Hi Everyone,

I am new to the forum.

I have a 32lb, 12 month old border collie who has been eating natures variety instinct and during young puppy hood she ate wellness super 5 mix just for puppy. Finding a good serving size has been a real struggle with the instinct. She either gets too heavy or too thin. After a months trial, I have been able to maintain a pretty good weight for her on a 1/2 a cup per day. I have been conservative with exercise, increasing slightly with each month. She gets two walks a day in addition to what ever games she makes up herself during the day.

However, something has changed with her in the last 2 weeks. I believe she went through a growth spurt (It did not become apparent until she started reaching things that we thought were out of her reach. We then noticed her body seemed long again.) Now she acts like she is starving all the time and her coat looks dry and lacks shine. I started adding an additional 1/4 cup of food, but I did not see much difference in her body or personality. I don't know if there has been a change in her metabolism or if increased exercise is no longer matching her calorie intake....

Today, I decided to purchase honest kitchen embark and gave her some for dinner (1 cup). I have to say, she does seem less frantic and generally more satisfied. She also ate calmer and slower. I think I will go with the instructions and do 1 cup in morning and 1 cup at night to start. This may end up being too much food, but I will see if her body processes this food differently.

Should I consider taking her to the vet to make sure nothing else is going on? She was just there about a month ago and things looked good. Should I keep her on the honest kitchen for a week or two and evaluate how she is acting? What other foods can I add to the honest kitchen? (I was thinking chicken, but I don't know what parts would be best). Your thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Nicole

I would venture to guess that it is a crazy teenage puppy thing. My now 20 m/o BC was a total pain to keep weight on from just about the time I got her at 10 m/o until she was about 16-17 m/o. She was eating 3+ cups a day of quality kibble and she only weighed 30-32#. I'd often add in something extra like a cooked scrambled egg, a dollop of cottage cheese or a couple ounces of cooked meat. Some days she'd feel just about the right weight when I ran my hands over her and some days she'd feel a bit like a skeleton. This summer she finally filled out to about 35# and her coat came in beautifully. She still eats at least 2.5 cups a day. If she seems a little thin I'll add more in.

Through all of this she was otherwise a very healthy, active, happy teenage BC.

Ok. Thanks for your response. Your situation sounds exactly like what I am going through right now! Some days she feels fine other too thin and still others a little to heavy lol.

She is on her second day of honest kitchen and seems to be more content and relaxed about food. The only thing I have noticed is more frequent and larger in size bowel movements (maybe 3 to 4). Is this normal? I know she is eating more that what she was with kibble and I may have to adjust the quantity, but I am wondering if she is digesting the honest kitchen food properly?

On kibble she seemed to have constant trouble with constipation to the point of causing some irritation and slight amount of blood on the outside of the stool. Adding pumpkin helped slightly. So I am happy to see that she is not struggling so much and her stool is much softer with a higher moisture content.

Any thoughts?

She is taking in a lot more volume with THK than she was with kibble, so that could account for the increase in pooping. I'm wondering if part of her "frantic eating" was due to the really low volume. So it would make sense she is feeling more satisfied and less frantic now. You can also add a spoonful or two of plain yogurt to help with digestion.

If you want to start adding in raw with THK I'd start with chicken backs/necks with most of the skin removed. As she gets used to raw you can gradually add in more and more skin. You can also add in a bit more variety - beef heart, pork necks, turkey necks, liver, kidney, ground meat, whole eggs, canned mackerel - just remember to do it gradually and just add one new thing in at a time.

And keep your add ins balanced - check out the sample diet here http://leerburg.com/diet2.htm for a rough breakdown on muscle meat/organs/raw meaty bones ratios. It's pretty simple once you get a feel for it.

I agree that her frantic eating was due to the really low volume of food.

When I took her for hips x-rays, the vet said she looked good and to keep her at same proportion as she grows. So I know she is not malnourished in the sense that she is underweight.

I am wondering if she processes the natures variety kibble differently or something because my parents have a small dog (10 lbs or so) and he is getting about a 1/4 cup less than her of the same exact food...which makes absolutely no sense at all especially since he is not active. Is it possible for dogs to react differently to different types of food?...this just seems so drastic in terms of the quantity of food though.

I will go ahead and start adding in raw once she has adjusted to the new diet.

I may bring her down to 3/4 cup twice a day as I noticed this morning and last night she walked away from the bowl with about 1/4 left only to come back and finish when another dog approached the bowl.

Thanks so much for the help.

I think smaller dogs tend to have faster metabolisms. And I believe different dogs do react differently to different foods for a variety of reasons. Go through dog food reviews online and you'll find people singing the praises of a certain food ( dog's allergies cleared up, it's coat looks better than ever, etc, etc) and then other posters saying they'd never feed it again (dog's hair fell out, looked dull, gave my dog diarrhea, etc, etc)

I think once you get past the awkward teenage stage this will level out and you'll find the right amount for her, until then just continue feeding by her body condition.

Just curious, but is she a very active dog? Or not so much?

She could run all day if I let her. I have been quite conservative with her exercise as to try and avoid structure problems later on.

She usually gets a 30-45 min walk in the morning and a 30-45 off leash run around in the evening. In the evening I try to walk around the track and she runs around on her own on the inside grass area, usually playing with other dogs, making up games on her own or just sniffing everything. I tend to stop her before she stops herself in regard to playing with other dogs. I don't really play fetch or frisbee with her at this point. She likes to bring her jolly ball with us and I some times toss that to get her going or play keep away. Maybe I am being to conservative and protective of her body at this point, but at the same time she treats herself like a crash test dummy.

We were going out at a third time mid afternoon, but summers are extremely hot here so we have not done that since April/May. So instead I have increased the time for morning and night. When it is not as hot, I have noticed she is much more active, playing inside with the other dogs or doing her own thing being curious and getting into mischief. When it is hot she lays around more.

***UPDATE***

She is doing really well on the honest kitchen embark! No constipation and no blood! I have added ground turkey. My next question is, I purchased chicken breasts on sale(I tried looking for chicken backs, but could not find any and I read another thread suggesting chicken breast). She currently eats 1 cup a day divided in to two meals plus 1/3 cup ground turkey. The chicken breast cut in half would make up one meal. Can I replace one meal of the honest kitchen embark with the chicken breast every couple of days or should I not do that?

Thanks for the help.

 Quote: Nicole Herman

***UPDATE***

She is doing really well on the honest kitchen embark! No constipation and no blood! I have added ground turkey. My next question is, I purchased chicken breasts on sale(I tried looking for chicken backs, but could not find any and I read another thread suggesting chicken breast). She currently eats 1 cup a day divided in to two meals plus 1/3 cup ground turkey. The chicken breast cut in half would make up one meal. Can I replace one meal of the honest kitchen embark with the chicken breast every couple of days or should I not do that?

Thanks for the help.

Boneless or bone-in?

Bone-in.