# Advice on amount to feed Cavalier



## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

Hello I have a cavalier named Ruby and she is 4. She is slightly overweight at 8.4kg. The average weight that cavalier should be is between 5-8kg. However she is small for her breed so I think she should be more like 6-7kg to be deemed healthy weight. The vet said that she is ok for now as can still feel ribs but because has just been neutered need to watch her weight.


She has epilepsy and a grade 1 heart murmur its barely grade 1 and has stayed the same for 3 years now. She not had a seizure for almost 2 years as well and we are weaning her off her medication (Phenobarbital) right now. So its important that she doesn't have any extra weight thats putting a strain on heart.

She is fed wainwrights wet food and I feed her around 1/4 of this with some cooked chicken or beef mince. But she is always having snacks inbetween of human food mainly from my mother who feels guilty. 
I have incorporated a dry food into her diet. At the moment I am giving her skinners duck and rice and the salmon one as was sent free samples to try. However I am thinking of moving her onto Eden. She won't eat dry on its own. Its been a massive challenge to get her to eat dry at all to be honest. Any other suggests on wet/dry food is great. I tried raw with her and she isn't having it. I bought her a roast bone and she nibbles at it for a bit then leaves it for ages.


So I feed her a handful of dry and 1/5 of the wainwrights and about 10g of cooked chicken a day now. I don't know if thats right amount because it only looks small but I was aiming for around 100g a day is that right? 

Also am not sure about how much exercise she should be having. I try walk her a mile a day which is about 15-20minutes but should I be pushing for 2 miles? She seems to be tired after 1 mile and wants to go home especially in cold weather.

Edit: Just found out by looking on forum that roast bones are bad and can splinter. I got mine from Home Bargains by mine and its a proper company on the label. I just don't know how to approach or what to say to a butchers. Do you just ask have you got any raw bones? does it cost or is it free?


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## apricot (Sep 25, 2012)

Cavaliers vary greatly in size. If your's is too fat, give her less food. As soon as mine were neutered I reduced their food by a third. She really shouldn't get treats or human food.
15 or 20 minutes walk daily is nowhere near enough. Your dog is still young and a mild heart murmur is no bar to exercise. My two get 45 minutes in the morning and about half an hour in the evening. My big boy has epilepsy too. He weighs 11kg but is slim and trim.


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

Just hard to know what amount to give suppose a measuring cup for dry food be handy to have. I try and give her more natural snacks like stuff her kong with chicken and liver so it takes awhile for her to eat it. But my mum always gives her a bite of her food like toast and biscuits and i've told her not to but guess its hard when she sits right infront of you waiting for a crumb to drop.

Am going to try up her walk to an hour a day then. 30mins at day and 30 at evening. Find it hard to walk her because I don't have a car and the area I live in isn't very nice and dangerous. I can't really enjoy the local park or ever let her off the lead for a run as alot of people have their dogs off the lead and mine is a very nervous dog. Hopefully in a years time I have a car and be able to take her to the beach or nice woodlands. I know its no excuse but it does make a difference if your not fearing for your life lol. I'd love to just be able to stroll down country lanes for hours with her off lead and not have to worry.

Really hard to motive yourself and the dog especially if its cold because she refuses to walk and you end up fighting with her and then carrying her all the way home.

Trying 2 mile walk with her now anyway wish me luck. I have a feeling do a mile and she wanna go straight back home. Funny how she slows down when she fed up walking but can speed up pretty fast when she knows we going home. Little swine


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## demetris20 (Jun 27, 2012)

can you substitute the treats for carrots, apples, cucumber and blueberries? they are very low fat and she will love them  she is jungry because of the epilepsy medication i suppose but weighting the daily portion is a good idea as well. you should see a difference in 2 weeks if you double her walk and substitute or treats with healthy ones. I would leave some already prepared helthy treats for your mum to give instead of other things - this way she still gets something but not as fattening  i hope i was helpful


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

Managed 2 miles which was about 40 mins. Was raining and got heavier so she wasn't happy at all. We fought quite a bit because she wouldn't walk because we rain. She doesn't like carrots on their own she will chew them and spit them out all over floor. Won't touch apples either or any veg or fruit. Got a sweet tooth but its better to feed her chicken rather than dog treats. 

She's always been greedy to be honest she had to be separated from brothers when born as she fought with them over food lol. 

My mum feeds her human food because she sits right next to u when ur eating and its really hard not to give her some of your food.


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## demetris20 (Jun 27, 2012)

the only way to loose weight is to make sure that the extras she gets are included in the daily portion - if it is hard to stop them then i would be looking into reducing the main meals by however much she is getting as extras. The only way to do this is to put everything she eats in a plate to really see how much she is getting so you can make the adjustment....or simply reduce by 10% if there is no wight loss after 2 weeks (you need to properly weight her) then reduce by a further 10% 

if she is already getting too little (look into less calorie dense foods perhaps) and not loosing any then look at thyroid problems as phenobarbital therapy does cause problems with the thyroid


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

demetris20 said:


> the only way to loose weight is to make sure that the extras she gets are included in the daily portion - if it is hard to stop them then i would be looking into reducing the main meals by however much she is getting as extras. The only way to do this is to put everything she eats in a plate to really see how much she is getting so you can make the adjustment....or simply reduce by 10% if there is no wight loss after 2 weeks (you need to properly weight her) then reduce by a further 10%
> 
> if she is already getting too little (look into less calorie dense foods perhaps) and not loosing any then look at thyroid problems as phenobarbitael therapy does cause problems with the thyroid


Thats a good idea I start to decrease her main meals slightly. What is a good less calorie food? At the moment she is on wainwrights wet and Skinners Duck and Rice but changing to Eden dry food soon.


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## demetris20 (Jun 27, 2012)

how much of each is she getting? a guide would be to decrease each by 10% or 20% 

so if she is getting 100grams of the dry then give 80grams and the same goes for the wet

do you have a kitchen scale? that would be the best way to find out

also if she eats fast and feels hungry you can use a kong with her wet food  makes it last longer and a treat ball for feeding the kibble to get her moving...

light or senior versons usually have less calories....

forgot to say that eden is quite high in fat at 19%!


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## Tamsin W (Sep 18, 2012)

These might be worth a try for snacking:

Goodbite Natural Bone

My dog enjoys them, and they're zero calories - the little bits just pass right through. If she likes to chew, Stag Bars also seem to be quite a popular choice in our house - they keep Buttons busy for ages without actually eating much of anything at all (and he's very food obsessed).


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

I am going to give her 80g and this allows like 10g of treats in the day. 
Going to split it in half 40g in morning and 40g at night so she not starving. Plus give more time to burn it off.

We have succesful been doing 2 miles a day which has been a struggle but its been great for myself as well. Going to increase it slowly over the next month till 3miles. She just doesn't like to walk in the cold or wet weather. She seems so much more alert and enjoying food more like dry food.

Have a kong got a small one but its a bit to small so bought a medium one today from vets. I did stuff the kong with chicken but she just licks the chicken she can reach and can't be bothered with the rest.

Those bones look great am going to buy one when I next order from zooplus next week. Would a smaller be better ? as she only has a little mouth and isn't a big chewer and likes to hold bones in her paws whilst chewing them. I heard about those stag bars do they taste of anything because she isn't really into bones.

So you don't think Eden is a good idea? My vet recommended Royal Canin but its full of maize and she doesn't like the sample anyway so am not keen. She seemed to try put me off other foods and made out this was the best because only could get from vets. Whats a high quality dog food thats that high in calories. Bear in mind she going from 1 mile (if that) to 3miles so will defo be losing weight.

I kinda wanted one of these 3 but not sure what best?

*TASTE OF THE WILD (high prairie)*

Price (13.6kg): £47.99
Suggested daily amount: 200g
Daily feeding cost: 70p

Ingredients: Bison, venison, dried lamb meat, dried chicken meat, eggs, sweet potatoes, peas, potatoes, canola oil, roasted bison, roasted venison, natural flavourings, tomatoes, ocean fish meal, salt, choline chloride, dried chicory root, blueberries, raspberries, yucca schidigera extract, dried fermentation products of enterococcus faecium, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus casei and Lactobacillus plantarum, dried trichoderma longibrachiatum fermentation extract, quality vitamins, minerals, potassium iodide, manganous oxide, biotin, calcium pantothenate, sodium selenite, folic acid.

*MILLIES WOLFHEART (salmon & vegetable)
*
Price (15kg): £49.95
Suggested daily amount: 180g
Daily feeding cost: 60p

Ingredients:Salmon (min 69.68%), sweet potato, potato flake, salmon meal, salmon oil, pea fibre, lucerne, salmon gravy, vitamins, minerals, monosodium phosphate, mixed herbs (thyme, marjoram, oregano, parsley, sage), joint pack (clucosamine, MSM, chondroitin sulphate), dried cranberry, aniseed, fenugreek, spinach flakes, carrot flakes, dried apple, lovage powder, seaweed meal, camomile powder, burdock root powder, dandelion herb, peppermint

*EDEN (holistic, multi-meat and fish formula)*

Price (15kg): £49.99
Suggested daily amount: 220g
Daily feeding cost: 73p

Ingredients: Chicken (19%), dried chicken (17%), salmon (16%), dried herring (14%), potato (10%), sweet potato (5%), chicken fat (5%), dried duck (4%), whole dried egg (3%), chicken gravy (2%), white fish (2%), lucerne, pea fibre, mineral, vitamins, carrot, spinach, apple, joint support pack (glucosamine, MSM, chondroitin), rosehips, camomile, burdock root, aniseed, fenugreek, mixed herbs (thyme, marjoram, oregano, sage) seaweed, cranberry, prebiotic FOS

Any of them better? At the moment I have no dry food but was going to buy Skinners duck and rice as I am on a strict budget (with her just been neutered and tablets and blood tests in future) but MARKUS MUHLE (NaturNah formula) is good for budget bit more expensive than skinners but if its better than rather pay little more.

*SKINNERS (field and trial, duck & rice)*

Price (15kg): £24.59
Suggested daily amount: 190g
Daily feeding cost: 31p

Ingredients: Rice (40%), duck meat meal (20%), oats, peas, whole linseed, sunflower oil, sugar beet pulp, vitamins and minerals.

*MARKUS MUHLE (NaturNah formula)*

Price (15kg): £36.99
Suggested daily amount: 150g
Daily feeding cost: 36p

Ingredients: Poultry meat meal (27%), whole grain corn flour (13%), brown rice flour (13%), wild rumen meal (5%), rice germ, wild-bone meal, corn germ, jerusalem artichoke flour, beet powder, sea fish meal (5%), linseed oil, rapeseed oil, fruit powder (from locust beans, pineapple, papaya, banana, acerola cherry, apple, pear, blueberry, mango, raspberry), herbs, egg yolk powder, salmon oil, algae meal, trace elements, vitamins.

Also she is now being weaned off her phenobarbital she on 15mg once a day which vet said is nothing. So we weaning her off for the next month. The vet said she may be putting on weight as it makes them more hungry and stocky looking.


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## demetris20 (Jun 27, 2012)

i think those foods are great and its really a personal choice

if i wanted to put my dog on dry/wet food or a combination i would go for burns but thats just my choice - they will send you samples if you request them of all flavours and advice you on how much to feed for her ideal weight - their nutrition online chat is excellent or email them her ideal weight, the fact that she is spayed etc

again though this is a very personal choice and it is just my opinion


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

Do you also mean burns over Millies Wolfheart/Eden/TOTW? Or just over skinners duck and rice?

I emailed them anyway and will wait for reply. Hopefully get some samples soon as she ran out of dry food samples and I was going to order skinners duck and rice but if she prefers burns then order that.


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

I have samples from burns coming and also bought the fish4dogs £4 sample charity pack. 
However I just seen on a website Applaws dry food on offer. I know she likes this food but its so damm expensive. Anyway its only £6 delievered for 2kg but its senior. They had lite at that price but its gone back up which would of been perfect. Anyway is senior ok to give to my dog doesn't look much different than the normal one. Its just for a month or so whilst I save for Eden or MWH.

*Here is senior ingredients*
Ingredients: Chicken 65% (from Dried Chicken), Chicken Mince 9%, Peas 8%, Potato Starch 7% Beet Pulp, Poultry Oil 1.5% (Source of Omega 6 ), Tomato (from Dehydrated Tomato), Poultry Gravy, Whole Egg (from Dehydrated Egg), Cellulose Plant Fibre, Minerals, Vitamins, Salmon Oil (source of omega 3), Coconut Oil (source of natural MCTs) Carrot (from Dehydrated Carrot), Chicory Extract (F.O.S), Alfalfa Meal, Seaweed/Kelp, Glucosamine, Methylsulfonylmethane, Chondroitin, Carrot, Peppermint, Paprika Meal, Turmeric, Thyme Extract, Citrus Extract, Taurine 1000 mg/kg, Yucca Extract, Cranberry, Fennel Extract, Carob Extract, Ginger, Rosehip Extract, Dandelion Extract, Rosemary Oil Extract, Oregano, Probiotic: Contains E1705 Enterococcus faecium cernelle 68 (SF68: NCIMB 10415) 1,000,000 cfu/kg as an aid in the establishment, maintenance and restoration of a balanced gut flora in dogs.

Analytical Constituents: Protein 37%, Crude Oils and Fats 16%, Crude Fibres 5.25%, Inorganic Matter 8%, Calcium 1.34%, Phosphorous 1.32%, Carbohydrates <25.8%.


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## muse08 (Dec 21, 2008)

Definitely personal choice, Had cavs for 23 years...I used to feed my cavaliers on a natural raw meaty bone diet, no additives or fillers and they were in fab condition. A small daily dose of Q10 supplement is good for when they developed heart murmurs too; there is an article about it on the cavalier club web site.


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

Ah how lovely I wish to own Cavaliers for rest of my life. Not really wanting to breed but maybe rescue etc. I'd keep all the puppies if I was to breed haha.
Am like 1/2 thinking of including some raw in diet but she didn't take to chicken drumstick very well. Am terrified she will die as heard bad stories about cavaliers on barf diet. This is raw bones not cooked as well. My vet said not to feed raw. Her opinion was unless u go out and kill the chicken yourself then not to feed raw especially from supermarket because of the bacteria and germs that are on it.

Am not even friendly with the butcher and he didn't have bones when I went last time anyway. However after the horse scandal I think people going back to butchers so should be getting more stock in.

Could you link the page please on the Q10 supplement. Is it ok to give dogs humans vitamins. I read that its recommended 30g of q10 tablets a day for dog. There is some on holland and barrett and probs cheaper than dog version. Am buying milk thistle (for liver due to epilepsy) and skullcap and valerian. The human version is much cheaper than dog.


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## muse08 (Dec 21, 2008)

Like i said it is all personal choice what to feed. 
But mine thrived on raw, when i changed to raw i saw a noticeable improvement in their oral health,skin and coat condition.Their teeth were spotless which is important particularly for cavs as poor dental health can affect the blood stream and in turn can affect the heart....They used to get raw minces,fish,liver kidney heart,chicken wings and necks, and lamb ribs etc.
I feed my pugs on raw now too, they have their own little freezer. I dont source their food from local butchers, I order from an online specialist company, all delivered once a month at a cost of about 40 for 4 dogs so not expensive.
Its cooked bones that are dangerous for dogs as when cooked they become brittle and they can splinter and cause internal injury, raw non weight baring bones are soft and are digested.
Most vets are on commission to recommend and sell manufactured dog food.

Here is the link to the article on Q10....its 30 mlg tabs i used got mine from onlinevits...have a look on eBay too you might find some on there.

Cavalier King Charles Spaniels in the UK- articles

Raw Fed Dogs - Natural Prey Model Rawfeeding Diet

The Many Myths of Raw Feeding

This is Benson one of my old cavs
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150453318107653&set=a.440002352652.223505.637227652&type=3&theater


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

I had a little read of the raw sticky and also the myths last night before you posted the link. I was interested now you said you feed your cavaliers raw. I didn't think that small dogs where really designed for raw. However I seen when looking for the KC Club and Registered owners who health screen in my area that they feed their puppies on BARF. Am going to get down the butchers on thursday and see if he got some bones and try her on lamb ribs. whats the best to start off with? Am afraid she might choke as she glups food down. She didn't know what to do with a chicken drumstick at all daft thing. 

I don't think 100% raw is my thing really. I don't have the space for it and normally don't you have to order a bit in bulk to save money on raw from supplies and I only have one dog. Cat won't eat raw at all though she eats mice??? She's happy on botiza anyway and thats been a challenge enough. 
I already give her liver now and again mainly as healthy treats. So maybe just like 2 meals a week raw would be fine for her. Help clean her teeth but bought plaque off and logic that seems to help. Am going to order that q10 when next pay day 


Also do you have to freeze the lamb ribs for 1 week prior to eating due to bacteria and parasites? Do you give it frozen or wait to defrost?


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## [email protected] (Nov 22, 2010)

I feed fish4dogs salmon complete and then I use their trout mousse as a topper on their second meal of the day. They probably don't need this topper but I just like to feed them something wet with their dry and they absolutely love it! I also feed their treats as they are low fat so I'm secure in the knowledge that I'm not piling the pounds on them when treating them. Have a look at their website as they have great offers on.....although saying that I'm really miffed to discover that, having been away for a week, I've missed out on their latest offer!!! Darnit!! Fish4Dogs - Food for Dogs, Dog Nutrition, Diet for Dogs


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## RachRubyx (Jan 23, 2013)

I have ordered the charity sample from F4D and has a few kibble samples and the salmon and trout mousse and some fishy treats. Really good for £4. Am going to Pets At Home today and I heard Fishmongers is quite similar but not as good but not as F4D but a real good alternative. My dog isn't really into fishy tasting wet or dry food. She loves her yellow fish cobbler cooked with mash potatoe and also cooked salmon and tinned Sardines in natural oils but doesn't like kibble to be that flavour. So going to try Fishmongers as its only £5 for 1.5kg so cheapest am going to find right now without going online. Buying the salmon one to see if you see will eat it. Maybe use it to get her use to fishy tastes. 

Was thinking of the putting the F4D mousse in kong.

Going to buy a few trays of Fishmongers wet to try and also NatureDiet in Chicken with Vegetables. Am quite happy with Wainwrights but be nice to swap the food around every few months. She has about 4 trays of wainwrights that will easy last a month but unless its on offer going for naturediet as can be cheaper online. IF (big if) she likes it :S

Edit: tried burns sample whilst I was out but left cat and dog together. The dog turned nose up but cat ate dog biscuits. Gave fishmongers with nature diet for dinner and she didn't eat biscuits but once again cat did :/. However got my sample of f4d in post today and tried small bite superior mixed with natures diet to make a gravy and she has ate it all. So thinking of ordering a big bag when on offer. Is Eden small bite same size or bigger?


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