Cavaliers

[Cooperdedooper]

How much kibble to feed my cav,
I have bought new food it’s the Hero’s natural at Asda.
They recommend 200g per day for a 10 kg dog.
My Cooper is 11 kg so I weighed out 200 g of his new food and it’s a huge amount compared to how much tails.com he was getting.
I want him if anything to loose weight .
I am all of a stew now.
How much food do you give your dog per day ?

[BiteyShark]

I just looked up Asda hero's on allaboutdogfood.co.uk and it has a very poor rating and the one I looked at had (Asda hero adult) 4% meat derivatives.

Typically you will have to feed a lot more quantity compared to foods with a much higher meat content as they contain 'fillers.

For example I feed food that contains 60-70% named meat so would need to feed a smaller amount.

[DogInATent]

How much food do you give your dog per day ?
Less than the manufacturer's guidelines suggest. They are always over-generous in my experience. The only way to tell is to start out close to what the manufacturer suggests and adjust up or down depending how your dog responds to it, i.e. do they gain or lose weight on their normal exercise patterns.

[AnarchyKitty]

I feed my Cavaliers Royal Canin Satiety food. It really helps with the Cavalier walking coffee table look.

[BiteyShark]

Mine is a spaniel but I do feed far more than the recommened amount but that's because he is typically on the go all day when he is in daycare and we do lots of physical exercise such as agility and ball chasing. However, if I know he is having a lazy day I automatically cut it down a bit for that day.

If you are wanting to lose weight start at the lower end of the recommended amount (of whatever food you choose) and then monitor the weight (both visually and on the scales) and adjust accordingly as it's just a guide and will vary massively depending on the dogs activity. Also think about swooping treats for things like raw carrots, lightly cooked cauliflower etc.

[LittleBLUEsmurfHouse]

Is he a cross? 11kg would be severely overweight (morbidly obese?) for a standard cavalier. Even very, very large Cavs should barely be over 8kg. Smaller Cavs can have ideal weights of around just 5.5kg.

You need to speak to a vet about what weight he should be, as feed guidelines are based on the weight they would be if they were at their ideal weight not on what weight they actually are. If he is pure Cav I would generally expect ideal weight to be around 6.5-7.5kg but a vet will be able to tell you more accurately based on your individual dog.

My Cav is fairly tall for his breed and his ideal weight is 7.5kg. He has trouble keeping weight on, is very active (as Cavs should be), entire (so burns more calories than a castrated dog) and has 150g of good quality food (recommend amount of his food for a 7.5kg dog is 100- 120g I think).

[SqueakyChicken]

Sorry LittleBLUEsmurfHouse but that just isn’t correct. The breed standard is inclusive of weight up to 8.2kg and that is, as the name suggests, standard, not very very large.

A large or tall Cavalier, particularly bred from pet lines, could easily reach 11kg without being “obese”.

I agree with BiteyShark. Diets and amounts are completely individual, and you will have to monitor to get the right amount for your Cavalier.

[LittleBLUEsmurfHouse]

squeaky Your trying to say I'm wrong whilst stating the same thing the largest Cavs are 8.2kg (barely over 8kg means the same thing). And that is a very large Cav since they are bred to be small lap dogs and that is the upper limit of their size and they are normally in the 6.5-7.5kg region. The "pet" lines I've come across are actually smaller than average - since that's more desirable in a lap dog than a larger dog.

My Cav is a tall cav and his ideal weight is still only 7.5kg.

Unless this Cav is a cross then 11kg is definitely severely overweight and could easily be morbidly obese.

There is a serious issue with people thinking Cavs should be much chunkier than they are (a table on legs that waddles like people often think labs should be) and most Cavs are unfortunately kept obese. It is rare to see a healthy weight one, which in turn further distorts what people expect a Cavs healthy weight to be.

I also told the op to ask a vet for advice on what his weight should be, as they will be able to see if he is a true to type cavalier and estimate his ideal weight based on him as an individual. This is important to be able to feed this dog the right amount and get him down to a healthy weight.

[BiteyShark]

Lots of vets now have free weight management sessions where they would be able to advise you OP on a suitable amount to start.

[Cooperdedooper]

The vet said he is fit & healthy , you can feel his bones and he goes in near back legs .
He I pure bread & tall .
The vet just said we wouldn’t want him to put on any more weight,
He has been this size since castration which was done Christmas time last year.
He walks in the morning for 20/30 mins then in the afternoon has at least an hour minimum usually off lead .
He most certainly doesn’t look like a walking coffee table.
Thanks for all your replies.
I will ring the vet tomorrow to discuss.