Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Do you guys feed your Dobe twice. Mine seems to have such a fast metabolism ever since we moved into this place with a larger backyard for him to run out in. Our apartment when we let him out he was just on a leash. But now I open the door and he can run and play out in the backyard he looks like a racehorse flying around the yard but also take him on walks... It seems we need to increase his food by 2 more cups. We use to live in a apartment so he was fine on about 3.5 cups now he is around a little under 5 cups per day. Seems to do well with that but just wondering if anyones dog did this as well. It just seems like he is constantly changing in metabolism some days it seems like 4 cups is not enough some days it does.

>>Do you guys feed your Dobe twice. Mine seems to have such a fast metabolism ever since we moved into this place with a larger backyard for him to run out in. Our apartment when we let him out he was just on a leash. But now I open the door and he can run and play out in the backyard he looks like a racehorse flying around the yard but also take him on walks... It seems we need to increase his food by 2 more cups. We use to live in a apartment so he was fine on about 3.5 cups now he is around a little under 5 cups per day. Seems to do well with that but just wondering if anyones dog did this as well. It just seems like he is constantly changing in metabolism some days it seems like 4 cups is not enough some days it does.

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Best idea is to have the vet check him and see if his weight and condition is right. Once you have a correct weight number on him from the vet, you can weigh him every couple of weeks and figure out how much food is the right amount to keep him at that weight.
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Kathy Diamond Davis, author, "Therapy Dogs: Training Your Dog to Reach Others," 2nd edition, and the free Canine Behavior Series articles at http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=SRC&S=1&SourceID=47

See when my gf and I got the dog he was around 82 lbs and the vet said he looked great and then now we took him to the vets husband who is also a vet and he weighed like 72 lbs and he said that is just fine he looks great. Anyway we have been feeding him 4.5 cups and then 1 cup in the evening and he looks great right now at that. But he seems like he just needs to build a little more muscle... any recommendations as we do not want him on any kind of muscle supplement. -ANDREW

How old is he and what are you feeding him? The type of kibble you feed can make a huge difference in how much you have to feed him to maintain his weight.

I would definately feed him 2x a day - I feed equal amounts at each feeding. Every dog is different and will do well on varying amounts of feed. It will also change with age, level of activity... even weather!

Most Dobermans should have a visable "tuck up" to their underline. You should not be able to see ribs, but feel them easily. IMHO most Dobermans I see outside of the show ring are too fat. This is a lean breed.