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The Daily Guideline For Your Siberian


Ice and Cripton

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Okay, ive seen a few qs on feeding amounts for puppies, teens and even adults SO i thought it was long overdue to set some guidelines for new and just slightly confused Husky owners;) We could make it a sticky in the food and diet section so new members can find it easily:) The main rule here is that no guideline is concrete, all sibes are different, some come from different lines and all sibes are individuals, but by other owners putting their daily amounts it may prove some help.

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We'll start with puppies, 7weeks

When i got Alaska i fed her 3 times a day, 3 non heaped handfuls of kibble in warm water. Sorry i cant give the exact measurements but thats where other members come in;) Now i have been told by other owners they carried on feeding 3 times a day until 6 months, some say they stop at 4 or whenever the puppy shows little interest in the thrid meal. I chose to do it until 5 1/2 months then switched to 2 meals, personally Alaska did well and still does do well on little and often:)

So if you do decide to feed 3 times a day until 6 months the amount of food should be increased, With each month you should add about 1/4 more, So when Alaska was 7 weeks she got 1/4 of the cup, by the time she was 6 months she ate a full cup twice a day, heres the cup i use:

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Alaskas brother Balto however would eat 1/2 a cup more than her in every meal, A: because he's a boy and males tend to eat more and B: hes just plain greedy:D

So husky owners please give your measurements you fed from 7weeks (or whenever you got your sibe) to now................................................

I think it would be a huge help for owners to see the variety in which we all feed and how our sibes take to their meals.

Alaska is not so food orientated so now at 1yr she eats 2 cups of dry kibble a day, and with her second meal i will mix in some nature diet. Her age now; she can have 2 trays of nature diet, but that would mean i would have to compromise her kibble amount, so i only feed her the 1 tray.

Vets huffff

Now i didn't just want to disscuss feeding amounts, a lot of sibe owners worry about weight and the vets prove to be little help as they are not educated on the breed and they get mostly labs or breeds who over-eat. I was told by a vet the other day Alaska at 1 yrs should weigh in at 22kg.....???? But the breed standard for the females is only 23 kg and she still has a whole year to grow amd mature....very confusing:rolleyes: However i am do feel that sibes and all breeds need more than kibble to grow and be healthy!! Heres 2 pics of Alaska that honestly show her frame >> some pictures make her look like a fatti LOL:

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You can see in the 1st pic where she dips in and the 2nd pic how leggy she looks >> she looks how teens look, until she is 2 we all just have to be patient and wait for her to fill out;)

There are soo many options you can feed alongside kibble to ensure your sibe grows properly and is in top health:

BARF: http://www.ukbarfclub.co.uk/index.php

Wet foods: http://www.naturediet.co.uk/

Supplements like cod liver oil, an egg a week, salmon oil........

Even home cooked food with meat and veggies can prove better for you sibe than half the foods out there on the market. Kibble is clean, not messy and convenient however its not the be all and end all for your dogs health.

I feed James Wellbeloved, its well known for being sensitive on your dogs tummy and my two love it:

http://www.wellbeloved.com/

I also feed wet foods and BARF

Alot of people say their sibes go in at the sides, or "i can feel their ribs". Remember Siberians are athletes and shouldn't have excess fat on their body, sibes who pull and race dont look like many house-hold sibes, vets can give the wrong info on the breed but heres a chart that should help:

http://dogs4ppp.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/10-13-fatpets-bcs_chart_dogs.jpg

And just from personal experience Alaska is now 18.9kg and her aim is to be 19.8kg-20kg, however she is a lean dog naturally so i have been told the way i am feeding her now and with the natural process of maturing she will grow just fine. I can see her pelvic bones but the vet said they have a lot more coverage now and as long as they dont protruding its normal and healthy to make out a waist line and to see their physique:)

Now i have 2 litter-mates, Balto looks the same as Alaska, he dips in the same places and you can feel his ribs however his frame is totally different, Alaska has a very femine frame and therefore gives the vet more to talk about..Balto has a very chunky frame, but he also is the right weight and not over for his age and breed yet the vets say hes fine :rolleyes:

Siberians are all Coat!!!

There is a huge misconception out there that Siberians are huge, great big, fluffy wolves............couldn't be further from the truth, looking at Seppala's team the Chukchis sibes, they had enough coat and it was certainly thick, but it did not hide their shape nor was it long or shaggy. My 2 have medium coats so im afraid i wont be able to make too much a huge example, they have been shedding like crazy and to me Alaska looks bald but i know other members on here (Sarah+Kimba;)) have sibes with large coats that have all gone now. Heres a pic of a shedding sibe so you can see how much hair they can have!!!

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A pic of Seppale and his team of Siberians:

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Okay please Husky-Owners say your choice of food and feeding amount for ALL your sibes, the age of your sibe, if their greedy, fussy, or just npt huge eaters!!! Maybe even suggest a good measuring cup or device used by you to keep a record...................

Thanks and this thread will only thrive if you chip in...as my measurments were pretty useless.....

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Great post Tanika, added to rep :up:

I got both my boys at just over 7 weeks and fed them as follows

1 handful of food per meal for the first few weeks soaked in a little water to make it easier on their teeth and gums (by handfull i cupped both hands together) 4 times a day

By around 5 months I reduced their feed to 3 meals per day at this time they were eating half a cup per meal I used a measuring cup like Tanika

at 8 months they were reduced to 2 meals per day with a full cup per meal

Up to around 6 months I fed Burns mini bites i now feed both boys on Burns high energy lamb kibble

Once a week i give them each a raw egg and have done this from around 4/5 months old

Every few days I add a tin of tuna in water and mix it with their kibble - watch out for fish in sauce ie sardines in tomatoe sauce as the sauce has a high salt content which isn't good for your dog. If you buy this rinse the sauce off first then mush it up

Every other day I give one meal of raw ie chicken wings or lamb ribs. As pups, my boys got 2 chicken wings for a meal - they were around 4/5 months old when i started this. Now, Kimba is 16 months and has 4 chicken wings for a meal Kaiser is 9 months and has 3.

They also love peas i put a few in their kibble every so often to give them a different taste

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  • 1 month later...

We use a childs plastic cup for measuring the kibble.

It seems to hold about 100g of most dry food we have so far used.

The wet food we use is the tubs of Natures Diet. We split this into 8 cubes.

Maddi gets fed 1 cup of dry mixed with 2 cubes of wet per meal.

She is fed after walks, twice a day.

We give Mishka 1 1/2 cups of dry, with 2 cubes per meal,

(the guide for the wet suggested increased quanity but It seemed better to increase the dry, than the wet)

We are constantly learning, and welcome any advice in the spirit it's given.

Marty

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Hi, great Idea!

Ill add to rep in a minute but thought i would add something as well. lol.

When I first brought Chewy home I was feeding 3 times a day and about 1/4 cup at each meal. sometimes I fed it to him softened and sometimes not depending on if he took it softened.

A few months ago he stopped taking morning meals so if I put it down and he doesnt eat it withing 20 minutes I pick it back up.

We have had trouble with him being a picky eater but I recently put him on science diet big breed puppy and he's doing better on it although he still eats like a bird. The only reason I dont worry as much is because he still looks healthy and doesnt look to be losing any weight. He's now somewhere around 60-65 pounds and his coat is looking good.

I have recently decided that he will no longer be receiving any human food as well because he also tried to force me to feeding him only human food and started stealing food from hands, tables and plates. As I am weaning him from human food I am adding some canned food to his science diet as well so he still feels spoiled...lol.

He now eats about 1/3 to 1/2 cups of (hard) food per meal with one can of mighty dog turkey canned food mixed in.

I have known some huskies to eat up to a cup and a half in one meal but I suggest that unless they will be 80 pounds or larger(most huskies dont get bigger than 65 pounds and thats actually unusual) you keep it at 3/4 to 1 cup of food so they dont pack on too much weight and become unhealthy. If they will only take 2 meals a day without it going to the birds, then only feed 2 meals.

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I have known some huskies to eat up to a cup and a half in one meal but I suggest that unless they will be 80 pounds or larger(most huskies dont get bigger than 65 pounds and thats actually unusual) you keep it at 3/4 to 1 cup of food so they dont pack on too much weight and become unhealthy. If they will only take 2 meals a day without it going to the birds, then only feed 2 meals.

I'd also add that it should depend on their activity and exercise. When mine get a real good workout, or if I know one is planned, I'll feed a little more than usual.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Most of my issue with feeding Chewbacca has been about him being a picky eater after about 4 and a half months. At first I fed him 3 times a day on a very strict schedule, as part of his potty training. He didnt eat very large amounts of food, usually only about an eighth or a quarter cup of food at a time, and anywhere from a quarter to a half cup of water at each meal. The first of the eating problem started when he decided large breed puppy "lamb and rice" no longer smelled or tasted very good and started taking even less of it.

To be honest, now that he's eating well again, Im still feeding him 3 times a day, and so long as he shows interest in all 3 meals (like he is now) I will continue to give him his 3 meals...at least until he is 2 years old at which point he will probably slow down on his eating all by him self.

Right now at nearly 11 months he is now eating about 1.5 or 2 cups of kibble per day (finally taking it) and about another 1 and a quarter cups of the honest kitchen food. Please keep in mind that Chewy is right around 70 pounds now so very nearly the size of his malamute father. He is just shy of twice the size of your average well bred huskies that dont normally get any larger than 55 pounds or so, and with this being the case Id say that if you were to do a simillar diet where you suppliment with a healthier food you may only need to do 3/4 cups of kibble twice a day and 3/4 to 1 cup of suppliment food a day to keep them full and healthy.

For pups younger than 6 months I'd keep their food at about 1/4 to 1/2 cups of food every 4 to 6 hours, and depending on hot weather or cold anywhere from 1/4 to 1 cup of water at each meal if your puppy is in the middle of potty training.

Also keep in mind that no matter how large your husky gets you dont want to risk their health by feeding too much which can lead to obesity and heart disease, dogs can have these problems just the same as humans. The most that a healthy dog should get each day is 4 cups of nutritious food, especially if they are under 60 pounds. (thats what vets now suggest for the best health of your dog).

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  • 1 month later...

this is a good post. I was wanting to start a similar one. When we got Kona and Jade at 12 weeks we fed about a 1/2 a cup twice a day. That's what the breeder was already doing. Now at 6 months they are getting 1 cup twice a day. We feed taste of the wild and they seem to be doing really well on that. But for us feeding time is crazy. They act like we NEVER feed them!! They go crazy, we finally got them to sit before we give them their meal. But they jump and wine. It's ridiculous. Then they inhale the food so fast they don't even chew it. A cup of food is gone in about a minute. Maybe 2 minutes. Is this normal? We were feeding them almost a cup and a half a day, but reduced it because they had the runny poos. Sometimes I wonder if we should be feeding them more.

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Actually, i ran into a problem. I was feeding 1/2 a cup of the Blue Diamond the breeder gave me and I had gradually been adding in TOTW. Well he is fully switch to TOTW but i noticed the kibble is actually smaller sized so the 1/2 cup of the TOTW effectively feeds him more than the larger chunk Blue Diamond and this has given him nasty runny poo. I came home last night and found 3 nice runny puddles of poo in the laundry room where he stays while i'm at work and he normally only poos once or not at all. I'm going to cut him back and give him about 1/4 a cup and see how that does with his poo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

this is a good post. I was wanting to start a similar one. When we got Kona and Jade at 12 weeks we fed about a 1/2 a cup twice a day. That's what the breeder was already doing. Now at 6 months they are getting 1 cup twice a day. We feed taste of the wild and they seem to be doing really well on that. But for us feeding time is crazy. They act like we NEVER feed them!! They go crazy, we finally got them to sit before we give them their meal. But they jump and wine. It's ridiculous. Then they inhale the food so fast they don't even chew it. A cup of food is gone in about a minute. Maybe 2 minutes. Is this normal? We were feeding them almost a cup and a half a day, but reduced it because they had the runny poos. Sometimes I wonder if we should be feeding them more.

Hey Jade, I had the same problem with feeding time frenzy, fast gulping, plus Wiley was showing some aggression which was not good. Someone told me that "he needs to know that YOU own the food, not him, and that YOU are letting HIM have it." So here's what I did and it is working beautifully.

Prep the food in the bowl as normal. (I do mine on the counter). I only have one Siberian, so you might want to try this with them one at a time.

He is jumping all of the place. Make him sit. When he does, give him a bite with your hand. He jumps and screams, make him sit. When he does, give him another bite. I basically did this fifty times. By about time 25 on the first feeding, he had calmed down, and was eating the food from my hand pretty calmly. After two feedings I was able to get down on the ground with him, always holding the bowl, never giving him a bite unless he sat and was calm. A couple times he jumped for the bowl. I held it up behind my shoulder and said, "Ep!" He sat back down. Now, after about 3 days, I don't even have to tell him to sit. He is just sitting, waiting for each bite. It's like a miracle. When there are only a few scraps left in the bowl, I bring it down for him (still holding the bowl so that I can take it away if he gets too crazy). He's doing really well this approach.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi - thanks for a great thread. We have had problems with Ozzy eating from day one. After numerous visits to the vet it was found that he has an intolerance to processed food, including treats and tinned food. With some dry food it doesn't even reach his stomach before making its way back up. We have tried numerous brands, all with the same results.

He is now on a home cooked diet. He eats three times a day. Morning and evening is a 'slightly' cooked meal with meat, veggies and rice - I cook for him once a week and freeze his food. Lunch time is raw - either chicken wings, necks, organs, pilchards (sardines), or meaty bones. He is doing extremely well on this diet and looks fantastic.

When I changed him over from dry, he all of a sudden became VERY food aggressive. I overcame this by stroking him while he ate, if he growled I removed the food. He soon realized I was not going to take it away as long as he behaved. After a week or two I was able to put my hand into his bowl without him growling.

The vet says Ozzy is doing extremely well, but still encourages us to re-try feeding dry after a couple of months- he says dry food is scientifically balanced?

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