We have had our puppy Qinu for about 4 days now and she has started to act very hungry after eating. On the first day and a bit she took about 5+ minutes to eat each meal but now she wolfs through it and starts whining for more.

I currently feed her Blue Buffalo Salmon as per the adoption agreement but am considering moving her to Acana Pacifica to get the chicken out of her diet.

I feed her 2/3-3/4 cup 3 times a day. She also gets about 3 tbsp wet BB salmon food with her 2/3-3/4 cup dry dinner.

From what I have read on here so far this sounds like quite a lot though she is growing fast right now.

This may not be a lot for her - son's husky mix, who is now 15 mos old and maybe 50-55 pounds, as a puppy ate 1 C, 3 times a day. He is lean and leggy and solid muscle.

Also, even an appropriately fed dog will frequently act like he is starving in the face of food. I have yet to figure out when to feed more...however, I do know, when to feed less, Ami fortunately will refuse a meal when fed too much the day before.

Sophie, a question for you ... when she acts hungry just after eating, what do you do?

And I agree with Amy, three cups a day may not be a lot for a growing pup. For a full grown dog, it might be too much - adding unnecessary fat, but if qinu's staying lean, you might want to increase the amount you're feeding.

Oh, the reason for the question, if you're giving her any extra when she's letting you know she's "still hungry" you're training her to beg for more food. If you increase the amount you feed - possibly up to a full three cups a day as a normal part of feeding she'll learn that "looking hungry" doesn't work.

Al, I was afraid of sounding mean after reading your question but your explanation makes it all good. I actually walk away, redirect her onto a toy, or take her outside for a bathroom break.

Amy, Qinu seems like she will be a bit lanky when she's older and we joke about her "pitbull legs" (we had a stocky, very muscled pit before her). So you guys are probably right that she could in fact use that little bit extra. I will bump it to 1 full cup 3 times a day and see if that helps.

What are your thoughts on the brand? I was told zinc is very important in northern breeds. How much zinc per kg qualifies as enough?

Sophie, Acana is an excellent brand. I am not a fan of Blue for two reasons, one many huskies do not do well on it, and two a big controversy on where they source their food. I would like to ask though, why do you want to eliminate chicken out of her diet? I agree with upping her food to one cup three times a day, or you may find she is happier giving 1.5 cups twice a day. As long as her poops are solid and not pudding poop you are not over feeding. Another suggestion is introducing her to raw meaty bones, having the extra meat and bone may make her more satisfied in the hunger department. I do not know what is the proper zinc ratio, but yes zinc is very important to northern breeds. Also I will add, if you can find a food that has Glucosamine and chondroitin (Merrick is the only one that I have noticed, have not looked at Acana recently), it will benefit her hips and joints, especially if she ends up being larger and a runner. I do use happy hips dog treats made in America.

The chicken is a personal preference based on having had and knowing many dogs that react poorly to it. I prefer to just avoid it altogether at this point.

We fish a lot here and we make fish skin treats for our dogs. We like to be able to feed them locally harvested and sustainable foods so Acana's sourcing is great. Orijen (sister company to Acana?) looks committed to that as well. They have a line with game meat and fish but the cost is likely out of our budget.

We give her frozen soup bones which have some meatiness but are also full of marrow. She loves them! Soon we will have an endless supply of goat bones in our freezer as well :-)

We give my mom's large shepherd cross glucosomine with chondroitin but we just buy human grade pills and crush them up. This was recommended by our vet many years ago to help with our dog at the time and it seems to work well. With Qinu being so little I wonder if halving the pill would be best?

She had a very soft bowel movement last night but this morning was fine. I'm sitting here listening to her tummy growl away in her sleep. Hope nothings brewing! lol

Leo also seam to stop him self from over eating too. he did beg for more food also, and he also started to eat very quickly around that age, so i bought a slow feed bowl to help him slow down. i got it form amazon; http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPKNRG4/ref=twister_B00IHCS3K2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

has helped hims slow down a lot, it when from 1.3 minutes to 5 minutes.

Sophie, yes Orijen is a sister company to Acana, I am not sure price wise. I think you have a great idea on feeding, you just may have to play around with it a little. I forgot to mention, that you need to look at calcium to phospherous ratios, I believe 1 to 1 is the numbers, lower calcium so her bones don't grow too fast(that is more of a problem with large breed dogs vs a pure husky which are medium size), medium size ratios if memory is correct is 1.5 to 1. Your vet seems to have good knowledge, unlike many I have encountered, lol, I would ask on halving the pill, and also the calcium ratios I just gave you. The Dogswell brand Happy hips I use is a limited ingredient strip comes in turkey and lamb, so you can avoid chicken, they may also have duck. I avoid anything that has unknown items in the ingredient list, so many dog treats have glycerin in it. You might look for Barnsdale Farms, my store no longer carries any of their products, but Miya loved them, sourced in Tyler Texas, and produced in Ontario Canada, just as an example, they make a ton of different treats, her chicken fingers are deboned chicken and ground oats and that's it. He favorite was the beef jerky, and again just beef and I think oats, all of their products have the glucosamine and chondroitin. Again, just ideas to offer to you.

Redflash reminded me I was going to mention a slow feeder, eating too fast may also upset tummy and may, because I don't think they chew their food enough haha, slow her down and not be so hungry acting.