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Increased appetite in winter?


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Has anyone here noticed a noticeable increase in their dog(s) appetite during winter? My five recently seem to be truly hungry. I feed about two cups of decent quality kibble, an affordable, though not cheap, South African made brand I've fed for some time now once a day in the evenings. Tonight they almost mugged me when I approached with dinner and proceeded to eat it dry, usually some form of topping is required to get them to "eat and eat up". The weather at the moment here in RSA is quite cold, so I'm hoping that's what is giving them the munchies. I don't really want to up their ration, two of my bitches are a little chubby. Maybe try feeding twice a day? Guess I just want to determine whether it's normal.

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I always assume that my dog needs more food in winter - she is burning more calories to maintain body temperature than in temperate weather. I don't heat my home - and it gets pretty cold sometimes in the S. F. Bay area.

 

There may be something about the light change of the season that ramps up appetite too. I'm not much less hungry in summer, but I want different things. In winter I want meat and potatoes and gravy - salad has little appeal. In summer I want veggies and fruit. Don't know if that's genetically programed or what, but it's certainly true. For me, at least.

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Absolutely! I notice this the last couple of winters and this winter, when it was much colder than the previous couple of winters, they needed way more food to keep up their condition. Now that it's summer, I have cut back again - actually, for Dan who usually only eats what he needs (unlike Celt or Megan, who would tend to eat themselves silly), he let me know it was time to cut back.

 

Since I've been walking the dogs close to an hour daily (it depends on the day, sometimes a bit more, sometimes a bit less), the difference in their caloric needs in the cold is even more obvious. And I think it's more noticeable with lean and/or lighter-coated dogs than overweight dogs and/or heavily-coated dogs.

 

It's generally natural for animals (including people) to feel like eating more when day lengths shorten and when days get colder. Good survival mechanism!

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