Feeding Help

Question
QUESTION: Hi, I have a 1.5 year old dashaund who I love. I recently put her on a diet a few months ago b/c the vet said she needed to lose a couple of pounds. So, I feed her 1/2 cup of dry food a day (1/4 in morning and 1/4 at night), which the vet recommended. She has since lost the extra weight and looks great. However, she always seems hungry and sits in the kitchen all the time whining and barking. She has now made it a habit of getting up about 2 hours before we do b/c she's anticipating eating (she gets up at 4am but we don't until 6am). She will just bark and scratch at the cabinet where her food is. I don't know what to do. I will give her some cheerios so she will stop but that only helps for about 1/2 hour then she will get back up and bark again. I am at my wits end b/c I'm getting NO sleep. What can you suggest I do?

ANSWER: Well 1/2 cup a day even of the most top quaility dog food just doenst seem half enough...is she a mini or standard? I feed my two small dogs weighing in at 14 and 15 pounds 1 cup a day of a very high end expensive well made kibble as reccomeended via the bag and they do well on this...I could hardly reccomend feeding less then tat to dogs of there weight I assume you dacshund is around the same weight? if she has lost the weight....check teh bags derections does it say how much she should be fed? A hungry dog will be very anoying until it is fed and if she isnt getting enough food during the day of course she will wake early and ask to be fed as on an empty stomach its ahrd to sleep in late. Assuming the bag of food does say to feed her more go ahead and feed her more she could put the weight back on if she isnt properly exercised or is given too many treats or table scraps.

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QUESTION: Thanks. She is a mini so the vet says she shouldn't weigh more than 11 pounds. She was around 14 so I had to put her on the diet. I previously was giving her around a cup or so of food a day but also giving her tons of treats (which I stopped). So, maybe I can increase the food without the treats and she'll be fine. She does play outside a lot so I think she gets enough exercise. Thanks for your answer.

Answer
Hello, If you could let me know the brand i could tell you exactly what to feed her. She should be getting 3/4 of a cup of high end food daily or a cup of meduim quaility daily...the better the food the less she needs to eat, for instance my terriers are on blue buffalo fish adn potatoe for allergies they get 1 cup each a day thats 1 cup per 15 pounds of dog daily so I take a tiny amount away...five or six kiblets for my 14 pound terrier. this is a very high end kibble...and for refferance Authroity lite feeding for matiance(avalible only at petsmart sotres but is higher end) requires them to eat 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups  a day see it depends if what kibble it is. I give treats here and there but only even low fat treats with less 3 or 4 % fat maximum and rawhide chews as well with good results in my dogs weights. A short walk every mronnig is reccomended even if the dog gets to play and run in the yard.