light feedings

[Jane Austen]

Having always had large dogs it is not easy for me to get used to feeding one third cup portions twice a day. It looks like so little in the bowl. The bowl itself is small and I add some pumpkin and a tablespoon of canned food with some water.

When we talk about our corgis being medium size dogs on short legs I wonder if this is true? Duchess is petite. The breeder told me she was normal size but to my eyes she is small. She is about twenty five pounds, her best weight must be twenty three pounds.

My main point is that I feel guilty feeding her so little compared to what my large dogs were fed. She does get snacks and treats during the day. Hard to say how much because there are three of us in the house.

It is sort of like when your kids leave home and you just have two people to cook for, and you tend to still cook for four. Maybe many of us have this same problem.

[jprechel]

I agree with you on how small the portions are! We recently bought a bigger bowl and now it looks as if Ace is barely fed! Ace gets treats through out the day as well but not so much lately, since he wasn't eating for awhile. (He was holding out for the good stuff - treats.) It's easy to over feed ourselves let alone our dogs!

[corgimom]

It does look like a small amount in the bowl. Cody gets about a cup a day divided into 3 feedings, plus a few healthy treats, and when I put his food in the bowl, it does look like hardly nothing is there in comparison with the bowl size. I don't think dogs look at their plate size in comparison to their portion size like us humans do Yes, so easy to overeat.

Jane, my last Corgi girl weighed about 25 pounds, but she would have looked her best at around 23 pounds. We always struggled trying to get those 2 pounds off of her as she was not a playful dog at all. She was a rescue and never played with any toys - we tried many times to encourage her, but with no luck; she showed no interest. Her only way of burning calories was through walking. With Cody, I watch his weight more closely so I hopefully don't have to address the issue of extra poundage down the road.

[Michael Romanos]

Corgis are not structured these days to look anything but 'roundish' at their best but slim enough for us to just be able to feel their ribs and for us to be able to see a waistline. If these things are achieved and maintained after a Corgi has come out of a more podgy stage as a pup, then the quantity of food they are been given is well and trully sufficient. A niece of mine has a Bloodhound - and the hound gets more food in one day than Taylor gets in five days. That's the way it is. Corgis are one of the breeds of dogs that generally eat a meal and look for much much more. But it is a game that is played out and is actually very human. We can also eat until we are absolutely full - day after day. But think of the consequences. We should treat our dogs the way we ourselves should be correctly and healthily treated - then we are all winners.

[glencorgi]

Buy smaller bowls, seriously - it really adds to peace of proportions.

Debbie

[Jane Austen]

Corgimom

Duchess is a rescue that I got when she was seven and she didn't like to play with toys until recently. there is a little lamb that she picks up once in a while. The times she does are getting more frequent and she will try to keep it from us. We do a little chasing to keep her interested but she won't stay with it for long. I am hoping to have her play with it every day for exercise.

I agree Michael it is just as easy for us to put on a few pounds and we know what we can do to avoid gaining weight but we have access to all those goodies that the dogs can't get unless we give it to them.

[corgimom]

Jane,

Then, you have made some progress. Our Betsy was 2 when we got her and
we tried for many years to entice her to play, with toys, running and chasing outside for fun and exercise,...but it never worked. And my kids were even very young at the time. She was happy just to be around us and watch the world go by. I could work outside in the yard, with her off leash and it didn't matter who walked by, human or dog, she would just lay by me and watch them and never made a peep; of course, everyone loved her because she was so well behaved. It was easy to come into the house and forget that I had ever brought her outside because she was so quiet.

And her weight was always somewhat of an issue - and like I said, 23 pounds would have been good for her, but she was always around 25, she just was not active and I walked her daily, but as she got older, the distance of her walking became less because of her back problems; so I had to watch the extra treats in helping her stay at a reasonable weight.

[Chip's Mom]

Chip started getting pudgy so I switched to the adult dog food and that has helped. He is real active with Maybelle running and racing but I give him alot of extra treats when we are practicing obedience so I have to be real careful too.It is so hard once they put on that extra weight. I struggled with Dig's weight for years. He had hypothroid and went to 25 lbs when he should have been 16 - 18 lbs. I got him back down to 18 and then when he was diagnosed, I let him eat what he wanted - I even took him for ice cream several times. It was his favorite thing to do. The vet told me that 1 lb for a dog Dig's size was like 20 for a human

[Corgis'R4me]

*~* I have 2 separate bowls for Midnight & Sunshine (of course). They are BOTH ceramic small white bowls with light blue paw prints on them.

{ I think...they are 1 cup sized bowls. }

* Midnight & Sunshine still get only 1/2 cup of Nutro Ultra Adult Dog Food...
TWICE/A/DAY.

** Midnight is at 25.5 pounds & Sunshine is at 21.2 pounds. I weighed them this week. **

With this heat...I have been keeping them in the house more often...and it is sometimes hard to eat with the girls inside. So, I have been putting them in my Master Bathroom while we eat. They have been pretty good ! NO whining or barking or scratching at the gate. When we go to let them out...they seem pretty calm.

They are doing good...in "our" home...and we praise them EVERYDAY for it !


*~* Nikki

[Checkers]

Buy smaller bowls, seriously - it really adds to peace of proportions.

Ya know.. I would have thought this was a tongue in cheek type of response if I hadn't done just that not so long ago. I had large bowls because all of my previous dogs have been large, so when I got Checkers I was having the same issues of not "filling up the bowl" for him. One thing they reccomend for humans trying to loose weight is to use a smaller bowl, so that's what I did for Checkers (though he's never had to loose weight). It actually made it so much easier on me to be able to put the same amount of food in the bowl and see the bowl full. It's a purely psycological thing on our parts. Even Cheyenne's bowl size went down at the same time. Oh, if you aren't already using them now I highly recommend ceramic bowls. I used to use plastic but they were always nasty looking after just a short time of use even with washing.. and got scratched up quickly. The ceramic bowls are SO much nicer... it's worth the extra upfront costs!

[tandemgal]

Cheryl,

I use the smaller ceramic bowls too. Debbie beat me to the thread LOL it does make me feel like they are getting more than their 1/2 cup dry - I add large teaspoon of pumpkin and little leftover meat. Emma was 27 1/2 lbs but the Vet wanted her to loose 3 lbs. She looks lighter but will check her on 9/11. She seems much more perky these past few days.

I like to shop in those little TJ Maxx or Home Goods for cute bowls that dont cost too much. That way if The Girls break one it doesnt bother me - I just get to pick out another cute bowl. I do the same thing with our Kitty Men's bowls - they have broken a few...

[Jespah]

Gees, I've got a mega-Corgi compared to you lot. Rupe is currently 43 pounds and should lose 4 pounds. He's been 39 before and the vet felt that was a good weight for his size. He's a BIG BOY - beyond the extra fat, he is quite muscular and large framed. Jemma, who looks like a mini-torpedo with legs right now, is super slim and weighs 22.5 pounds. I would expect her to fill out to about 25-26 pounds.
I am hoping that Jemma will get Rupe moving a little more now and they were actually playing and wrestling today, which is a very good sign for Rupert.

[corgimom]

T-Gal

you are right, TJ Max is a good place to pick up ceraminic pet food bowls at a good price compared to the ones at the pet stores