Overweight dog- feeding advice

NoAngel

We have a 7 year old Norfolk Terrier that is very overweight due to his previous owners. Have been feeding him Bakers Complete light, weighing it out for him. Doesn't seem to be shifting too much weight though! We don't have a garden so he gets about 3 walks a day, one of which is for about an hour. Some days we go out and take him, so I think he gets enough exercise. Any advice for how to get his weight down?

Also, I've noticed he's been drinking a lot lately, and this combined with his weight makes me a bit concerned about diabetes. I have insurance, the life cover which says it'll cover for a long term illness. Anybody had experience of treatment for diabetes with their insurance provider?

Thanks

UKTigerlily

NoAngel wrote: »

We have a 7 year old Norfolk Terrier that is very overweight due to his previous owners. Have been feeding him Bakers Complete light, weighing it out for him. Doesn't seem to be shifting too much weight though! We don't have a garden so he gets about 3 walks a day, one of which is for about an hour. Some days we go out and take him, so I think he gets enough exercise. Any advice for how to get his weight down?

Also, I've noticed he's been drinking a lot lately, and this combined with his weight makes me a bit concerned about diabetes. I have insurance, the life cover which says it'll cover for a long term illness. Anybody had experience of treatment for diabetes with their insurance provider?

Thanks

Well done you for wanting to help him get back to a good weight! Lots of Vets have either weight clinics or the Nurses will allow you to go in & get him weighed for free. You do need to get him off of Bakers & onto a good food, Bakers is regarded by almost everyone who knows anything about Dog food as one of the worst things they can have, it's full of c!!! & like McDonalds for Dogs.

([EMAIL="I@m"]I'm[/EMAIL] not saying you chose to feed it him it's probably what he was already on!) If you do change his food, do it slowly by gradually introducing the new food, say 10% new & 90% old for a few days, over maybe a week to 10 days to avoid tummy upsets. Good brands are Burn's, James Wellbeloved, Orijen & Arden Grange, though Wagg & CSJ also are, they're just not known as premium brands iyswim.

You can buy a 17kg bag of Wagg for about £10 & it's MUCH better for them, Bakers is all colourful as it's full of e-numbers, additives etc, it can make them hyperactive, have skin conditions & all sorts, I could find you loads of info on it!

Anyway now onto some help! First you need to find out his actual weight, you can weigh yourself & then get back on the scales while holding him & deduct your own weight (In kg), or you can nip him to the Vet, which is probably a good idea if he's drinking lots, just for a health check, it may well be because of the food that he's drinking loads but always better to be safe than sorry! Personally i'd book a consultation & get his correct weight & his 'ideal' weight range.

The vet will give you a target which may be more than his ideal weight for now, that's ok it's a goal! (Be warned they might try to push Hill's food on you, you just need him off Baker's not on Hill's unless you want to, it is good food but you can do good food cheaper!)

Then you look at the feeding guide on the food for his ideal weight & use that as a guideline, if he gains you feed less, or if he stays the same, if he loses great! I'd definitely go to the vet first to be sure on the diabetes concern though & to get going, after that the Nurses can weigh him & advise how much to feed.

Light foods often aren't the best for weight loss, I can't remember why but I read something saying that, some are but many aren't, idk why now! Someone will. His walks sound fine, if you did want to increase exercise you could spend 10 minutes on training which can wear them out more, or play with him, but to me they sound fine.

I hope some of that helps & please do look at changing his diet, I bet you'll see a huge improvement! Well done for wanting to help him though he sounds a very lucky Dog! (We also do need pics to drool over )

Hintza

Could be Cushings Disease? How is the dog's coat?

sandiep

Disregard totally the instructions on the back of the packet about the quantity of food to feed the dog. I have a lab, and have NEVER fed him even as much as half as the recommended amount.

Also. re Scraps. I sounds as if he doesn't get any, but just as a tip, our lab started putting on a lot of weight and it was because the kids kept giving him scraps all day long.

So now, we lift his bowl up onto the worktop, and all scraps go in the bowl and he gets them at Teatime. Most days, he doesn't need any dog food at all, the scraps are quite plentiful

NoAngel

Thanks fo the advice! UKTigerlily, I had no idea that Bakers wasn't a good choice- I'm definately going to take a look at your suggestions now! I don't really know much aboutdog food, but will change his food asap.

He was at the vets for an eye operation 2 weeks ago, he weighted 9.5kg when we got him, 8.5kg now and we're just trying to shift 1.5kg more. Harder than you'd think though! She said we're welcome to pop in to weigh any time, though didn't really give loads of diet advice.

He's had a bad stomach recently so I'm quite keen to change his diet as I don't think it's doing him much good.

Hintza- his coat is shiny and looks in good condition- what would you recommend I need to look for? I think I should take a trip to the vet for some blood tests though, just to check.

sandiep

Does he get to run off the lead?

NoAngel

sandiep wrote: »

Does he get to run off the lead?

well he growls at and attacks other dogs, so we keep him on his lead when there are other people about and let him run off his lead when sure nobody else is about, usually for 20 mins or so a day. My OH is deaf in one ear and finds it hard to let him off when on his own as he finds it difficult to hear if there are other people nearby, wheras I can be more alert. He could probably do with not being on his lead s much, but wih no road or dog sense, he's safer on it!

sandiep

I think a dog off the lead covers 7 times the distance that you cover

janeys

Hi, our dog was over weight when we got him and he got diabetes 6 months after we had him. The vet recommended chappie for him. We used chappie and this along with no treats worked for him losing weight he gradually lost weight and soon got to his fighting weight. I was very surprised at how well he loved his new food as he was a bit of a picky eater when we got him. Our dog was not insured so can not offer any advice on this, someone will be along soon who may be able to help.

Get his sugars checked at the vets to rule out diabetes but I agree it could just be the dried food making him thirsty.

medders2604

Hopefully it isn't diabetes I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.
Just to let you know my dog insurers Pet Protect have been fantastic about covering the diabetes for my dog and Ive had no problems at all hopefully if he is diabetic your insurer will be just as good.
Another thing to consider as well as the dried food is the heating at home, my dog always drank lots more (before she was diabetic) during the colder weather when the heating was on and the air drier. I read somewhere that dogs are affected by dry air much more than we humans so maybe its a combination of that and the dried food.
Let us know how you get on!

dorsetlass

Hi, we've got 2 Norfolks and they must be the greediest breed around. They will eat absolutely anything. Mine are girls, and I try to keep them at about 5 kgs, and as already suggested above I weigh them about once a month at home, so that I can alter the quantity of food if necessary. I use about 40% of the recommended feeding amounts, as they do get extra treats during the day, which in such a small dog really can add up to their calorie intake. Aren't they fun though!