Royal Canin Obesity Diet

hethmar

I may have a go at that fc (well, the dogs that is ...........though...) Is it good stuff and does it make them feel satisfied. Diggs in particular would eat til he exploded. Ralph can sniff a piece of food a mile off - I really dont want Ralph putting any extra pressure on his legs so Im a bit concerned that he seems to be woofing down so much food and still looking for more.

foreign_correspondent

hethmar wrote: »

I may have a go at that fc (well, the dogs that is ...........though...) Is it good stuff and does it make them feel satisfied. Diggs in particular would eat til he exploded. Ralph can sniff a piece of food a mile off - I really dont want Ralph putting any extra pressure on his legs so Im a bit concerned that he seems to be woofing down so much food and still looking for more.

Well, Badger likes it, and does not seem to think she is being starved to death - and she is perpetually hungry!! The lamb and rice is quite large pieces of kibble though, which is no bad thing for Badger, as it slows her down a little (only a little though!)... I want to keep Badger slim, as the vet observed that because of her shape she is already 'a big dog on little legs'! It seems pretty ggod so far, Badger is looking nice and shiny on it, but she does get scraps, bones, sardines etc too!

If you email Ceri, the lady at CSJ and explain the needs of your two, she will send you some samples out to try... she is very helpful, and will suggest suitable foods for them. You can tell it is a small business, as she even replied to an email I sent on a Sunday! http://www.csjk9.com/contact.asp

(I have no links with the company, other than being impressed with their customer service and the dogs being impressed with their food!)

hethmar

Ive emailed her fc, see how they like the samples if I get any. I dont want to buy a sack and spend the next six months mixing it with their usual stuff Will let you know how it goes.

MrsTinks

A couple of things... the dental treats... usually VERY bad for your dogs weight... It may or may not be good for their teeth but they are usually very high in calories...
low fat treats - try chopped up carrots My mums GSD (sadly gone to the rainbow bridge) got very poorly in her last few years and was put on steroids that made her constantly hungry - and I mean ravenous!
Mum started feeding her a fair amount of chopped carrots instead of biscuits as treats as they taste sweet and have a good crunch - she loved them!

Instead of paying loads of money on diet food - reduce the amount of normal good quality kibble she gets now (JWB, Adren Grange and I forget the name of the last one - blonde moment) and for each part kibble, add 1 part boiled rice. This will help fill her up

And DEFINITELY get her more exercise. Kira will pork out in a very short time if her walks are reduced and I don't immediately reduce her feeds. As an ABSOLUTE minimum she gets 45 minutes a day of high energy exercise... and on that she can easily gain weight... ideally she needs 45mins at lunch, 30 in the morning and another 30 in the evening. If I drop the 2 30's to 10 mins because I'd short on time... watch her balloon!

Fire_Fox

I'd be wary of diluting a good dry food with plain boiled rice - rice contains nothing but carbs (calories) and water, there are no micronutrients to speak of. Excess carbs can be turn into fat, in fact in the human body white rice behaves exactly the same as sugar. Just had a quick search and it does look like there are similar results in dogs (study partly funded by RC but published in a respected journal!): http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/128/12/2654S

hethmar

Hmm, dental chews, they love those. Bit too much

Fozz

The CSJ food sounds really good, will email them and get a sample! The dental chews will have to go I think, will try her with carrot instead ( she loves cooked carrot, haven't tried raw!)
I would like her to lose about 1.5 kg ideally to get her down to 13kg which she was about 4 years ago! Thanks for all your replies, have been a great help.

vicx

I too own a Cavalier (King Charles Spaniel). She is 9 years old and very obese. She was spayed when she was around 2 year old and since then she has put on alot of weight. We have tried diets, slow feeding, regular excercise and nothing seemed to help her lose weight.

She has just been diagnosed with heart problems so she now has to avoid any excercise as she gets out of breath very easy (even when walking up the stairs).

I am not sure of her correct weight as the vets have not weighed her but she is around 2 - 3 times her ideal weight! She is not over fed but does love her food and eats very fast. I think her weight might have something to do with being spayed.

WolfSong2000

My family inherited an old, fat lab that no one else wanted for the aforementioned reasons. lol. Lovely dog, and very popular with everyone who met him, but my goodness he was fat!

Anyhow, in order to stop him feeling "starved" on a diet, we reduced the amount of kibble, but bulked it up with raw veggies - carrots were a favorite...sure there were others, but can't remember them off the top of my head. Worked a treat...he never became a skinny dog, bless him, but he did lose a bit of weight (couldn't exercise a lot due to severe arthritis)....may be worth looking into. I'll also second the idea od giving RAW bones, e.g. chicken wings

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vicx wrote: »

I too own a Cavalier (King Charles Spaniel). She is 9 years old and very obese. She was spayed when she was around 2 year old and since then she has put on alot of weight. We have tried diets, slow feeding, regular excercise and nothing seemed to help her lose weight.

She has just been diagnosed with heart problems so she now has to avoid any excercise as she gets out of breath very easy (even when walking up the stairs).

I am not sure of her correct weight as the vets have not weighed her but she is around 2 - 3 times her ideal weight! She is not over fed but does love her food and eats very fast. I think her weight might have something to do with being spayed.

Whilst speying does generally mean your dog needs fewer calories, the reason for her being overweight (if all medical causes have been ruled out) is that she is taking on more calories in her food than she is expending, which is going to be exacerbated by her being unable to exercise properly.

The bottom line is she is still eating more calories than she needs, so she is being overfed - I would cut her food quantity down by 1/3 and she should lose some of that excess weight. Being so drastically overweight will only add to the strain on her heart, sadly.

My b1tch is speyed, and has never been more than 0.5kg over what the vet feels is ideal, and my vet likes to see dogs very lean.