How much food?

[Leah]

Good news. Our corgi and corgi cross seem to be over their gastrointestinal problems. We are going back to feeding Natural Balance Reduced Calorie dry food. They haven't had any problems for 4 days.

They both seem to be starved all the time.
How much dry food would you feed each of them?
The corgi cross is a 40-pound female.
The corgi is a 20-pound female.

[Michael Romanos]

It is impossible for me to tell you at this stage the correct answer because of several reasons eg a Corgi cross at 40 pounds could be as skinny as due to the 'cross' part of the Corgi. Likewise I do not know what a 20 pound pure bred Corgi represents - a small structured Corgi, a very young Corgi ? All things been equal, the best way to go is using the feeding instructions on the packet/bag of food. But then is that all you feed your dogs. My Taylor gets three quarters of a cup per day of Hills Science whereas the bag instructions says upwards of 2 standard cups for a dog of his weight. - of course I have supplements to go with the dry food. If Taylor was overweight he would only get a daily meal equating to a cup of food.

[BannaOj]

Do you add water on top of their dry food at feeding time? It aids the digestion and also makes them feel more "full" than they would otherwise.

When I feed the dogs, I always put water in with the food. However when I'm not there and Steve feeds them, he doesn't. It isn't that big of a deal to me, but Glyph went on strike for a while, and refused to eat the dry food at all without the water. In protest she dumped her bowl over so the food spilled out of her crate and all over the floor. The other corgis weren't so picky and were happy to clean up her mess.

But, as Glyph is really his dog (even though he grumbles and doesn't admit it) now if he's feeding them, she will get water with her food, even if he doesn't give it to the rest of the clan.

[Michael Romanos]

For Corgi puppies up to 12 months, I would definitely soften their dry food a little in adding a small amount of warm water and letting it soak in for 10 minutes. I feel that a little soft food eg cooked fresh meat, fresh veggies, cooked brown rice, fruit added to their daily menu is a thoroughly recommended feeding programme.

[Leah]

Both the corgi cross and corgi are rescue dogs, so we do not have a lot of information on them.

We were told the female corgi cross is a corgi/shelti mix. She weighed 38 pounds when we got her and now weighs 40 pounds. She is supposedly between 2 and 3 years old.

The female corgi is also between 2 and 3 years of age. She is a small corgi and only weighed 14 pounds when we got her. She is now up to 20 pounds.

Any further suggestions on amount of food would be appreciated. I'm afraid the amount suggested on the package would be too much for them, but they do seem to be very, very hungry all the time.

[Michael Romanos]

It is interesting that with some dog food companies, their quantity per meal per weight of dog recommendations are inflated to help the package/bag empty faster. But as for Hills, the 1.3 to 2 cups daily would be the correct quantity for a dog weighting 15-30 pounds if that was all they got.
It appears that your Corgi-cross is overweight if the cross part is a Sheltie because the medium Sheltie does not weigh as much as the medium Corgi, and your 20 pound female Corgi who has a smaler structure than normal, is about right. - and was considerably underweight when you got her.

[glencorgi]

To help fill them up without adding calories, or at least not a lot, try adding such things as canned pumpkin (plain pumpkin, not the pie filling) about a TBS per meal, green beans (if canned, preferably no salt version, frozen are fine too) and other fresh or frozen vegetables. (NO onions though) Besides being nutritious, they act as fillers and they feel fuller.

Debbie