I have a question about Pom's eating habits; Our little guy Frank is a little over a year old. He doesn't walk anywhere; always runs. Very active little dog, loves playing fetch and I indulge him for hours everyday. Right from the start, we were concerned about his eating; not too much, barely enough we thought to survive. He's far too interested in playing to eat, and as often as not we're throwing out food. That said, in spite of all the exercise he gets, and the small amount he eats, he's getting chubby. We aren't feeding him treats or table food, but he is closing on 10 pounds and I'm getting concerned. The Vet said he's in perfect health, no concerns at all, but he's gained more weight than is reasonable in my mind. What do you feed your Pom, and how much per day? Frank seldom eats the 1/3 cup of mixed wet/kibble he gets per day (high quality food in both cases) Thanks!
If you're concerned he's gaining weight and reducing food doesn't help, I'd be getting him a blood panel done. Thyroid issues (among others) can affect weight.
A third of a cup does seem very low. Have you talked this over with your vet? Have you or your vet assessed his weight by feel?, ie can you feel his ribs easily or not at all. Weight guides are very deceptive and should only be taken as a rough guide. However, that said, the very small amount of food would worry me too and I'd need to talk to the vet about it. As BlueJay says, thyroid issues are what immediately spring to mind, but, of course, only a vet can offer you the proper advice you need
I will have that checked. Out of curiosity, what do you Poms eat in terms of volume per day? Frank is our first Pom, however we had a chihuahua for 18 years, and at approximately the same size, ate easily double what Frank eats. Although he did get a bit overweight the last couple of years of his life, that was not unexpected with reduced levels of activity
Cup measurements - which I am aware is the standard over there - always confuse me. Surely different things are going to have different, weights, even if they take up the same space! A mug full of popcorn is going to weigh far less than a mug full of chicken, for example. Poms are not large dogs, and thus as standard do not require huge amounts of food. My 10 - 11kg terrier happily maintains on less than 100g of dry food per day.
I looked up for Pomeranians (I don't own the breed) and the guide is 1 and a half cups of good quality kibble. It may be worth looking around other sites to see if that recommendation is standard My Border Terrier has 60 grams of dry food (Wafcol) and 1/3 of a can of Butchers (wet) food. This is split over 4 meals as her digestion doesn't cope well with 2 meals per day.
We had the same issue with our pom, she seemed to be barely eating and we tried different brands with no improvement. We've recently started feeding her grain free dog food and she seems to enjoy the meatier content - eating a bit more now.
