Feeding Your Labrador: Are You Confused?

What daily quantity should a Labrador be fed? This question is no longer properly answered with the “pound of food per 50 pounds of body weight” foods are available today, so we must ask, “What kind of food?” Is it dry, semi-moist or canned? The best indicator is based on the dog’s output. In other words, the quantity should produce firm and well-formed feces. Any tendency of the stools to become loose indicates overfeeding in a healthy dog. Conversely, a stool so dry that it appears to have a chalky coating indicates underfeeding. The quantity fed should be increased or decreased by 10% in such cases.

In growing Labrador puppies, you should feed them for formed stools. Further, the number of feedings should be the same as the number of bowel movements per day. This attunes the input frequency with the metabolic rate of the pup. It also results in up to 6 feedings per day for some pups, usually only for a couple of weeks. Most owners agree that this feeding schedule is not quite as inconvenient as a Labrador puppy that is not house-trained.

Pregnant or lactating females with puppies require especially large quantities of high-quality protein. The old wives’ suggestion of “eating for two” tends to carry over into feeding of pregnant female dogs, who often eat for ten pups. The uninformed breeder often merely offers 2-4 times as much of the dog’s standard diet. The trouble with this practice is that the huge quantity of a commercial diet usually results in some degree of obesity if the female actually eats it.

This tendency toward obesity stems from the fact that many popular diets are usually significantly higher in carbohydrate than in protein. If the pregnant dog does not metabolize the vastly increased carbohydrate intake, she usually gets fat. This can lead to a number of problems, such as sick or stillborn pups, or prolonged labor.

Pregnant and lactating Labrador females (up to 4 weeks postpartum), as well as their pups, require increased amounts of a high-protein diet. It might be more sensible to meet this need by supplementing, rather than simply feeding them more of the usual diet. Addition of protein in the form of raw liver, cooked eggs, milk, dicalcium phosphate and an oil containing vitamins A and D, in addition to a daily general vitamin-mineral supplement, satisfies the special dietary requirements of mother and offspring, and avoids overfeeding with its possible side-effects of loose stools and obesity.