I am clueless.

[Miss Meow]

I've just checked our calendar and our little porkers have each gained 1.5kg (just over 3lb) in six weeks and they're not fat - so three meals a day isn't hurting them

We work all day too, so they get their 'lunch' at about 4.30pm, and a smaller dinner about 8.30pm.

Kong makes a ball with bone-shaped holes in it so you can put in cheese bits, or dry food or whatever, and the dog rolls it around the ground to get the treats to fall out. Maybe one of those could give her a few calories during the day???

[jenfer]

Starting from next week I will be working from 9:30-6. I don't know...
But I may switch dog food brand too, maybe that will help.
Does your dogs have kongs? I need to know WHAT to put in it? If I put dry food, do I seal the kong???????
Gigi is 4lbs now. I think she is doing ok??

[micki76]

What food are you feeding her, Jen?

Here's the kong site's recipe for a Perfect dog. Scroll down for recipes and the bet ways to stuff (and seal) a kong.

http://www.kongcompany.com/how2use.html

[jenfer]

She is on Science Diet... but now I heard they use too much filler. Someone told me to try Nutro. Any suggestions? I was trying to find the old thread(s) talking about the different dog food brands, but can't find it.

I will go look at the link you gave me. Do yours play with Kong? Do they like it?

[Twisterdog]

It's really hard to overfeed a young, active growing puppy. Two meals a day are not enough, IMO.

[Miss Meow]

You can put dry food in them, or wet food, cheese, cream cheese or peanut butter, or a mix!

There are recipes and ideas at http://www.kongcompany.com/

Or you can get an empty plastic soft drink bottle and put some dry food in it, will take her hours to rattle the dry food out

[Miss Meow]

Beat me to it, Micki!!!

[jenfer]

Is she too little for a kong? See? I am REALLY clueless. If it's not snowing tomorrow I will go get one.

[micki76]

Science Diet is not one of my personal favorites, and I would definitely choose Nutro over it.

All three of mine love the Kong, although Aneko is usually the first one to poop out and give up. Millie is totally food motivated, so she'll go at it for hours.

There are a lot of good foods, just buy the very best that you personally can afford.

Some good ones are

Wellness
Innova
Natural Balance
Nutro
Nature's Recipe
Chicken Soup for Dog Lover's Soul (very popular, good ingreds)
Canadae
Flint River Ranch
California Natural
Royal Canin
Go Natural

[jenfer]

Micki (and everyone else): Thank you soooooooooo much for your help.

I will go to PetsMart tomorrow and shop AGAIN. You won't believe HOW MUCH money have I spent on Gigi so far. I guess I don't even want to know myself... haha...

[micki76]

No problem! Have fun shopping. We're going tomorrow, too.

BTW, Gigi is not too young for a Kong, that was one of the first things we bought for Ches.

[jenfer]

I gave her a baby kong this morning, she seems to enjoy it. Is it normal that dogs can't get everything out of the kong? I am wondering if the opening is too small???? I tried to "glue" everything with some peanut butter... Maybe I will get her a small size and just put PB and her regular food to make it healthier??????????????

[Cataholic]

I remember when I first adopted Binx, and didn't know how much to feed him. My father echo'd the sentiments here...you really can't overfeed a puppy. I, too, was lucky, and could come home for lunch. I fed Binx three meals a day until he was 9 months old. Now, I feed him two.

could you leave food down during the day for Gigi? OR, get one of those timer release food distributors, and have it set for 'lunch time'.

Good luck.

[jenfer]

Chilli lives in Hong Kong... faaaaaaaaaaaaar away (I miss her!) . My mom is very straight even though Chilli is going to be 8 on the 18th (Happ Birthday!) , she only gets 2 meals (9am and 5pm) and she gets like 3 or 4 treats a day. Each treat contains like 6 pieces of dog food, since Chilli is a chubby dog, my mom has to watch what she eats. And that's where I got my fear that Gigi will be overweight!!! Chilli does not eat a lot, but she is an indoor dog and have very little exercise. I will just have to be sure that Gigi gets enough exercise.

[Miss Meow]

Originally posted by jenfer
I gave her a baby kong this morning, she seems to enjoy it. Is it normal that dogs can't get everything out of the kong? I am wondering if the opening is too small???? I tried to "glue" everything with some peanut butter... Maybe I will get her a small size and just put PB and her regular food to make it healthier??????????????

I think the baby kong was too small for B&S as well, so we bought the next size up. They still can't lick all the way in and get bored with it quickly ... luckily the pack came with a round Kong that has holes in it. They like that much better!