feeding amounts

hi everyone, my names bill and i have 2 staffs one female called stella who's 4 and a male staff called bud and he's 2.5 years old....thing is guys i am really concerned about my male dog bud...hes lovely and he is causing so many problems between me and the missus with his hyper activity around people with food. You would think he was never fed sometimes hes that bad...he hoovers around the floors constant and if you drop something in front of him he goes berserk...he will snatch things from your hand,off of plates and when fed he can eat 2 tins in about 15 seconds flat and then zoom in the other room to nick stellas food....he has actually lost weight and i can see his ribs which is quite the opposite to the bitch stella...my question is how much am i meant to feed him a day?...i feed them both pedigree chum and he gets 2.5 tins a day and stella gets 2 tins as she seems ok...dont ask weight as i have no idea but his behaviour always concerns me and im not giving in to my wife wanting to get rid of him...love him loads!....he also eats his own crap, but just now and again and i have given him the worming drops on the back of the neck...next stop will be vets i think to castrate him and give him the once over...sorry for the length of this but really am concerned for him..any help appreciated guys.

Hi there and welcome to the Forum...

Firstly... He might be hungry as CHUM , being a wet food is absolute garbage... sorry but it is. It is like feeding a child lollies for every meal... which may be the reason he is Hypo.
Where do you live?.. one of us may be able to point you in the direction of a fully balanced dry food and/or raw food....
Your dog will guts any thing down and He needs to learn some manners... stealing food is dangerous and should not be allowed...
Make him sit and wait for his food... as pack leader you need to eat first and he needs to know this...

Are your dogs crated?... or is there somewhere you can contain him whilst he watches you eat so he learns that he is unable to steal yours???
Desexing may or may not quieten him down but it is worth a try if you have no intention to breed..., and honestly with his traits at the moment it prob isnt a great idea anyway.

As for him loosing weight.. a trip to teh vets is a good idea.... but like I said you may as well be feeding him lollies.. there is not enough protiens etc in wet foods to build good muscle tone.
Have you got a pic of the two dogs.. would love to see them x

Bang on Mel. Chum is absolute rubbish, a good quality dry food is the best way to go, or feed raw. But you need to do alot of research before feeding raw. Your dog needs to be crated or put behind a baby gate or something when the humans are eating. He HAS to learn that stealing food is NOT acceptable. He must not be allowed to eat off your plates. I personally would crate him while you were eating, or make him lie down on his bed. EVERY time he gets up to come over near the food, get up and put him back on his bed. As for feeding, at his age, if you feed him wet, he'll need quite a bit, if you feed him a good quality dry, twice a day is fine. Make sure that all the humans in the house eat their meals BEFORE he gets his and do not allow him anywhere near where anyone is eating. Good luck.

At his age, if you feed tinned food he'll need two & a half LARGE tins a day, that's the equivalent of 5 ordinary tins! No wonder he's hungry!

However, as Mel & Shontelle say, tinned food is not good for them. It doesn't exercise their jaws and leaves their teeth dirty.

Try to switch him to a good quality dry food (a gradual changeover should work) and to start with go by the recommended amounts on the bag for his weight (you'll have to find out, the vet should have scales in the surgery) and see how he goes. You'll find you need to give him less volume dry food to fill him up than with tinned.

I can't recommend a dry food because I feed mine raw, but there is a thread on here under health & nutrition which covers the main ones.

Obviously a trip to the vets is a good idea just to rule out any physical problems, but he sounds healthy from what you say.

Take note of what the other two have said, though about stealing food from you - it really isn't a good idea!

thanks for the advice guys....he doesn't run up and steal if im eating only when our back is turned or say at a bar-bq someone has their hands with a sausage by their side....i do make him wait in his bed until im ready if i make him sit and make him wait for about 15 secs to make him learn he kind of squirts (maybe excitement?)....thought the meat thing was wrong, we did have him on the kibble dry mix but his arse was minging like an old man...lol...we live in milton keynes, crate does sound like a good idea for him, he really only listens to me and often will jump up on my lap and try to roll into a ball when im on the computer...lol...pics i will upload later guys...thanks again!

got to say crate is heaven

With the dry food you sometimes have to experiment a little to find one that suits. However, I'd always go for one of the better quality ones - you only get what you pay for!

P.S. Don't go for Bakers or any others that have colours added!

you could try a good fry food...plenty to pick from,or wot ever one he will like....
might have worms...
maby try feeding him 3 times a day......

wot about making him learn to wait for it,make him still till you have put the bowl done and only when you say,for him to,he can have it...

my 2 will wait till iv put the food down and told them they can have it...

but wen their is food floating about they will alllways look to pick up the lose bits that norml....lol

James wellbeloved dry food is always highly recommended and price is mid range, poo eating is sometimes he's not getting enough vitamins in his diet so that might stop with a change of food as well

im using pero staffy food which im finding rather good

I always liked James Wellbeloved before i switched to raw, the lamb n veg one is good but expensive. Even feeding the chicken and rice or turkey and rice kibble will probably keep him feeling much fuller for longer and will ensure he gets all the vitamins and minerals he needs (should help with the do-do eating!). But as other people have said it takes a while to find a dried food which agrees with your boy

Hi there, Buying wet food in the long run is quite expensive as you do have to feed them more. When changing a dogs diet it has to be done VERY gradually, over a course of 5-8 weeks. When i rescued ours he had lots of trouble with his bowels and his coat was all flakey etc, they were feeding him Hills ID perscription food which i strongly recommend to everyone not to use, just google it and look at the ingredients, its a science diet full of rubbish. It took me 6 weeks and he is now on James wellbeloved twice a day with 2 spoons of Wet Naturediet and hes a different dog in tip top shape. If it helps if you have a PETS AT HOME near you James wellbeloved is always on offer at just £35.00 down from £45 for a 15kg which will last you just over a month, maybe two! You can order it on there website to. Youll get there with the obbsession of food, just be extra vigilant and keep in mind that dogs needs rules, boundries and limitations in all aspects and not just around food, when you have a healthy routine in there everyday life and keep focused on correcting him im sure he'll grow out of it, its probably just a phase...just be consistent good luck. x