Dog, losing weigh - safe way?

MrsAtobe

Do you weigh her food? I found it to be really helpful when we got our spaniel, and she was overweight by 4kg. We started off feeding her 230g of kibble per day, then when she got down to 23kg, reduced it to 220g, and so on. We were feeding 190g when we lost her, and the last time she was weighed, she was 20.4kg. She still had a little bit to lose though, but not much, maybe only half a kilo.

She was overweight from having reduced exercise before we had her, too. HTH, and good luck!

gettingready

Yes, I weigh her food, 350 gram per day - feeding her as if she was 35kg.

But the problem was when she was in the crate for so long and no exercise then of course the cat food - washing up the dishes.

I wish the food labels said "so much per 1kg of a dog" rather than those weight brackets.

My maths is pretty good but labels on Autkary are pretty confusing when you compare them - different weight brackets/allowances does not make sense.

krlyr

I would somewhat ignore the label - the amounts are guidelines and not necessarily going to suit every dog, e.g. an inactive dog on crate rest will not need the same as a dog walking miles a day.
These articles suggest cutting down as much as 50-60%
http://dogtime.com/feeding-overweight-dogs.html
http://www.wikihow.com/Help-Your-Dog-Lose-Weight

I would probably not cut by that much, but by a generous amount - I would say around 80%, so 280g a day. You could bulk the food out a bit by soaking it - so water increases the forum and makes her feel more full, by trying different veg (have you ever tried blending veg? Kiki looks at most veggies like they're poison, but for some reason absolutely loves any blended veggies - whizzed in the blender into a slop, she'll stare at me like I'm cooking a juicy steak in front of her!)

gettingready

Food arrived, put in the dish yesterday (worked it out at 370g per day) and she had it all by now.

I do not feed her on time as I am at work most of the day so food is there in her dish for her to nibble on. I just put fresh portion in the evening every day.

Light is different shape, triangle kibble, strange but she had it all so .. that is good.

gettingready

What veggies would be good?

The way she eats, could not mix with water as it would stink by the time I got home I am afraid.

Hmmm

MrsAtobe

Frozen carrot? I know some dogs love them given as a treat. Cheap enough to try, anyway.

rising_from_the_ashes

gettingready wrote: »

I do not feed her on time as I am at work most of the day so food is there in her dish for her to nibble on.

This is an absolutely alien concept to me!:o

All our dogs (without exception) have absolutely wolfed down their food as soon as it's put down...... maybe it's a breed thing?

Surely they (not picking on Zara honestly!) can't be hungry if they're just picking at it?

I'd try some other fresh veg and see if there's anything you can tempt her with - Maisie's also on a diet.... I'm feeding her according to the weight I want her to be and she's only getting 1/2 the RDA of dry and 1/4 RDA of wet and I'm still struggling to get it off her!:(

I've actually just reduced the dry and increased the wet this week as I'm sure there's more calories in the dry ....... she's also getting a carrot with each meal.

Other veg to try are cabbage (she loves this!) - which can be cooked and frozen in portions to make it a bit easier to manage / broccolli etc - they will eat the stalks too!

Best of luck .... it's really hard once they get a bit older / less mobile

krlyr

Not a breed-wide thing here, I'd be lucky if food in a bowl hung around for more than 5 minutes in this household!

MatyMoo

My dog loves carrots, broccoli/cauliflower stalks, courgettes, swede, turnip, peppers to name a few.

He won't leave me alone when I am preparing our dinner in case he misses out!

The only fruit he will eat is strawberries but I know a lot of dogs liker banana

gettingready

Either the scale was wrong or Zara lost 1.3 kg since last week, hmmmm

Was 41.3 last Saturday and 40.0 today, same scale at the Hydrotherapy place.

Hmmm