Feeding advice

[stillstanding51]

Hi, I’ve an almost 6 month lab puppy, he’s from working lines so never going to be a chunk but he’s only 16kg. My vet agreed that he could happily put on a little extra so I’m feeding an extra meal of raw minced chicken in addition to his 300g of kibble. How much raw should I give him. I weighed what I’ve been feeding which is around 200g but he does have slightly soft poo. Am I feeding too much kibble?
Any advice welcome x

The advice is not to mix raw and kibble. It's not a great idea. Sorry.

No advice I am afraid OP but just saying I feel your pain. My working cocker is bloody skinny and every time I try and up his food his belly suffers so I have decided he must just fit ‘skinny’ even though I wish he had more on him.

I keep telling myself that both his parents were small and lean, he’s super fit and well but just (in my eyes) feel he could do with a bit more cover...

Show cocker here and also on the skinny side. We feed aatu kibble as he's gluten free (attention seeker!) but at last check up vet said he was too thin. I've started giving him leftovers from our food on top and he's got a bit fatter. I notice he can tolerate non gluten free a lot better now his main diet has been gluten free over a year so we have made progress

Yeah I’ve seen this mentioned before. I don’t get it though, people have fed dogs on tripe & mixer for years and years. And we eat raw & cooked together, and I’m pretty sure my labs have got a stronger digestion system than me haha xx

You don't eat raw meat though?
It's something to do with the PH of the stomach or some such thing. Newbie here.
More and smaller meals?

Our lab is a smallish working lab. She was always low weight on charts but vet was always happy with this. It puts less strain on their joints which is beneficial in a breed prone to joint problems.
We have always had working labs although not always worked. They are more energetic but do not gain weight as easily as show bred lines. Ours has recently been very ill with gastroenteritis and developed colitis resulting in her losing 4 kg over 5 weeks. She has recovered now but we have limited her diet during this time. She was fed kibble and leftovers but since cutting out the extras she failed to gain weight. I checked the kibble pack and realised I had been underfeeding her. We have put her back onto the puppy kibble for its higher protein level and increased amount and she is now gaining weight.
She has salmon and potato kibble a hypoallergenic blend. Our local supplier has its own blend. They advise puppy formula for labs until 24 months. It may not be the kibble causing looseness but more likely the protein source. Try a fish or chicken source as they are less likely to be allergens. One great side effect of the salmon is a fantastic shiny, silky soft coat.

Don't feed raw and kibble together. They are digested at much different rates and can actually cause problems.

Humans are different to dogs. We don't have the same digestive system. If you ate raw minced chicken you'd be ill so don't compare yourself to your dog.

If the poo is too soft it means you're not feeding enough bone. If it's too hard or crumbly it means you're giving too much bone.
Don't worry about working it out daily just do it weekly.

I never bother following the whole weight thing. I just feed what I think is enough for my dog - over the week you can tell whether you're giving too much food. Exercise has a lot to do with it as well. We could have two dogs exactly the same breed but if my dogs exercise/food ratio is different to yours they won't look or weigh the same.

Just up the amount of meat, cut out kibble completely, and go from there. If he starts filling out too much then you know to cut down on his food a little bit.

The mixing raw/cooked theory has been debunked recently. Raw food contains bones and bones/meat both digest at very different rates in themselves. I remember seeing a barium scan of kibble vs raw that showed how they both digest: therawfeedingcommunity.com/2015/01/08/digest-this-kibble-may-actually-digest-faster-than-raw/

I have a feeling you may be feeding too little. My girl is 16kg and a very good doer food wise, she gets just less than 500g raw complete a day and maintains a healthy weight. According to the feeding weight charts I should be feeding about 600g a day. I don't know about weights of kibble though as I've always fed raw.

Raw guidelines say 6% of body weight for 4-6 months and 4% for 6-9 months, so at 16kg, he can have up to 960g per day if fed exclusively raw. My ddog is almost 10yo now and has been raw fed off and on over the years. At the minute, we’re doing mainly raw completes, but the odd kibble meal —when I forget to defrost— and have never had any problems mixing the two. She’s on 240g per day raw, split into 2 meals, so if she’s had 120g raw for breakfast and then I give her kibble for tea, I just halve the daily kibble amount for that one meal, if that makes sense? She probably only has 2 kibble meals a week though now, as I’m finding raw cheaper.

I’ve just been googling dog foods and have emailed Arden Grange. God, he’s my 4th Lab & usually it’s keeping the weight off!
I know I could just feed him bucket loads but with this chap it’d just come straight out the other end in a ‘not pickupable’ pile!
I quite like the sound of Arden Grange (feed my old dogs Skinners but doesn’t aged with pup) so I’ll see what they recommend

miss I thought the issue with kibble and raw was that kibble negatively affected the acidity of the stomach, meaning dog's stomach was then less able to deal with bacteria in raw meats.

OP - firstly be careful that you don't increase weight too much. I think a healthy weight lab is significantly thinner than the majority you see around, thus distorting what people perceive to be the correct weight often actually being fat.

If he needs more kibble than his stomach seems up to dealing with - have you tried giving it split over 3 meals instead of 2? I've got a Cav who I've been struggling to balance giving enough food to keep his weight on without it starting to upset his stomach. I've now got a new puppy and so that my Cav didn't get upset that new puppy had food at lunchtime, when he didn't, I split his food into 3 meals too. He now has good solid poo on a high amount of food (they were prone to feeling soft, although looked properly formed iyswim). So I'm going to stick with 3 meals per day long term.

I have this with my Yorkie. He was skinny when we got him and we were gradually feeding him up. The vet then advised a much larger portion size. Increasing the amount of kibble resulting in a poo explosion in the kitchen at 4am. He now has two small breakfasts, split between about 6am and 9am. Plus lunch and dinner. Seems to suit him and means he goes back to bed at 6.

Feeding 100% raw may sort out the runny poo issue. I feed a small amount of slippery elm powder is my pup has a runny tummy, this helps a lot too.
Splitting the meals is a really good idea.

I don't understand this half raw half kibble thing

Either feed raw properly or don't? I don't get why you'd do both. It's like going vegetarian but eating chicken.

If your dog is on kibble I can't see why you would add raw to try and put weight on. Seems odd. More kibble? Cooked chicken? Often dogs seem to lose weight when switched to raw. Mine did. Not a huge amount.