Ok, so Mucha is currently on a diet of mostly THK Thrive, raw chicken, oil+e, some green beans (as filler, he's always ravenous lately). If one day I can't give him raw/prepared food, I have a supply of Nature's Variety kibble and tripett.

The first part of my question is this - what (if any), would be the problem with feeding THK before it's fully rehydrated? He goes bananas for any form of food now (though raw is his fave obviously), and sometimes I don't have time in the morning to wait 20 minutes for it to soak, and don't have any left over.

Also, since the past few days, he's gone from being "bleh" about food, to "I'm an insane crazy man and I will eat the kitchen rug because you spilled something on it". I know pups can be very, very food motivated, obviously.

I've looked around on feeding instructions for Thrive on their site, specific to puppies, but I personally have found a great link as per amounts. I'm just doubling the recommended amount. He's getting 2 cups (dry), and about a 1lb - 1.5lb of raw over the past few day, because he's literally throwing himself at the kitchen counter.

His poops are ok. He weighs about 20lbs, so it's a LOT of food. What do you all think about this - limit him? Let him eat like crazy in prep for a potential growth spurt as long as stools are good?

I personally won't feed THK until it is completely rehydrated. Sometimes I even find that I add a bit more water just before serving it. I am basically only using it here & there as an addition to my dog's diet & not as a base. So I just use something like 1/4 cup most of the time.

If memory serves me...doesn't a cup equal something like a pound when rehydrated? If so that's like 3-3 1/2 lbs of food a day. That seems like alot of food for a 20 lb pup to me.

I don't remember giving any of my 3 pups that amounts of food at 20 lbs of weight. That's more than I give my 78lb adult male & he is extremely active.

You want pups a healthy weight,but not fat. You want them to grow slowly. That is one of the wonderful things about feeding raw...they grow more slowley then most kibble fed dogs. You want that slow growth so the skelletal system can grow & strengthen to avoid problems. A fat puppy put alot of extra stress on their bones which can cause serious problems in the future. Not what you want. Growth plates on GSDs don't close until the dog is around 2 years old.

Some pups & older dogs will eat as much as you give them. One of the reasons that free feeding is not good. Just because he'll keep eating & is always hungry doesn't mean that you should keep feeding him.

If he is healthy & there is no medical reason for his overactive hunger, then I would just feed him the weight appropriate amounts. I'd only increase or decrease food anounts if & when you see a bit of a weight loss or gain generally caused by a growth spurt or increase or decrease in activity.

I would not increase food in anticipation of a growth spurt.

He's sure is a cute boy. You're having a great time with him, I'm sure.

 Quote: phaedra rieff

... sometimes I don't have time in the morning to wait 20 minutes for it to soak, and don't have any left over.

Rehydrate the night before instead ... ?

Many people do that anyway.

I would not feed it not fully rehydrated.

I highly recommend doing the rehydrating the night before.
When I rotate in HK, I had found that the dogs digest the food better with ample rehydration time.

There had been times when I only waited the 20 minutes and I could still see the veggies in their stool, so I started doing a longer time for the rehydration and that did the trick.

But if you are feeding salmon oil with it, I usually don't dispense that until right before I feed the meal as to preserve the freshness of the fragile oil.

Phaedra, Mucha is just an absolutely adorable pup, is he a long coat? It reminds me of my male when he was a pup.
What a sweet face he has and I love the sable coloring too!
Looking forward to seeing him grow.

Yeah, it is a LOT of food. I don't know though, my cups never seem to equal a full pound rehydrated. I will start the night before thing. I haven't seen anything undigested in his stool yet, including from the full leg quarters he eats (chopped).

Joyce- I am not sure about the coat. There were some obviously coated, and obviously stock pups in the litter, and he was the only one sort of in-between. He is the sweetest little guy in the world and steals everyone's heart!

Maybe you are not adding enough water & that may be part of the reason that it doesn't seem to rehydrate properly? Isn't it equal amounts of water to THK? I don't have a box to look at. I repackage mine in air-tight containers, as I don't use it up as quickly as most people do & need it to have a longer shelf life.

I never made it ahead...but I would store it in a well-sealed,preferably air tight container to keep all of its color & nutrients intact during storage.

What a face on that little bugger. Way too cute for a BOY!!!

Yeah, I actually use a bit more water than THK and then add some more once it's rehydrated. I guess he's just going through a crazy food phase, because he wasn't like this before. He is also fairly trim - even though he doesn't look it with his fluffy coat.

He does have a cute face, doesn't he! I'm interested to see how his colouring will turn out, because his stomach is actually pretty much totally black, with just a bit of sable fur.