AmaCam+Digby Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Hello All! just a quick question about our 24 week old Australian Cattle Dog, Blue Heeler, Digby. He just seems to be forever hungry, looking for food, bench surfing, bin diving, begging and eating all sorts of things (even the unedible!) He scoffs food like he hasnt seen a meal for a week. We feed him 2.5 cups of Purina Supercoat Puppy each day, 1 cup in the morning, half in the middle of the day and 1 cup at around 730-830pm. We are increasing it as he grows. He has been wormed each month since we got him, and seems to "eliminate" normally. However the eating and searching seems to never end. this came to a head tonight when myself or my OH must have not closed the laundry door thoroughly enough, and Digby has gotten in there, pulled down his bag of food and tore it open. He has obviously eaten as much as he could (not the entire bag), is now visibly full (not bloated, but quite tubby.) Despite this obvious fullness Digby is STILL searching and begging for food and bench surfing....... Are we doing something wrong? Not Feeding Enough, Should we spread the amount of food over a the day more? I just dont get it..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fuzzy82 Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Eating weird things can be diet based, and Purina isn't very good food. Maybe try a higher quality food to see if that helps? Such as Eagle Pack, Artemis or Canidae. They're more expensive, but because the nutrition is so concentrated compared to the supermarket foods, you don't need to feed as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nekhbet Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 he's not getting enough quality protein at all. I would either swap him to a better brand like fuzzy has recommended or look into something like Vets All Natural which is a raw diet. Supercoat is too full of grains and grain byproducts to really be satisfying for a dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wuffles Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 Can I also put forward that people interpret dogs' reactions to things and emotions differently. What some people might see as constantly hungry others would see as normal. For example there is an overweight lab that we walk with regularly in a group of dogs, his owners are always talking about his scavenging and acting very hungry all the time. One day someone had thrown some veggie scraps over their back fence so all the dogs went to investigate. "Oh, he's always scavenging! He must be so hungry" cried the lab owners... even though he was far from the only dog who thought they had hit the jackpot Apart from that, I would second the suggestion of trying a higher quality food. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted October 10, 2011 Share Posted October 10, 2011 24 week old A teenager ... whose life needs to be full of exploring/l experimenting/learning and eating. Sounds perfectly normal. lots of meals 'on the bone' to give him textures and chewing and fun... and keep the bagged dry stuff out of reach! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyBlue Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 You could also try some foraging toys - or just toys. I have a tendency to scavenge when I'm bored. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raineth Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Oh I'm excited to hear that you have a dog called Digby because My dog's name is Digby too :D I think your Digby would be an excellent candidate for food dispensing toys and clicker training Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dogsfevr Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 To be honest irrespective of the brand that isn't alot of food for a growing baby & yes could very well be hungry. I don't feed supacoat but many do with no issues,if your happy with the dry then start adding more bulk to the meal raw mutton,chicken frames ,chicken necks or turkey necks,chicken mince,roo etc etc. I now my large breed pups at that age would be getting a kilo or more food a day & there not fat & run an acre all day every day They get dry,raw,necks,tuckertime roll etc etc Are you feeding what the breeder suggested ?? Have you asked the breeder what they suggest especially the portion size ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Esky the husky Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 You could try a frozen kong or a treat ball or other kibble dispensing toy. He's already searching for food, so he might as well learn to do it in appropriate ways ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inevitablue Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Lots of great ideas. I have ACD's and I have changed to a raw diet. They seem more satiated, and as some of their diet comes in the form of bones, a good portion of the day is spent eating, chewing and munching! I've even managed to replant my flower pots and so far they have remained untouched (that's with two dogs under 12 months of age ) If I was doing drive training with food then maybe a satiated dog isn't ideal, but they still go bonkers for cheese and the like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted October 27, 2011 Share Posted October 27, 2011 24 week old A teenager ... whose life needs to be full of exploring/l experimenting/learning and eating. Sounds perfectly normal. lots of meals 'on the bone' to give him textures and chewing and fun... and keep the bagged dry stuff out of reach! I'd agree, Mosley was an absolute freak with eating when he was a pup, we had to scatter his food and he was constantly scavenging. Now he's older he is actually quite a fussy thing! You wouldn't believe it was the same dog! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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