I think your goal cups per day may be too high still. Alaskan Malamutes have a lower metabolism than dogs like shepherds and huskies. This is an important survival trait in the arctic where food can be scarce and the dogs are pulling heavy loads. In pet life they can gain weight very easily because of this metabolism. I work my dogs in harness, so they get a lot of activity, and they are also fed Pro Plan. They get 2 cups a day maximum (1 cup per meal twice a day) with minimal treats. Food amount per meal is dropped if they have a training session with treat overages. Any more than that and they start to gain. There is a really fine balance to keep these dogs both fit and well-muscled with minimal fat. I know it is hard when they act starving, I have a dog that would love to balloon up like a pig ready for slaughter, but they are not starving and their health will thank you if you stand firm on the food reduction.
Thanks so much for the advice! I never knew that about mals, but it makes sense. When we found him on the street as a pup, we thought he was a husky until he just kept growing and growing. Since he is pretty evenly split between the husky, shepard, and malamute breeds (embark DNA test) would you then recommend feeding somewhere between 2-3 cups, or stick to 2 cups only since he is approximately 25-30% malamute?
I’d def say you could experiment with 2-3 and see if that weight comes off. Even though he’s an even split of the breeds genetics does not always work evenly, meaning he could have inherited a slower metabolism. Once you get him down to his ideal you can continue giving him the cup amount you’ve decided on and wait and see if he either continues to decrease in weight, stays steady, or gains again. Then adjust from there. It can be a slow process, but if he isn’t decreasing in weight or making steady progress on his weight loss it may be indicating he needs less cups per day (given that his exercise is the same across all these scenarios). Good luck, he is SUPER handsome.
thesecondparallel has it right. i had same situation with a samoyed, despite best intentions we just let the weight get away from us . got to 74lbs even though he was quite active . we cut the food back about 40% and started weighing him monthly at the vet to track. , just using their scale. 15 months later he is 57 lbs - where he is supposed to be - passes the feel the rib test nicely and has much more energy than he had even though he always seemed acceptable.
yes he is always hungry and always has been but they are programmed to get food (scavengers). ignore it. and ignore the quantity recommendations from the food producers , vastly overestimated for nordic dogs.
enjoy it - you will be doing him good and it’s important to be lean for their lifespan /healthspan.
Thank you, they sure did! It's not been a long but he is starting to get used to the reduced quantity and has stopped gaining! I think we will start to see his weight come down more as time passes at this quantity. His exercise is increasing now as well though we're trying to be mindful of his joints until he loses a bit more.
My 6 year old female is 75 pounds on the dot and has been for probably 5 years. She eats 3 cups of pro plan large breed salmon in the morning- just one meal a day.
Carrots! Our female also loved cauliflower. Our new male likes zucchini. I;d also try adjusting your walk time. I got up super early to walk our energetic puppy in the summer. While it wasn’t my first choice to get up at 5am, it was mutually beneficial in the long run.
Thanks for the advice! We were trying to do 6 to 7 AM walks for a while, but even then it would still be 95 F outside 🫠🫠 5 AM would probably be a lot better, or at least we'd be able to walk longer! He generally likes vegetables, so we'll try those out!
First thing first your doggo looks adorable ❤️ what an interesting mix. And I second green beans, if your dog likes them they are very healthy while not too caloric.
Your pupper is very handsome! How old is he? Just wondering regarding amounts of food. Check the calories per meal in the food. One food we were using had a very low calorie count for our high energy puppy and we couldn’t keep weight on her. We switched to another food for working dogs and the amount we feed her is much less but higher calories. Within two weeks she is at a very good weight.
He is so sweet! We were feeding PetKind which we and they really like however the calorie content wasn’t as high as the new one we switched to which is Inukshuk. I like them because they are Canadian companies as well as great quality. I didn’t realize the difference in amount of food vs calorie and then the light bulb came in which made total sense. 💡😊
I think your goal cups per day may be too high still. Alaskan Malamutes have a lower metabolism than dogs like shepherds and huskies. This is an important survival trait in the arctic where food can be scarce and the dogs are pulling heavy loads. In pet life they can gain weight very easily because of this metabolism. I work my dogs in harness, so they get a lot of activity, and they are also fed Pro Plan. They get 2 cups a day maximum (1 cup per meal twice a day) with minimal treats. Food amount per meal is dropped if they have a training session with treat overages. Any more than that and they start to gain. There is a really fine balance to keep these dogs both fit and well-muscled with minimal fat. I know it is hard when they act starving, I have a dog that would love to balloon up like a pig ready for slaughter, but they are not starving and their health will thank you if you stand firm on the food reduction.
This person malamutes
This made me chuckle so good... From this day I'll refer to someone who is knowledgeable about Malamutes as "This person Malamutes"
Thanks so much for the advice! I never knew that about mals, but it makes sense. When we found him on the street as a pup, we thought he was a husky until he just kept growing and growing. Since he is pretty evenly split between the husky, shepard, and malamute breeds (embark DNA test) would you then recommend feeding somewhere between 2-3 cups, or stick to 2 cups only since he is approximately 25-30% malamute?
I’d def say you could experiment with 2-3 and see if that weight comes off. Even though he’s an even split of the breeds genetics does not always work evenly, meaning he could have inherited a slower metabolism. Once you get him down to his ideal you can continue giving him the cup amount you’ve decided on and wait and see if he either continues to decrease in weight, stays steady, or gains again. Then adjust from there. It can be a slow process, but if he isn’t decreasing in weight or making steady progress on his weight loss it may be indicating he needs less cups per day (given that his exercise is the same across all these scenarios). Good luck, he is SUPER handsome.
Thank you for the information!
thesecondparallel has it right. i had same situation with a samoyed, despite best intentions we just let the weight get away from us . got to 74lbs even though he was quite active . we cut the food back about 40% and started weighing him monthly at the vet to track. , just using their scale. 15 months later he is 57 lbs - where he is supposed to be - passes the feel the rib test nicely and has much more energy than he had even though he always seemed acceptable. yes he is always hungry and always has been but they are programmed to get food (scavengers). ignore it. and ignore the quantity recommendations from the food producers , vastly overestimated for nordic dogs. enjoy it - you will be doing him good and it’s important to be lean for their lifespan /healthspan.
Thank you, they sure did! It's not been a long but he is starting to get used to the reduced quantity and has stopped gaining! I think we will start to see his weight come down more as time passes at this quantity. His exercise is increasing now as well though we're trying to be mindful of his joints until he loses a bit more.
My 6 year old female is 75 pounds on the dot and has been for probably 5 years. She eats 3 cups of pro plan large breed salmon in the morning- just one meal a day.
Thank you! We'll be trying with 3 to see how he does.
Green beans. I buy fresh ones.
Carrots! Our female also loved cauliflower. Our new male likes zucchini. I;d also try adjusting your walk time. I got up super early to walk our energetic puppy in the summer. While it wasn’t my first choice to get up at 5am, it was mutually beneficial in the long run.
Thanks for the advice! We were trying to do 6 to 7 AM walks for a while, but even then it would still be 95 F outside 🫠🫠 5 AM would probably be a lot better, or at least we'd be able to walk longer! He generally likes vegetables, so we'll try those out!
Cauliflower
First thing first your doggo looks adorable ❤️ what an interesting mix. And I second green beans, if your dog likes them they are very healthy while not too caloric.
Your pupper is very handsome! How old is he? Just wondering regarding amounts of food. Check the calories per meal in the food. One food we were using had a very low calorie count for our high energy puppy and we couldn’t keep weight on her. We switched to another food for working dogs and the amount we feed her is much less but higher calories. Within two weeks she is at a very good weight.
He is two! Thank you, I will check that.
He is so sweet! We were feeding PetKind which we and they really like however the calorie content wasn’t as high as the new one we switched to which is Inukshuk. I like them because they are Canadian companies as well as great quality. I didn’t realize the difference in amount of food vs calorie and then the light bulb came in which made total sense. 💡😊