Medium Dog Breed Feeding Guides

The Size Where Owners Most Often Guess

Medium breeds sit in the range where a scoop from the bag feels about right, and where the feeding guide's own bands are widest. A guide printed as "2 to 3 cups for 25 to 50 lb" covers a doubling of body weight and a difference of some 350 calories a day between the ends of it. A dog fed at the top of the band when it belongs at the bottom gains weight steadily without anyone changing anything, which is the commonest route to the overweight middle-aged dog seen in every practice.

Narrowing it down takes one calculation and one habit. Work the ration from the dog's own weight and activity rather than from the band, then check body condition every two weeks with both hands over the ribs. Ribs easy to feel under thin cover, a waist visible from above, and a tuck from the side mean the number is right; anything else means it needs adjusting by ten per cent and reviewing a month later.

Activity Varies More Here Than in Any Other Group

This group holds both the working collie and the companion bulldog, and their energy needs differ by a factor that no breed-average figure can bridge. A herding or gundog breed actually doing its job may need a third to a half more than a maintenance figure; the same breed as a family pet walked twice a day needs the maintenance figure, and a dog recovering from an injury needs less. Activity level is therefore the input to change when a ration is wrong, before the brand is.

Seasonal swings matter at this size too. A dog that runs for two hours a day in summer and walks for forty minutes through a wet winter has a real difference in requirement, and the ration that kept it lean in July puts weight on by February. Reviewing the amount at each change of season, and at any change of routine, a new job, a house move, an injury, prevents the slow drift that is hardest to reverse.

Practical Feeding for a Medium Dog

Two meals a day, at times that hold from one day to the next, suit almost every dog in this group. Weigh the food rather than measuring it, because kibble density varies by up to a third between brands and the same cup can hold 85 or 130 grams. Keep treats under ten per cent of the calories and subtract them from the ration rather than adding them on top; for training-heavy weeks, take the rewards out of the measured food so the total is unchanged.

Any change of diet is made over seven to ten days with increasing proportions of the new food, which gives the gut flora time to adapt and avoids the loose stools that make owners blame the food. Fresh water in more than one place, bowls washed daily, and the bag kept sealed and cool complete the practical side. Where a dog is losing or gaining weight on a correct ration, the next step is a vet rather than a further adjustment.

Frequently Asked Questions