Royal Canin Obesity Diet

cyberbob

vicx wrote: »

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.

Unless something is done about her weight it will greatly shorten her life. As FC its just basically that she is taking in more calories than she expends. You need to reduce calories and that includes treats. Why not do a diary for a few weeks and weigh all her food (and treats) and work out exactly what food she is getting. This could help in then working out what you need to feed her to reduce her weight

vicx

I buy the small tins of dog food for my two dogs (around 400g per tin) and mix it with the small mixer. One tin will serve 3 meals and she gets fed twice per day (morning and late afternoon). I think I am under feeding her rather than over feeding her but as she is not able to excercise she wont be able to burn caleries off so her food needs to be cut down. She is always hungry too and makes me feel like I am starving her - typical King Charles.

She gets a bonio biscuit after her meals. I can't give her chew sticks or small treats as she just swallows them without biting & chewing so it has to be a biscuit. She does love chicken, tuna and scrambled egg, well anything really! I really think her weight is down to her eating very fast (she gulps it down) and being spayed.

foreign_correspondent

She is eating more calories than she needs though...

so she is getting 266g of wet food per day... what brand?

Do you weigh her mixer? It often weighs more than you would think, and is dense in calories, as there is no water in it, bulking out the weight.

vicx

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

She is eating more calories than she needs though...

so she is getting 266g of wet food per day... what brand?

Do you weigh her mixer? It often weighs more than you would think, and is dense in calories, as there is no water in it, bulking out the weight.

I buy different brands each week, mainly pedigree and butchers in jelly or all meat loaf. I avoid the tins in gravy as they are more fattening. The mixer is pedigree small bite mixer and she only gets a small hand full mixed in with her food.

What would you suggest I feed her on? She is not a fussy eater so will have no problem changing her diet.

foreign_correspondent

It could be the small handfull of mixer that is the problem... it can weigh heavier than you think! I think one volume of dry food is equivalent to about three times the volume of wet food, as it has no water filling it out...

My dog is about 12.5kg (so weighs quite a bit more than your CKCS should - it looks like they should weigh between 5 and 8kg) and on a complete food - she has 100g twice a day - which really is only a handful, it looks miserly, and to be honest, if I was feeding her by how much I would guess she would need (by eye), I would probably be giving her double the amount...

What I did, to regulate my dogs diet, was to make a scoop that holds exactly 100g of her dry food, she gets one scoop full twice a day, which I reduce slightly if she is getting any leftovers or treats.

If I were you, I think I would start by buying a decent light/low fat food and working out how much she should be eating, then make a scoop which holds exactly this amount, and stick to it. If your dog seems really hungry you can soak the kibble in hot water before you give it to her, as this swells it up and makes it more filling. You could also mix in some cooked veggies too, if they do not upset her tum. I would look at giving her bits of carrot as treats instead of the bonios too - my dog loves carrot!

Mine is on the CSJ lamb and rice which I linked to earlier, and is looking good on it, or you could try the royal canin obesity diet, or any of the other lower calorie foods out there.

Good luck!

Fire_Fox

I am a fitness instructor working in the NHS, fat loss is what I do for a living albeit with humans! :j At two to three times her healthy bodyweight your dog either has an undiagnosed medical condition (e.g. underactive thyroid) or she has been chronically overfed and/ or under-exercised. What most people don't realise is that overeating by a very small amount every day will lead to substantial weight gain over a long period.

Neutering means there is a modest reduction in energy requirement; eating fast means the dog will still feel hungry even if he has eaten well, but neither explain this level of obesity. Have you tried slowing the dogs eating down? You can buy special bowls or feeding balls, or you can simply feed much smaller amounts more frequently throughout the day.

Personally I would cut back on the mixer or even cut it out completely, the dog will be getting all it's nutrients from a complete wet food, it doesn't need the mixer (mostly cereals which provide extra energy) as it isn't doing any exercise to speak of! The wet food should be more filling than the dry as it contains plenty of water so I would leave this as is.

vicx

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

You could also mix in some cooked veggies too, if they do not upset her tum. I would look at giving her bits of carrot as treats instead of the bonios too - my dog loves carrot!

Just tried her on raw grated carrot and she looked at me like I was daft :rotfl:
That is the first time she has turned her nose up to food! I'm not sure what else I could give her in place of her bonio's. I have seen the low fat soft chew sticks but she would just smallow them. My yorkie has the pedigree schmackos but as I said in my previous post I can't give the king charles soft or small treats as she just swallows rather than bite a bit off and chew.

foreign_correspondent

lol - I dont know if mine would like it grated, but she likes a piece to crunch on!

Treats are not necessary, but are very handy for training, and if you do want to give her treats, you could just give her a small piece of a treat such as a shmacko, rather than a full one? or half a bonio, rather than a full one.

For example, I give mine tripe sticks in very little pieces, I chop them up and stick them in a little pocket sized tin for training!

vicx

The bonio's I give her are the smallest one's, if I get the big one's I half them. She is trained so doesnt really need treats but she has been used to having a biscuit after her dinner, if I don't give her one she will sit at the cupboard and bark for one until I give in.

I will try her on a chopped carrot tomorrow. Maybe she is just feeling a little off tonight as she was sedated at the vets this morning for an xray on her heart so she has not been herself today, although she seems ok when she can smell food Just not carrot :shocked:

foreign_correspondent

Dont worry too much about the carrot - she may just not like it!!

I would however, either put her onto a complete light dry food, or as firefox suggests, just the complete tinned food - either way, leave the mixer out and see how she does!