husky feeding

Question
QUESTION: i have a husky pup and i want to know whats best to feed her on because for the last few days she has had the runs i have been giving her 3 meals a day (small meals)could you help

ANSWER: Loose stools is very common in puppies who have a pretty sensitive digestive system.  You do want them to firm up, and if the dog never has firmer stools, it might be a medical issue.  Some of the causes of loose stools include:

1) Too much food
2) Not enough food
3) Too much fat
4) Not enough fat
5) Too much indigestible materials in the food (grains)

There are more, but you can already tell that the cause isn't necessarily one thing in particular.  I don't know how old your puppy is, but here's some suggestions that might help:

1) Make sure you are feeding her a high quality kibble.  Check the label - first few ingredients should be some sort of meat base (chicken or beef usually, but fish is found in some food and is perfectly acceptable).  Stay away from foods that list a grain as the first or second ingredient.

2) Siberians also do very well and need a high fat/high protein diet.  Check the crude analysis on your food - it should have around 20-30% on fat and protein (usually ~20% fat, ~30% protein - something like 18%/27% fat/protein is fine, you just want it up around those numbers).

3) With a premium kibble, the bag will probably recommend about 3-4 cups of food per day.  Cut that in half, then divide that over your three feedings.  My dogs when they were around 7 months old ate just less than four cups of food per day, and as they have gotten older, they need less.  The each eat 1 cup of food per day (1/2 cup in the morning, 1/2 cup at night).  The feeding of a dog is sort of on a bell curve - gradually increasing until around 6-8 months, then gradually decreasing.  Generally, you start around 1 cup around 8-10 weeks, adding about 1/2 cup per month until you get around 6-8 months, and then slowly subtracting about a 1/2 cup of food per month until you are back down around a cup.  Granted, this is completely dependent on the quality of the kibble, dog's activity level, metabolic rate, etc.

4) Another idea is to supplement the dog's diet with a tablespoon or so of raw meat.  Ground hamburger is usually just fine.  Dogs love it, and actually the concentrated fat and protein is great for the digestive system.

As you can tell, there's no one specific answer - you have to be very attuned to the dog's needs and really make slight adjustments.  But you should be able to tell when she is actually hungry - add a little more food to the daily routine, but keep an eye on stools and if they get loose, reduce the food.  You say you are giving her 3 small meals a day right now, and that is a good thing, but many people don't realize how small the meals should be.  If you are in total giving her more than 1.5 cups of food right now and she is less than 12-15 weeks old, I would say that it actually might be too much.  Try reducing that a little.  If you don't think that is it, try reducing it a little and adding in the meat - I've heard many pups responding very well to that.

I hope this gives you enough information and that you can see where you might be able to change some things to help your pup out, but if not, write back.  Just let me know the age of the pup, changes in diet, type of food (and analysis/main ingredients of food in case it's not a popular one I can find online), amount being fed, etc.  I should be able to help some more there.  Good luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thank you for your help she is around 14 weeks old and i am feeding her on James wellbeloved kibble the ingredients is rice,duck meat meal,organic oats,duck fat ,whole linseed,duck gravy,alfalfa,natural seaweed,sodium chloride,calcium carbonate,d,l-methionine,lysine hydrochloride,threonine.
contains;min 27% duck,min 27% rice,min7.5%organic oats.
typical analysis;protein 30%,oil 15%,fibre 3%,ash 7.5%,vitamin a10,000i.u./kg.vitamin d31,500 i.u./kg. vitamin e (alpha-tocopherol acetate)150mg/kg.copper(cupric sulphate)15mg/kg.omega-3fatty acids1.1%omega-6fatty acids2.8%with antioxidant;tocopherol-rich extracts of natural origan. that is the food i am giving her is it ok to give her a bone from the butchers aswelland thank you for your help

Answer
Thanks for the info, the last bit is just how much you are feeding.  Interesting enough the food doesn't list the fat analysis, but instead lists oil - which is a fat, so we can go with the 15%.  Overall, I would say this is a good food, even though the main ingredient is rice and not meat.  Instead, it looks like the manufacturer has gotten around this by concentrating on using a decent amount of duck, which is good.  You may be able to find a little bit better food out there, but if your dog likes this food, I can't see any problem in it.  I might like to see a little more fat, but it's a difference of 5% or so, which can easily be made up in supplements.

My guess is that at 14 weeks your total daily feeding for the pup should be around around 1.5-2 cups of food per day.  Divide that out over three feedings, and you should be just over a 1/2 cup of food per meal.  I would also suggest a small meat supplement.  Raw ground beef would be fine.  And as for bone's from the butcher shop - not a problem.  Every once in a while as a treat I give my dogs chicken from the butcher shop - usually a raw drumstick or wing.  It's packed with protein and gives them something fun to gnaw on for a few minutes.  Cooked bird bones are dangerous, but the uncooked ones are fine to eat.  Limit these treats though as it can "confuse" the digestive system.  If you are having loose stool problems, I'd wait until those clear up a little first, but otherwise, using those as an occasional treat/supplement to her normal kibble is great.

Some people subscribe to a raw feeding diet of meat, vegetables, bones, etc.  I've heard a lot of great stories about it working and keeping dogs healthy, although I have not gotten into it.  If you keep having problems, it may be something to explore.

Hope that helps some and let me know how it works.