I am new to this forum and have many many questions about raising my two husky pups. I will start here with the food situation. I am quite aware that the best diet for them is a natural meat and rice type diet, but my busy lifestyle will not allow for that. I don't even feed myself that well, unfortunately. So, I feed them Eagle Pack puppy formula with Nupro supplements and a little bacon fat mixed in. They are approximately 3mo 3wks old. I have recently been having issues with a bit of diahrea(sp?), mostly with my little female. I have checked all the other issues that could possibly be involved such as worms, etc. I am in the process of weening them off their middle meal. They now get 1-3/4 to 2 cups in the AM and a small 1/2 cup meal in the middle then another 1-3/4 to 2 cups in the evening. Yesterday I skipped the middle meal to see if it would help her stool situation, but found her with slightly loose stool still this morning. I have cut back on her food in the past and found her stool to firm back up. Should I continue this? I am afraid to under feed them. What is a good amount for a pup this age?
Thanks for this chance to get help with my pups!

 Quote: jen albee

I am new to this forum and have many many questions about raising my two husky pups. I will start here with the food situation. I am quite aware that the best diet for them is a natural meat and rice type diet, but my busy lifestyle will not allow for that. I don't even feed myself that well, unfortunately. So, I feed them Eagle Pack puppy formula with Nupro supplements and a little bacon fat mixed in. They are approximately 3mo 3wks old. I have recently been having issues with a bit of diahrea(sp?), mostly with my little female. I have checked all the other issues that could possibly be involved such as worms, etc. I am in the process of weening them off their middle meal. They now get 1-3/4 to 2 cups in the AM and a small 1/2 cup meal in the middle then another 1-3/4 to 2 cups in the evening. Yesterday I skipped the middle meal to see if it would help her stool situation, but found her with slightly loose stool still this morning. I have cut back on her food in the past and found her stool to firm back up. Should I continue this? I am afraid to under feed them. What is a good amount for a pup this age?
Thanks for this chance to get help with my pups!

Meat and rice? Who told you dogs needed rice in a "natural" diet?

I'm not someone who thinks dogs don't need fat, but they don't need bacon fat. It's flavored, smoked, salted, and sugared, and full of preserving chemicals. And adding another cooked fat to the cooked fat in kibble is no advantage. (Fish oil plus vitamin E would be a good addition, though.)

The amount to feed is the amount the dogs maintain the right weight with, rather than a certain number of cups. But puppy experts will join in here, I hope.

If I was seeing diarrhea problems related to the food, I'd switch.

But you say the diarrhea is recent? What had changed when it started?

P.S. Welcome, Jen!

In many of the dog training/raising books I have read they say to cook up a mixture of meat, rice, and vegetables to feed your dog a natural meal. I thought it was weird, but I hear it all the time from breeders and see it in every book I read.

I have actually cut back on the bacon fat recently and have been gone for a training for 10 days. I am sure my husband did not feed them the bacon fat while I was gone and I have not given them any since I returned, so I am sure that is not the issue.

I would say the only thing that changed was adding the supplements. I will try feeding Shida (the female) the same amount without the supplements for a day and see if that helps. If not, I am almost convinced she is getting too much. I just wonder, though. She and her brother are the same size and he is doing just fine. Is it common for two pups the same size to need different amounts of food?
Thanks!

 Quote: Jen Albee

In many of the dog training/raising books I have read they say to cook up a mixture of meat, rice, and vegetables to feed your dog a natural meal. I thought it was weird, but I hear it all the time from breeders and see it in every book I read.

I have actually cut back on the bacon fat recently and have been gone for a training for 10 days. I am sure my husband did not feed them the bacon fat while I was gone and I have not given them any since I returned, so I am sure that is not the issue.

I would say the only thing that changed was adding the supplements. I will try feeding Shida (the female) the same amount without the supplements for a day and see if that helps. If not, I am almost convinced she is getting too much. I just wonder, though. She and her brother are the same size and he is doing just fine. Is it common for two pups the same size to need different amounts of food?
Thanks!

1. A cooked siet with no calcium is a nutritional disaster.

2. Yes, different dogs have different metabolisms. But I would watch the weight and size and make sure of the amount that way.

3. THIS is a natural diet:
http://www.leerburg.com/diet.htm