generally takes up the volume of one cup, but here they're talking about weight. So a one-cup scoop of Chicken Soup dog food would weigh approximately 3.3 ounces. Imagine doing the same thing with pasta. If you scooped up a cup's worth of elbow macaroni, you probably are not going to get a weight of 8 ounces, and since pasta and dog food are dried, they're measured by weight rather than by volume. I hope that makes sense.

[rinsav]

Thanks! So, the cup I'm using to measure out his food is fine, right? Oops, now I think that maybe I'm under-feeding him. For his weight, he's supposed to be getting 3 1/3 - 4 cups. I thought that maybe the cup I was using was larger than the cup they were talking about, so I started only giving him 3 cups/day just recently. Poor guy! He's probably hungry!

[aggie94]

It sounds as though they mean a dry measuring cup, like you would use in your kitchen. If you have a digital scale, though, you could probably weigh out your cup to see if it's close to 3.3 ounces just to be safe -- some people fill a cup level, some people a rounded scoop, etc., so each cup might be a little different. Otherwise, I'd just stick with the guidelines and use level cups of food.

Remember that you should use the guideline for the weight he *should* be (or that you want him to be) rather than the weight he actually is, if he's overweight. In other words, if he's 75 pounds now but he should be 70, use the guideline for 70. Since 60-80 pounds is the range they've given, with a suggested serving of 3 1/3 to 4 cups, pick the middle of that to figure out what he should get at 70 pounds -- it's around 3 2/3 cups. However, if he continues to gain weight at 3 2/3 cups, you will probably need to cut back.

Or you can do the calorie calculation like Laurie suggested, to be more accurate.

[rinsav]

Thanks so much for your help! I really appreciate it!