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Calories For Abnormally Large Male


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For those of you that have an abnormally large male (tall) what's your pup's normal calories intake per day? I'm specifically interested in knowing information from the male veteran that has Darmok's brother from the same litter.

 

Darmok weighed in today at 61.5 pounds! We hike at least 50 miles a month and do a lot of other activities. He went from 55 pound in January to 61.5 today. The vet had me reduce is calories about 30 days ago even farther than I had now that he's an adult. She wants me to reduce more but I'm resisted to reduce further but she says that this breed might just normally " hold on to calories".

 

To me he looks muscular (I'll post photos later).

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How old is he? It is quite normal for dogs' metabolisms to slow down as they mature into a full fledged adult around 3-4 years of age and can very often start packing on pounds if fed the same amount as when they were younger. Being neutered will also have a similar effect. Working in the dog industry for the past decade has allowed me to see this happen again and again and again... dog is young, lean, healthy up until 1-2 yrs... gets neutered, immediately starts packing on lbs dramatically because the vet never told the owner to reduce food intake. Exercise will only get a dog so far, they really cannot lose lbs unless their food intake is decreased. I have seen many dogs that get a significant amount of exercise but are still holding a lot of extra weight (which is not good at all for an active dogs' joints and can cause them significant trouble as they age).

 

A good rule of thumb to follow is that if you cannot easily feel your dogs' ribs when you pet their sides then they are overweight. You don't want to feel significant indent between the ribs, but you do want to be able to feel the 'suggestion' of each rib. Even the fittest dogs do not have a thick layer of muscle over their ribs, so if those ribs are hidden it is guaranteed to be a layer of fat. This applies to all dogs regardless of breed. Some breeds do 'hold onto calories' and tend to get chunky more easily (think labs, cattle dogs) and these dogs do need less food to maintain a healthy weight.

 

AIdogs have well sprung ribs (at least my 3 do) but narrow little waists so they should have a nice hourglass figure when viewed from above.

 

My Tamarack is the heaviest boned AIdog I think I've seen and weighs 50lb. I keep my dogs very lean because they are so active but if he had the same amount of extra weight the average American pet dog has on his frame he would be 60+ lbs easily. He's got a fairly thick coat, but the harness in this photo outlines his shape. He does have a deeper chest than most.

 

fullsizeoutput_1b07.jpeg

 

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Well I couldn't find it but there was some recent genetic research indicating that North American aboriginal dogs are genetically predisposed to use fat better than European derived dogs. I think that likely translates into "holding on to calories".

 

So I looked for advice on how to care for a northern american breed such as the Greenland Dog. I haven't found much but this article has an advised food that looks like it is lo carb. https://animalcorner.org/dog-breeds/greenland-dog/ as well as food adjustments along the life cycle.

 

And some advice for Husky care and feeding including 60% of the recommended amount for a normal dog due to efficiency of food conversion and more smaller meals to prevent storing fat on the body. Also advice on feeding around heavy exercise. https://foreverhusky.org/husky-101/feeding.html#:~:text=%20What%20should%20I%20feed%20my%20Husky%3F%20,harsh%20conditions%20where%20food%20was%20hard...%20More%20

 

From the Laika forum: http://www.laikaforum.org/forum/discussion/671/laika-skunk-delicious-meal oh wait we were talking about feeding the dogs...

 

Break some ground for us and let us know what works, eh?

 

ooo good post Woodrat. Sorry I posted just now. Would love your post to be highlighted.

Edited by Sherab
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Here is a photo of one of mine from the top to show what I mean about the hourglass figure. Ribs and hips are the widest, waist is small and narrow. All 3 of my dogs show this figure when viewed from above, but Yonder (in this photo) has the narrowest rib cage (though that may be due to her young age).

 


yondertop.jpg

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Oh, another thing worth mentioning! I have absolutely noticed that my dogs require significantly more food in the wintertime. They burn a lot of calories keeping themselves warm during winter as we are outside a lot regardless of temperature. They generally start packing on weight in the spring when temps turn and that's when I know it's time to start gradually decreasing meal sizes to summer rations.

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