[Nicolle916]

Bella's tummy feels full all the time. I am worried that I am feeding her too much or doing something to cause her to have gas. I just switched her from Pro Plan (what the breeder was feeding her) to Nutro Natural formula. I feed her about 1/2 cup a day at 3 settings and she doesn't ever eat everything in her dish. She is about 3.4 lbs and 20 weeks. She poops about 3 times a day (it seems if something goes in...something comes out).
Should her tummy always feel full or should it be less full at some point? I might take her to the vet if it doesn't get better but I feel like an over worried mom.
She also gets a tiny bits of treat each time she potties on the pad and that equals about 1 to 1.5 soft training treats each day and about 1/3 of a hard puppy bone when I leave the house and put her in her crate so that is at most 1 a day.
Thanks!
Nicolle

 

[pico's parent]

Pico's tummy always feels firm, too. I did see it swell up one time for a short period of time and I was worried sick, of course. Within an hour it was back to normal and that never happened again.

For comparison's sake, Pico eats about 1/3 cup canned and 1/3 cup dry kibble every day. He is 3 1/2 years old and 4.5 lbs. He gets about 2 pupcorns during the day, doled out in pieces for actually going potty. As opposed to just making a mullet out of me by whining to go out only to search out the neighborhood cats.

Since I use a measuring cup I know exactly how much he eats and he usually cleans his plate, finishing the dry kibble later in the evening. So it seems Bella may be eating a bit more, depending upon how much she is leaving behind.

Does she seem too fat over all or is it just her tummy pooching out?

 

[Nicolle916]

I think she just has a round tummy. I can still feel her ribs and the "v" between her ribs and tummy. I am going to watch her food intake and see what happens. She probably eats about 1/3 of a cup of dry food each day and then the few treats. I am so confussed about the suggested feeding amount on the bag b/c it says for puppies 3 to 5 lbs to feed 7/8 c to 1 1/8 c. That is a LOT of food! If she doesn't even finish 1/2 c a day there is no way she can eat a whole cup. Oh well...I guess I will watch and see.

Thanks for your help!
Nicolle

 

[BrookeB676]

Originally posted by Nicolle916@Nov 9 2004, 09:28 PM
I think she just has a round tummy.  I can still feel her ribs and the "v" between her ribs and tummy.  I am going to watch her food intake and see what happens.  She probably eats about 1/3 of a cup of dry food each day and then the few treats.  I am so confussed about the suggested feeding amount on the bag b/c it says for puppies 3 to 5 lbs to feed 7/8 c to 1 1/8 c.  That is a LOT of food!  If she doesn't even finish 1/2 c a day there is no way she can eat a whole cup.  Oh well...I guess I will watch and see. 

Thanks for your help!
Nicolle

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Mine always feel a little "full." My maya is about the same age as yours. When was her bday? Maya is almost 3 pounds and she is a little over 20 weeks (June 24th). Did they say how big yours shold be? We are expecting around 4 pounds. Your baby is so cute!

 

[Nicolle916]

Brooke,
Bella's birthday was June 23 -- she is 20 weeks today!!! She was born just a day before Maya! I am thinking she will be between 4 and 5 lbs but that is just going by her weight at 13 weeks (2lbs). The breeder told me the last litter from her mom and dad ranged from 3.8lbs to 6lbs full grown. She is my first Maltese so I'm just going to have to wait and see

I'm still learning!

Maya is a cutie! I wish Bella had a topknot but I'm still working on it

Have a great day

Nicolle

 

[Maxismom]

i notice that with maxi also , i think it has to do with drinking alot of water and also he is forever chewing on his chew bones which probably brings in alot of air

 

[LexiAndNikkisMom]

Originally posted by Nicolle916@Nov 9 2004, 10:28 PM
I am going to watch her food intake and see what happens.  She probably eats about 1/3 of a cup of dry food each day and then the few treats.  I am so confussed about the suggested feeding amount on the bag b/c it says for puppies 3 to 5 lbs to feed 7/8 c to 1 1/8 c.  That is a LOT of food!  If she doesn't even finish 1/2 c a day there is no way she can eat a whole cup. 
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What kind of food are you feeding her? The higher the quality of food the less you have to feed. Lexi is 9 months old (7.4 lbs) and gets 3/4 cup of Innova Dry Puppy Food.

 

[Nicolle916]

Originally posted by Lexi's Mom@Nov 10 2004, 11:03 AM
What kind of food are you feeding her?  The higher the quality of food the less you have to feed.  Lexi is 9 months old (7.4 lbs) and gets 3/4 cup of Innova Dry Puppy Food.
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I'm feeding her Nurto Natural Puppy Food. I just switched to that from Pro Plan (what she was on at the breeder). She really likes the nutro. It seemed to be the best quality at petsmart. I will do some research and ask the vet and i might switch her after she finished this bag. I know there are some food threads on this board that i'm going to review to see what everyone else uses. I'm so unsure about all the food stuff. There are SOOO many out there. I really liked the ingredients in the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover....But I haven't found the puppy kind...only the dog kind. So many choices!!!

 

[Brinkley & Neyland's Mom]

Brinkley's feels full all the time because he is FAT!

 

[kodie]

Kodie poos A LOT too!! Everything that goes in seems to come right back out!... haha... Sometimes I get worried he poos too much! haha

 

[LexiAndNikkisMom]

Originally posted by Nicolle916+Nov 10 2004, 08:49 PM-->

<!--QuoteBegin-Lexi's Mom

@Nov 10 2004, 11:03 AM
What kind of food are you feeding her?  The higher the quality of food the less you have to feed.  Lexi is 9 months old (7.4 lbs) and gets 3/4 cup of Innova Dry Puppy Food.
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I'm feeding her Nurto Natural Puppy Food. I just switched to that from Pro Plan (what she was on at the breeder). She really likes the nutro. It seemed to be the best quality at petsmart. I will do some research and ask the vet and i might switch her after she finished this bag. I know there are some food threads on this board that i'm going to review to see what everyone else uses. I'm so unsure about all the food stuff. There are SOOO many out there. I really liked the ingredients in the Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover....But I haven't found the puppy kind...only the dog kind. So many choices!!!

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There are so many different dog foods out there that it can be very confusing. Whenever I decide to change foods I get so frustrated because it is so hard.

FYI: More than likely your vet will tell you to feed your furbaby Science Diet or Eukanuba. In vet school the people that teach the nutritions classes are usually from one of those companies. Also the vets usually sell one in there office and get a percentage of the sales.

 

[Nicolle916]

Originally posted by Lexi's Mom@Nov 11 2004, 10:03 AM
There are so many different dog foods out there that it can be very confusing.  Whenever I decide to change foods I get so frustrated because it is so hard.

FYI: More than likely your vet will tell you to feed your furbaby Science Diet or Eukanuba.  In vet school the people that teach the nutritions classes are usually from one of those companies.  Also the vets usually sell one in there office and get a percentage of the sales.
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Oh I know! And I'm not a good judge of food! I could live on hot dogs and chips so I'm trying to at least make Bella's diet healthy! And she eats so little that I feel like she will be eating this bag for a year so I have plenty of time to do research on the next food.

Thanks for warning about the vet situation...I have asked food related questions (how much, etc) and he told me just to read the bag of whatever food I have chosen. I didn't ask him to suggest one and he didn't offer.

Nicolle

 

[pico's parent]

Because Pico is so little at 4.5 lbs and eats only about 1/4 to 1/3 cup of dry kibble daily, I package up the 5 lb bag in separate freezer bags and keep it in the freezer to keep it fresh. I "decant" a couple weeks worth into a tight-lidded glass jar and just pour it into his dish.

With his canned, when I open a new can I put it into two of those 1 cup throwaway type plastic containers and refrigerate them. It really keeps much better out of the can it seems.