Hi
I'm new so please forgive me if this has been discussed before and I've missed it.  I adopted a dog, Phoebe, about a year ago and thought she was a lab/whippet mix "and maybe some shepard b/c she has a double coat."  After questioning that, I had her DNA done and turns out she's at least 50% Siberian Husky and the rest is Springer Spaniel, Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Pit Bull.  Her personality and sensitive stomach are definitely husky. I've been researching the breed ever since I found out her mix.  I'm more familiar with Spaniels and Labs.  

I'll have had her a year in 19 days.  She is by far one of the best dogs ever.  That personality is amazing.   She had whip worm when I adopted her... we straightened that out and she's been tested and has no parasites.

My issue is, I can only feed her once a day or she gets diarrhea. So I started feeding her at night when I eat dinner.  If I feed her 2 cups, the following day she poops in her crate (even when she goes at the morning walk). It's not always diarrhea, but she seems to not be able to handle the amount.  I feel bad feeding her less than 1.75cup, but she can't seem to handle anything more than that.  She's 39lbs, but tall.  She's in great health... my vet says she's perfect and maybe has IBS.  But I don't really stray from her food b/c of the random poo.   

I feed her Blue Buffalo Wilderness and she's been great on it, for the most part... unless I get close to 2 cups. I give her chicken and have debated switching her to Salmon in case she needs more zinc.  

I give her salmon and chicken proteins sometimes that I make for dinner and she does well with that added to her kibble.  It seems to be a quanity thing and I can not for the life of me find anything that tells me how much I should be feeding her.  If she's healthy with just a cup and a half should I just continue with that?

Sorry for all the questions/confusion on my part.   I've found a lot of your information great!

Nala had the same problem as a puppy she had quite a few parasites that we did not know of and her stool was very very soft almost liquid so we had to try a chicken and rice meal and we give her a cup in the morning and a cup at night along with anti biotics. which was awhile ago since now she is two she has a normal bowel system I now feed her IAMS Lamb and Rice formula because it is good for the sensitive stomachs she does still get soft stool every once in awhile but i think that's just the husky breed.

i still give her the 1 cup in the morning and 1 at night, which is the perfect amount because she doesn't really eat it all anyways. Nala probably weighs about the same but a cup and a half sounds good as long as she is in good health! being part husky, they don't usually need much anyways Nala leaves 1/2 a cup left in the bowl a day for the most part.

but from what it sounds like 1-1/2 cups a day seems to be good i would try giving her the 1 cup in the morning and the 1/2 before bed that way it isn't too much for her when she is settling down for the night. I hope that helps!

Thank you Rachel. When I feed her in the morning she poops in her crate/ usually diarrhea. That's why I had to start feeding her at night. Now she's sometimes has mostly solid stool in her crate, but it seems to only be the days after I feed her a little more than normal. But I did the dog food calculators they say for her size I should be feeding over 2 cups. So I feel awful, like I'm not feeding her enough. But she has a major appetite. I could open the 50lb bag and she'd probably eat it all in one sitting... which is why I feel bad. But my vet is happy with her weight... she's about a year and a half. She's always stealing my cat's food, so I had to put that up out of her reach because I was worried that was making her stool loose. I have one of those slow feed bowls that I used when I first got her because she was eating so fast. She's very playful and pretty active... never lethargic. I keep checking my webcam and she's sleeping... I know if she's standing up and leaning on her crate then she's pooped and I need to rush home. ha

VaCshell wrote:

Thank you Rachel.  When I feed her in the morning she poops in her crate/ usually diarrhea.  That's why I had to start feeding her at night. Now she's sometimes has mostly solid stool in her crate, but it seems to only be the days after I feed her a little more than normal.  But I did the dog food calculators they say for her size I should be feeding over 2 cups. So I feel awful, like I'm not feeding her enough.  But she has a major appetite. I could open the 50lb bag and she'd probably eat it all in one sitting... which is why I feel bad.  But my vet is happy with her weight... she's about a year and a half.  She's always stealing my cat's food, so I had to put that up out of her reach because I was worried that was making her stool loose.  I have one of those slow feed bowls that I used when I first got her because she was eating so fast.  She's very playful and pretty active... never lethargic.  I keep checking my webcam and she's sleeping... I know if she's standing up and leaning on her crate then she's pooped and I need to rush home.  ha

My boy always gets soft stool if I overfeed (I misunderstood when we adopted him - thought it was 2 cups twice a day, it was 2 cups total, fed in 2 feedings.  I figured it out when I realized that his morning poop was firm, after going from a 5 ish feeding plus a "midnight kong snack in his crate" with no more food until around 9 in morning (we have a weird schedule).  I also made him fat.  Since I cut back on his food, adjusting for cold weather and outdoor dog, his poop has been fine and his weight has normalized.  Also - days I give a bone (we have Mennonite butcher, I get huge bags of beef or pork bones for couple bucks - doggie loves them, gives him afternoon snack/activity) his poop is super firm.  

No matter what, Ami will eat however much I would feed him - I could probably feed him to death if I were so inclined (don't laugh, my mom had one of her Old English get out of his kennel one night and ate a huge amount of Eukanuba - like most of 25 pound bag and died.)  So, since he loves to eat, his "meals" have a little less, I always keep kibble in my pockets and give him a piece or 2 every time I see him and also his bones - the are pretty much stripped of all meat with small shreds of connective tissue.  Satisfies him without a lot of calories.

As I understand it, the dog food calculators overestimate the amounts to feed for huskies.

Ok so I gave her a cup and a half last night and diarrhea again today. She was fine yesterday with a cup the night before. I think I'm going to try The Home Kitchen and maybe that supplement would work with her food. Or I'll switch her to THK completely. I'm really at a loss. I had to put the crate outside and while I was cleaning it she went in my bedroom, too. And I ran out of papertowels. I could just cry.

honestly, the cup and a half before bed sounds like too much how about trying half a cup in the morning half in the afternoon and half before bed?

Really agree with rachelnala - at 39 pounds your girl doesn't need a whole lot of food.

Well it's at 5/530 and when I feed her in the morning she gets diarrhea during the day. So I switched her to once a day feeding b/c there are 3 walks before the mornig. I called my vet she was just checked though a week ago and she's fine medically.

Oh, I should add... she's her regular playful self.  Totally fine.

Ok so I spoke to my vet... she thinks she ate something off the ground causing this recent issue (Phoebe is a notorious scavenger when outside and finds every dead rodent out there - shiver). So she's giving me antibiotics for her. She thinks a cup and a half should be fine and we also had her on a new flea/tick medicine (oral) so that could have also played a part in this. So we are trying the antibiotics and see how that does. Thanks for the input... I really appreciate it. Today's quantity was just so much it stunned me.