Advice needed

I know pretty much about cats, which I can't say about dogs. There is not enough time for searching the web, so if anyone knows something about reducing dog's weight, please tell me. My bitch was spayed when she was still young, so her hormonal balance changed very early and she is pretty overweight now. I'd like to help her reduce weight, but I am afraid I am too vigilant. Knowing that reduction of cat's weight must be very gradual and slow, I obviously don't reduce her meals enough. Her weight is the same. Can I do it quickly?

She is four years old, mixed breed, weighs round 22kg (48lb), 18kg (40lb) would be fine. She has two meals daily, 5:00 AM 90g (round 3oz) of dry food, 5:00 PM 500g (18 oz) of canned food. I think if I gave her less she would starve. Is some supplement recommended?

Deda

I have always found it easier to reduce a dogs weight more by exercise than diet. Does she get a lot of exercise? Maybe adding another 20 or 30 minutes of brisk walking or playing ball or something would get the weight off for you.

Cindy

Cindy, you couldn't believe when you saw our walks. We walk for miles and she pulls like loco all the time. It's her heritage, she's mixed hound and something else, I don't know what. I think the problem is her very slow metabolism which is repercussion of spaying. Before she was spayed she ate twice as much as she does now, and we didn't go for walks. I thought it was enough for her to play in our yard whole day. She was not obese before spaying and now walks don't help. Maybe we should walk much longer, but I can hardly stand longer walks. Besides, I have not enough time, I have to work so much for my several cats (too superstitious to tell the number), not to mention ill one (liver from time to time and heart, i.e. dilated cardiomyopathy all the time). I think in my situation reduction of her meals is the answer, but how much?

Thank you for your opinion.

I would have her thyroid function tested first before I would reduce her intake or type of food.
Do you give her lots of treats between meals, maybe you could just cut out the in between meal snacks and achieve the weight loss you're looking for.

Cindy

Deda Brada

I agree with the exercise as well, but you could try to cut back by 1/2 cup at a time and see if your girl is hungry. Maybe add some veggies to her diet like carrots as a treat. Maybe have a look at her type of food and see if you can get something that is a a diet type dog food. Hope this helps.

Cindy

I would have her thyroid function tested first before I would reduce her intake or type of food.
Do you give her lots of treats between meals, maybe you could just cut out the in between meal snacks and achieve the weight loss you're looking for.

Cindy

Actually I did it last August (or maybe September), her T3 and T4 were closer to upper limits, rather than lower. She had some skin problems (allergy), so I tested for hypothyroidism because they say it can provoke skin problems.

She doesn't get many treats, poor kid. After breakfast she gets only one biscuit (10g, little more than 1/3 oz) and few chocolate drops for dogs. That's all.

Deda, What about changing her food to a diet food. My dog is on one, (not b.c she's over weight has to do with her disease) But it worked for my mothers dog who was over weight. Its Science Diet WD, you can only get it from a Vet due to itt a r/x diet. But i'm sure they make weight control in other brands you can get at a local pet store.

Deda Brada

I agree with the exercise as well, but you could try to cut back by 1/2 cup at a time and see if your girl is hungry. Maybe add some veggies to her diet like carrots as a treat. Maybe have a look at her type of food and see if you can get something that is a a diet type dog food. Hope this helps.

Cindy

She was on homemade diet until recently, which consisted mainly from carrots, which she likes very much, and meat. (She also likes potato, which is not much caloric, but since I have read somewhere that it is not good for dogs I stopped using it.) Then I noticed that she ate a lot of grass every morning, and that she belched. When I discontinued carrots, it was OK. Now she is on canned food.

Your advice is quite right, I believe that they use some injurious fertilizers here, and her belly is too sensitive. I'll try carrots again, maybe something has changed meanwhile.

Thanks a lot!

Deda, What about changing her food to a diet food. My dog is on one, (not b.c she's over weight has to do with her disease) But it worked for my mothers dog who was over weight. Its Science Diet WD, you can only get it from a Vet due to itt a r/x diet. But i'm sure they make weight control in other brands you can get at a local pet store.

It would be great, but here (little town in Serbia, south-eastern part of Europe, I use to say end of the world) we can buy dog food produced by some Italian and German manufacturers, and that's all. No diet food at all. Are your pets aware how lucky they are? If you want something special here, than you have to make it yourself (cats are in little better position, but only if dry food is in question). I've got no time to switch to homemade food again, which I regret so much.

Ohhh, so thats out of the question! Sorry to hear that. But if you ever want to make the food again, I have a lot of tips for that. We used to make Gianna's food, and I know a lot of stuff you could put in it. Let me know if you change your mind.

have you looked into a raw meat/bones/offal only diet?? we have had great success with our cats and dog. if you are interested, we have quite a few members ranging from supplementing with raw meat to those that feel a full meat/bone/offal only diet who would be quite enthusiastic in helping. :)

-ashley

Ohhh, so thats out of the question! Sorry to hear that. But if you ever want to make the food again, I have a lot of tips for that. We used to make Gianna's food, and I know a lot of stuff you could put in it. Let me know if you change your mind.

I will be really grateful for any recipe, or advice, you can give me. Maybe your recipes make me try preparing food myself again, though the lack of time is so big problem!

Thank you, and thank you again.

have you looked into a raw meat/bones/offal only diet?? we have had great success with our cats and dog. if you are interested, we have quite a few members ranging from supplementing with raw meat to those that feel a full meat/bone/offal only diet who would be quite enthusiastic in helping. :)

-ashley

Sure I am interested! I have at least two overweight cats, with some 25% body weight more than normal. I have read recently about a clinical trial which showed that feeding high protein diet prevents cats from acquiring hepatic lipidosis. Any experience is totally welcome! I'm looking forward of getting recommendations.

The same applies to my beloved bitch, of course.

Many regards from Deda

Deda, have a wander through the raw section of the food forum and see if there's any info there that can help you. You can ask any questions you have there and will get lots of wonderful advice from those who feed raw. :D

Cindy

Deda, I no longer have the full recipe, its been a couple years since we made it. But I can tell you a couple things we put in it.

We used a lot of different canned vegetables. (It would probably be better to use fresh, but we did the cheaper way since she would eat 6 cups of this food a day) We used: carrots, string beans, spinach, collard greens,& sweet potatoes. For the grains we used: some wheat germ and Quinoa, both organic. For protein we used frozen ground turkey. I cant remember anything else right now. I'l have to talk to my mom and ad=sk her what else we put in it. I know we put more in b/c we made a huge container of it.

Deda, have a wander through the raw section of the food forum and see if there's any info there that can help you. You can ask any questions you have there and will get lots of wonderful advice from those who feed raw. :D

Cindy

I didn't actually notice the forum you mentioned, there are so many of them here. Thank you, you really "opened my eyes".

Regards from Deda

You've got some great advice here...

I just wanted to say that the volume of food being reduced won't necessarily make the dog "starve"...it really depends on the caloric content, the dog's caloric output, and their metabolism...and everyone is different. (The dog may "feel" hungry, because their stomach is used to having more food in it, but that will change over time as they get used to smaller meals...same as people going on a diet). For example, we have two 55-ish pound dogs. One eats over three cups of dry food a day and is very, very lean...while the other eats less than a cup and a half of the same dry food a day, and is lean, but not as slim as the other one. We had to sort of play with small increases/decreases in the quantity of food, monitor their weight and mainly their body condition very closely, and eventually we found amounts that work.

Also, for what it's worth, we've had several pets on weight loss vet diets in the past, and they were crap. Expensive, and didn't help at all. They're on grain-free dry foods now, and they're all looking awesome.

yep, i second Cindys notion of puttering around the raw forum and if you have any questions and concerns after that, dont hesitate to ask. we had significant results with a raw diet and our cats. so much that we would have to be in dire circumstances to every go back from it.

-ashley