question for Doc Doug

[winnietrey]

Hey Doc, always appreciate your time and advice. 15 year old lab mix, about 75lbs, walks maybe 6 miles a week. Switched him from dry food to Purina 1, 13.5 oz. 2x per day. He seems to be slimming down. Worried he is getting to slim. No CA etc that I am aware of, active etc

Question is, 2, cans per day enough? Should we increase it? he seems to be pretty hunger at times

[Big_Katuna]

I’m not a Purina fan. I’m not a “calories are all the same” person.

Maybe try a better quality food like Fromms.

[winnietrey]

Well Riyley the dog, would like to thank you two for your input. He got an extra half can tonight. Thing is after many years of high end dry food and a can of green beans, he started turning his nose up at the dry stuff.

So we switched to dry and wet food, he gained some weight, changed to two cans of Purina one, he lost that extra weight, but it looks like we put him on a diet. As of right now his weight is excellent, he has a waist, so we will go with 3 cans/day

But he did want to thank you two, for that extra half can

[dturm]

Good answer from Pawz.

I'd also be aware of any changes, BMs, urination, water consumption that could signal a potential problem. Also, how long has it been since he's had a comprehensive blood panel and UA?

[Pawz4me]

I'm not Dr. Doug (obviously) but I'm bored so I did a little clicking around the internet to see if I could help you. Feel free to ignore if you don't find this helpful.

If I'm reading the OSU vet school basic calorie calculator correctly, your dog should need around 1200-1400 calories a day. That's based on an inactive/obese prone dog. They don't list a multiplier for senior/elderly dogs, so I figured that was the closest category.

I selected Purina One ground chicken and rice canned food and looked up its nutritional data. It has 429 calories per can (of course the calorie content of whatever variety you're feeding probably varies a bit from that, but probably not tremendously).

Considering he's losing weight and acting hungry, and looking at the above info -- I think the answer is clear that he probably needs a bit more food. If he were mine I'd give him three cans a day, split between the two meals, and see how that works. That would up his calorie intake from 858 to 1287, which gets him in the recommended calorie range. I'd do that for a week or two and then re-evaluate.