# My dog is always really hungry on evo.



## notilloc (Jan 14, 2010)

So I know everyone told me to try california natural but the pet store had a really good sale on evo. So i decided to try evo first before switching to california natural. I am slowly switching him over to the evo from the gentle stomach hills and so far so good. The only problem is that it recommends two cups per day and buster gets fed at 8am and 6pm and by 4pm he is kicking his food bowl around and wining that he is really hungry. Will this go away or should I give him more?


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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

EVO is a very high quality food, so I wouldn't worry about feeding more. As long as he is in an ideal body condition, you should just ignore his plea for more. Mt dog is the same way. After a pound of meat, she still looks at me as if to say, "That's it?":biggrin:

It just the nature of the beast. As long as your dog is in ideal shape, don't increase the amount you are feeding. Dogs are opportunists, you just need to ignore this behavior. I'd recommend trying EVO's reduced fat kibble and give her more, however the caloric difference between regular EVO and reduced fat EVO in not enough of a gap to consider. 

Also, as I have mentioned before, you may want to try and add some cooked cabbage to your dog's kibble. Although it doesn't have much if any nutritional content for a dog, it still fills your dog up without extra calories or harm! I regularly listen to a pet wellness radio program, and the holistic vet almost always recommends cabbage as a means of filling up a dog without putting on extra weight. Once again, this had little to no nutritional content for a dog, but does not harm whatsoever.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

Todd, seriously? Not the cabbage thing again...  You might as well recommend she put saw dust in her kibble. Would yield the same result

The first question I have is do you feed on a feeding schedule?

How does your dog look? (underweight, overweight, or just right?)

If he's in good shape weight wise I would try feeding at random times if you're feeding on a schedule. 

You could also try giving a RMB as a "treat" to keep him busy during these times of "hunger". Beef ribs work really well for this.


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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

jdatwood said:


> Todd, seriously? Not the cabbage thing again...  You might as well recommend she put saw dust in her kibble. Would yield the same result
> 
> The first question I have is do you feed on a feeding schedule?
> 
> ...


yea, I guess I'd better give up the caggage thing:biggrin:

The only reason I recommend it is because of the way it can be filling/satisfying without the calories. It has nothing to do with nutritional benefit. This is just my opinion.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

Well, if your dog is the perfect weight and is still hungry, don't give into it. If you do, he will just keep doing that to you...

Sometimes, Aspen acts like he's really hungry, but I never give in...


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## notilloc (Jan 14, 2010)

He is underweight right now because he has been on hills for the past month and i was giving him 5 cups a day and he was still losing weight like crazy. So I guess I should feed him more but i am just being very carefull because he has a very sensative tummy.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

Todd said:


> Also, as I have mentioned before, you may want to try and add some cooked cabbage to your dog's kibble. Although it doesn't have much if any nutritional content for a dog, it still fills your dog up without extra calories or harm! I regularly listen to a pet wellness radio program, and the holistic vet almost always recommends cabbage as a means of filling up a dog without putting on extra weight. Once again, this had little to no nutritional content for a dog, but does not harm whatsoever.


This whole cabbage thing you keep recommending is a terrible, terrible idea. Aside from being entirely useless to a dog, the fact that it is species inappropriate and virtually impossible to digest is just going to put more stress on the digestive system... not to mention the serious gas that it can give them. There is not one single species inappropriate ingredient that can cause "no harm whatsoever"... it is the species inappropriate ingredients that causetrouble. PLEASE, no one take this cabbage advice that keeps being thrown out there. oi. 


As for the hungry dog on EVO... give it a little more time. It will take time to adjust to the smaller meal sizes at first, but the dog will adjust. Think of it like when people go on a diet and cut their portions.. the first week they feel starving on smaller portions, but their stomach adjusts. The EVO is much more nutrient dense than the SD, so as you know, you feed much less. 

I don't recommend over feeding as evo is already very rich, and if you feed too much, it will more thanlikely cause diarrhea.


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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

notilloc said:


> He is underweight right now because he has been on hills for the past month and i was giving him 5 cups a day and he was still losing weight like crazy. So I guess I should feed him more but i am just being very carefull because he has a very sensative tummy.


Yes, you could try that, but just remember that EVO has a lot more calories in it than Hills. It takes a lot less to satisfy nutritional needs using a high quality kibble like EVO. Just gradually increase the serving size. For example, maybe increase the serving size by 1/2 cup and wait for a few weeks to see if she puts on any weight. If not, try adding 1 cup more. Wait a few weeks, and see what she looks like. Eventually she should be in an ideal body condition, and just stick with that amount until her metabolism starts slowing down with age, and then do the same but decrease instead of increase.


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## Unosmom (May 3, 2009)

Maybe your dog has very high metabolism, I would increase the ammount a bit (1/2 cup for now) and see if he puts on any weight, if so, go back to original ammount, if not stay with new ammount.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

Is your dog still losing weight, maintaining or gaining? And how long has it been?


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## geisthexe (Jan 19, 2010)

If you really want to add something into the dogs food to match what you were feeding before. I suggest Green beans . But even with adding them you want to slowly work the dog off of them and back onto your kibble of choice 

GREEN BEAN NUTRITION FACTS
Fat 2.2% 
Carbs 81.0% 
Protein 21.0% 

VITAMINS PER SERVING
Vitamin A 
Vitamin C 
Calcium 
Iron 
Vitamin K 
Thiamin (B1)
Riboflavin (B2) 
Niacin (B3) 
Folic Acid (Folate) 
Magnesium 
Manganese 
Potassium 

They are a good meating fiber that expands in the stomach making the animal feel fuller.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

geisthexe said:


> They are a good meating fiber that expands in the stomach making the animal feel fuller.


Again, not something I can agree with. You're telling her to add something species inappropriate to the diet which offers no value.

Green Beans may have that nutrition available to us but it's not available to dogs. They can't break down plant matter to extract the nutrition contained within.

I don't understand this whole idea of feeding "filler" so the dog feels full. It's just putting a band-aid on the issue instead of addressing it.

First thing she should do is get off of a set feeding schedule so SHE controls the food and not her dog.

Then she should consider feeding a little more food OR supplementing with something like a RMB that will provide nutrition AND something to keep the dog busy.

There's never a good reason to start feeding your dogs cabbage, green beans, rice, corn, saw dust, dirt, leaves, just to fill them up


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

Hey now, Aspen eats leaves and grass... :wink:


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

malluver1005 said:


> Hey now, Aspen eats leaves and grass... :wink:


:tongue: Ours eat grass sometimes too... and it always comes out the other end as.... GRASS  (and people want to argue they CAN break down plant matter) :wink:


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## geisthexe (Jan 19, 2010)

jdatwood said:


> Again, not something I can agree with. You're telling her to add something species inappropriate to the diet which offers no value.
> 
> Green Beans may have that nutrition available to us but it's not available to dogs. They can't break down plant matter to extract the nutrition contained within.
> 
> ...


I agree with you on that fact she should not have the dog on a feeding schedule but you must remember not all can just change up things in there lives. Many folks have there dogs on schedules because they live there lives by schedules. 
I also agree with you about RMB but not all can do it or want too. 
So I just gave another option. 

But you do make a valid point. 

Thanks


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## Todd (Jan 13, 2010)

jdatwood said:


> Again, not something I can agree with. You're telling her to add something species inappropriate to the diet which offers no value.
> 
> Green Beans may have that nutrition available to us but it's not available to dogs. They can't break down plant matter to extract the nutrition contained within.
> 
> ...


Agreed. Personally, I used to recommend adding cooked caggage to the diet, no for the nutritional value, but for the filling without any calories factor. I now realize that adding cabbage, or in this case green beans, is nothing more than a "filler" like many of us complain about in many commercial pet foods.


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## jdatwood (Apr 13, 2009)

geisthexe said:


> I agree with you on that fact she should not have the dog on a feeding schedule but you must remember not all can just change up things in there lives. Many folks have there dogs on schedules because they live there lives by schedules.


I totally understand WHY someone might feed on a schedule but there's always a way to mix it up :wink:



geisthexe said:


> I also agree with you about RMB but not all can do it or want too.
> So I just gave another option.


Personally I'd never even think about giving a bad option before exhausting my options with providing good options



geisthexe said:


> But you do make a valid point.


Thanks :wink: I think I do LOL


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## notilloc (Jan 14, 2010)

Ok just for the record I am a he, I noticed you calling me she this whole time, no big deal just setting it straight. Next my dog is on a schedule I think I said earlier that he gets fed at 8 am and 6 pm it used to work great but now that he is getting less food he is getting hungry inbetween meals. I probably shouldnt be worried because he has only been on the food for a week now and is getting a cup and a half of the hills and a half cup of evo and slowly working our way up so his stomach doesnt go crazy again. Thanks for everyones help.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

notilloc said:


> Ok just for the record I am a he, I noticed you calling me she this whole time, no big deal just setting it straight. Next my dog is on a schedule I think I said earlier that he gets fed at 8 am and 6 pm it used to work great but now that he is getting less food he is getting hungry inbetween meals. I probably shouldnt be worried because he has only been on the food for a week now and is getting a cup and a half of the hills and a half cup of evo and slowly working our way up so his stomach doesnt go crazy again. Thanks for everyones help.


I think arbitrarily people on here assume that members are female, because the majority of the members are LOL. Sorry for the confusion :wink:

If you know that your dog is getting enough to maintain a good weight, don't worry about your dog "acting" hungry. If your dog starts to lose weight that is when I would start to add more to their diet. 

Our dogs act like they are hungry all the time but we rarely give them anything other than when we are at mealtime (which is at random with us). If we did, they would be fat LOL


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## GermanSheperdlover (Nov 15, 2009)

malluver1005 said:


> Hey now, Aspen eats leaves and grass... :wink:



That is the cutest reindeer I have ever see. LOL:tongue:

I am jealous, because mine only grazes on Marigolds and dandelions.


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

danemama08 said:


> Our dogs act like they are hungry all the time but we rarely give them anything other than when we are at mealtime (which is at random with us). If we did, they would be fat LOL


I think Grissom's motto is "stare at my poor, starving face, and not my chubby body"
He's not chubby, he's at very good weight, I know he's very well fed, but any time there's food around, he brings out the big sad puppy eyes. I'm pretty sure I could feed him a double meal, and he could get out, find someone on the streets, and convince them (with his eyes, of course) that he is starving.


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## wags (Jan 31, 2009)

My dogs eat in the morning and in the evening! I always get up and the first thing I do is feed them! But funny my chocolate lab around the time for the evening meal if I am doing something else she will seek me out and she really does! She finds me where I am at and will stare me down she has even so much as barked at me and I am like what the heck!? and I look at the clock or my watch whatever and well low and behold its feeding time! Some dogs just know when its meal time! So They get no more but I do have one dog here who is quiet the reminder of time for me haha!


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## k8ter (Jan 21, 2010)

*Try native dog food*

I feed Native dog food to my two dogs and because the protein level is higher it takes less to fill them up. Check it out at Native Performance Dog Food. Different levels based on your dogs activity level.


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## J&T (Oct 13, 2009)

Guess that there is not a perfect kibble fit for each dog.

We fed Evo to three of 4 dogs. One(Wolfie) is now raw feeding, one(Pax) is still on Evo and the boxer is now on Before Grain(Merrick). We kepy moving up the ladder on the grain frees from TOTW-Canidae-Evo for a variety of reasons.

Evo was/is great for Wolfie and Pax, we were feeding both meat source versions. But they gained some unwanted weight despite lowering the quanity. They were being food pesky on the lower amounts to try to keep the weight off. Went to EVO weight control- got rid of the weight- with no change in appearance of coat, eyes etc. Weight Control version took care of "I'm hungry" problem as they got just a small amount extra.

The boxer had excessive thirst/pee on Evo Red Meat and Chicken version. So we tried Before Grain and that is her food for now(till raw starts). Canidae we couldn't keep weight on her despite moving up the amounts.

The pup never made it to try Evo, as he went to raw. But I would have no problem with trying that for him. 

So even though Evo claims to provide the highest meat/diary proteins and lowest carbs of grain-free it may not be the best one for your dogs. But I would agree that if kibble fed, from our experience, grain free is the best and at least for part of them EVO would be our preference.


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## 1605 (May 27, 2009)

k8ter said:


> I feed Native dog food to my two dogs and because the protein level is higher it takes less to fill them up. Check it out at Native Performance Dog Food. Different levels based on your dogs activity level.


Protein level is higher than which EVO? Certainly not the Turkey & Chicken, which is approximately 43% protein. By comparison, the highest Native feed is 35% protein. This is one of the main reasons we feed it to our dog, along with the fact that it is grain free.

Meanwhile, Zio, who is an extremely energetic 60# GSP, gets 2 1/2 cups of EVO Large Bites Turkey & Chicken because when we fed him the "recommended" amount he looked so emanciated you would have thought he was a stray. 

However, he is very good at self-regulating: if he's not hungry, he simply won't eat, even if there is food left in his bowl. So he only gets fed once a day.


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