So after doing some reading here, I convinced my husband to switch our dog food (good timing as well since we were running low on our previous food!). We were feeding a corn based, cheap food....yes, I know. It's crap. We switched to Diamond Naturals Beef and Rice, and since then, Niko keeps sneaking his head into the bag to eat more during the night, or when he thinks I'm not paying attention. He's a mix, so he's quite a bit larger than breed standard at around 28in and 75-80lbs. We're feeding him 2 cups 2x a day (the same as we feed our Lab) and he's sneaking food in addition to that! On our old food, he would routinely not finish his 2 cups, and NEVER snuck food. Is this new behavior likely just from a more palatable food? And, should I consider cutting down how much we're feeding him since he's on a more nutrient/protien packed food? Amount recommendations on the bag based on weight say 4 cups/day.

It sounds like you need to secure your food a bit better. Isis would keep eating as much as we'd feed her, but she's reached her goal weight. Now we need to monitor her, to make sure she doesn't end up overweight.

We try to put each of them on the scale at petsmart at least once a month, just to make sure their weight isn't changing too much.

The feeding guidelines on food are usually always high, especially with huskies which tend to have a metabolism that makes the most of the nutrients fed.

FWIW not a big fan of Diamond since their Aflatoxin recall in 2006. Not sure but they may still use source ingredients from China. My info is probably out of date since I quit following them way back.

Yeah, the food has been moved to a better location so he isn't free to graze as he chooses. I'm just a bit surprised by his sudden change in behavior since he came to us as a dog that would munch on his bowl of food as he pleased throughout the day (which wasn't an option for us since our lab will eat until there's nothing left to eat). I also know that Diamond isn't viewed as a 'great' company, but it's a higher quality food at a price we can handle. Paying another $15-20 per bag to get TOTW or something like that isn't going to happen right now.

gladahmae wrote:

We were feeding a corn based, cheap food....yes, I know. It's crap. We switched to Diamond Naturals Beef and Rice...He's a mix, so he's quite a bit larger than breed standard at around 28in and 75-80lbs. We're feeding him 2 cups 2x a day...Amount recommendations on the bag based on weight say 4 cups/day.

I think that still sounds like a lot of food...

Lordbroll wrote:

The feeding guidelines on food are usually always high, especially with huskies which tend to have a metabolism that makes the most of the nutrients fed.

My 74 lb husky eats 1.5 cups of food a day, plus a few treats. His metabolism isn't as high as most huskies, but with a high quality food, that's all he needs to maintain his weight and he doesn't beg for food.

gladahmae wrote:

I also know that Diamond isn't viewed as a 'great' company, but it's a higher quality food at a price we can handle. Paying another $15-20 per bag to get TOTW or something like that isn't going to happen right now.

TOTW is $48 for a 30 lb bag and Diamond is $34 for 40 lb bag, but if you're feeding 1.5-2x the amount of Diamond vs TOTW, I would think TOTW would last just as long, but you're feeding a way better kibble.

naturalk9supplies.com has great prices on their food, and you can almost always get free shipping with discount codes such as bark10 or freeship. Wag.com also has free 2-day shipping promotions, and for new customers, their first order is 20% off.

Just food for thought.....

Yeah, it sounded like a lot to me too, but they (both dogs) have maintained a healthy weight @ 4 cups/day, which is what's comfusing me. I'm definately going to keep an eye on their weight with the new food.

I was most able to convince my husband to change foods by explaining that we would be able to feed fewer cups/day, so we're going to start cutting back to 3 cups/day and see how that goes.

Good to know about the TOTW info too! And discount codes! Yay!! We were having pretty soft poops, so I'm hoping that cutting out the corn will help clear that out. If Diamond doesn't clear it up, I may just go ahead and order the TOTW. The sticker-shock of the food is a big issue though, even if we're feeding half the amount.....ponying up $40-50 for a bag of dog food isn't something my husband takes easily.

gladahmae wrote:

Yeah, it sounded like a lot to me too, but they (both dogs) have maintained a healthy weight @ 4 cups/day, which is what's comfusing me. I'm definately going to keep an eye on their weight with the new food.

I was most able to convince my husband to change foods by explaining that we would be able to feed fewer cups/day, so we're going to start cutting back to 3 cups/day and see how that goes.

Good to know about the TOTW info too! And discount codes! Yay!! We were having pretty soft poops, so I'm hoping that cutting out the corn will help clear that out. If Diamond doesn't clear it up, I may just go ahead and order the TOTW. The sticker-shock of the food is a big issue though, even if we're feeding half the amount.....ponying up $40-50 for a bag of dog food isn't something my husband takes easily.

Typically, you feed more of lesser quality food with inexpensive fillers, like corn and rice, so they get the nutrients they need. So you either pay the money up front for a higher quality food, or you spend more money over time on a lesser quality food.

If you're experiencing soft poops, that could be from over feeding, or from the rice or other type grain, such as barley, with both are present in the Diamond kibble you're feeding.

You could get a smaller bag of TOTW and mix it in with the Diamond, maybe cut the food to 2.5 cups a day, and see if the poop firms up some.

I don't usually partake in these discussions but...



I too hesitated for a couple of years on switching to TOTW. Then gas and squishies forced me to take another look (not to mention the Diamond prices going up). The first bit went faster during the switch and the Saint pup up in the 6-8 cup a day territory. But now that we've been on it for a couple of months, it is in fact lasting longer than the Diamond. Essentially even buying retail we are not spending extra money for the food and their getting some good food from what I hear. I just cut everyone back until the poo sizes were not huge anymore. The diamond food was consistently bought every seven days, and the TOTW is 10 days now.

Malamutes get about 2 to 2.5 cups a day, the husky maybe eats two on a heavy day and the Saint is now down to 4 a day and still decreasing as he gets older (looks like he's self regulating to 3.5ish lately).

Little something to consider. I hate all that calorie crap and the math that goes along with that and the pricing. But after just letting it happen I learned these folks are right about the cost. That first month though was a little pricey. Again, that's retail too. If I ordered their food they would probably have fasting days every time I forgot to order it in time.

I used to feed purina, way long ago. To me I thought that was a better quality food! After some research (and worry that I was shoving SIX CUPS a day into Mickey...) I bought wellness (which is more expensive than TOTW.) we moved around a lot from brand to brand trying different things but TOTW became a staple in our house for a while. I can feed 6 dogs on a bag(30lb) a week of TOTW. We have since switched to Acana, but price remains the same at about $50 a week. My dogs for the most part eat raw (Mickey, Mishka, and Odin) but the 2 who don't stretch the bag out for quite some time. Mickey is my largest with a fast metabolism and I've never fed him more than 3 cups a day of a higher quality kibble.

Not sure I'm totally convinced yet but some studies say feeding a high quality food can save lots of money on vet bills over the coarse of a dogs life. Skin and coat problems, auto immune disorders, cancer, and joint issues.

http://www.leashesandlovers.com/articledetails.aspx?articleid=37&article=FiveTipstoProtectYourDog%60sHealth,KeepVetBillsDown

So, I actually checked how much our "cup" holds that we use to measure out their food. I was sure it was ONE cup. Nope. It's 1.25cups. And we don't level the cup off when we're feeding. So THAT means that our doggies were getting almost FIVE cups per day. Cutting down to 1.5 scoops for a week or so, and then probably 1.25 scoops the next week (giving their tummies time to shrink up a little so they don't feel hungry all the time) from there on depending on how their weight holds up.

Once I'm done with my maternity leave I'll probably look into transitioning them over to TOTW since I can buy it on my way to/home from work with cash and my husband won't be as able to freak out about the price.