Fat dog - how to keep weight down?

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Starbucks

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Have a German Pointer and a Border Terrier. Border is in great condition but think pointer is a bit on the heavy side.

She has a slim tummy and is fit and very active but has a lot of.. errmm, top line? She doesn't really have that much to eat in her dinner but is a very greedy dog...

Any tips on getting weight down?
 
Dogs are easy to get the weight off, depsite the fact the countries full of fat dogs :( Either a) feed her less calories or b) give her more exercise. Ideally a mixture of both.

If she's already doing plenty of exercise then just cut or change her dinner.

If she's on a standard dog food, swap onto a 'light' dog food, or a mix of both. If she's getting a fairly large dinner giver her a little less. One handful of biscuit less over a couple of months will loose her a coulpe of kgs. If she's on more than one meal a day, stop the meal or replace it with a weetibix instead. And cut out all titbits and treats obviously.

Unless she's off stealing food constantly (We have a black lab who is unsually and unnaturally obsessive about food (even for a black lab!) and is a constant battle to stop her stealing food or running off to scrounge the local bins :( ) then the only calories she's getting is what you feed her and if she' only a little overweight then all it needs is a slight adjustment.
 
God i would love to get my pointer to carry any sort of condition- he eats far more than recommended but is so active he never ever puts condition on.

our doberman on the other hand is very prone to being overweight...

she was 48kg in April but through cutting her food she is now around 41kg and looks so much better.
she can't do too much exercise as she has had TPLO surgery on both backlegs so goes 'power walking' around the roads with my mum.
she is hugely greedy and always very excited at teatime but my mum has finally realised she can survive on less food and has stopped spoiling her :)
 
I'm a novice compared to all these doggie experts so I'll leave the main advice to them!

For my dog, while he's on restricted exercise due to recovering from lameness, I've been giving him carrots for treats - he loves them and it cuts the calories.
The only problem is sharing them between the dog and the horse :D
 
Starbucks said:
Sorry guys only just come back to this. She's on bakers complete. It's prob the treats that are getting to her, left overs etc. but I'd rather her eat those and not eat crap like bakers?
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Huh? You'd rather she eats treats instead of her proper dinner? why?! She'd be much healthier eating a balanced complete diet rather than snacks! If you DO want to give her treats then cut down on her dinner accordingly.
 
Kallibear said:
Huh? You'd rather she eats treats instead of her proper dinner? why?! She'd be much healthier eating a balanced complete diet rather than snacks! If you DO want to give her treats then cut down on her dinner accordingly.
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Sorry, I'd rather her eat our left over meat/tats/veg than her proper dinner.

Think we need to just get more strict!
 
Starbucks said:
Sorry guys only just come back to this. She's on bakers complete. It's prob the treats that are getting to her, left overs etc. but I'd rather her eat those and not eat crap like bakers?
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sorry, i have had to read this a couple of times..If you think bakers is crap (which it is), then why are you feeding it. You would be better giving her a better quality, lower fat, less additives, foodand cutting down on the leftovers and treats. At leat then you can monitor what is going into her.

Millietiger, that is some weight for a dobe, mine in the sig is is 32kg and she is a decent boned bitch.
was that weight gain just due to the cruciate thing. Mine had double surgery done too. She is like the bionic dog now lol. Hope yours makes a good recovery, how long since the op?
 
Starbucks said:
Sorry guys only just come back to this. She's on bakers complete. It's prob the treats that are getting to her, left overs etc. but I'd rather her eat those and not eat crap like bakers?
Click to expand...

Get the dog on a food that is actually going to be good for her. Bakers is horrible poison.

Try fish4 dog
Blue buffalo
orijen
 
Kallibear said:
Huh? You'd rather she eats treats instead of her proper dinner? why?! She'd be much healthier eating a balanced complete diet rather than snacks! If you DO want to give her treats then cut down on her dinner accordingly.
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Ah yes “healthy balanced diets” there are very few of those available over a counter!! Bakers sadly is by no means the only inappropriate food by far too far for dogs. All budget foods and alarmingly a lot of high end foods contain large amounts of inappropriate ingredients for dogs, though probably not quite as many artificial ingredients as bakers.

She would probably be better off eating a good diet of scraps than most commercial dog food. For one scraps are not horribly overcooked at high temperature with artificial nutrients having to be added back in plus emulsifiers and preservatives for long shelf life!! At least scraps are of human grade and providing that you think carefully about content so that you provide all of a dogs needs home cooked diets are in my opinion a better than most complete diets. Though raw is much easier and more appropriate.

I think probably the weight gain is from the high carbohydrate content of most foods and especially so of bakers. Dogs do not need ANY complex carbs in their diet yet they remain the main ingredient of most commercial dog foods, wheat, oats, maize, rice, peas and potatoes are all bulking agents used in dog food to keep the dog feeling satisfied and more importantly for the company they keep the cost down and the profit margin up.

Commercial food meat sources are often dubious as can be their carb sources, with many dogs having died from contaminated rice in a major manufacturers feed!!

In a dogs natural food they rely on high quality proteins for energy NOT sugars, that is where I would look first. On my raw diet I would feed more bone less meat to loose a bit of weight with more exercise, so boned out lamb ribs, and chicken carcases and chicken wings, with lamb bones to chew on, the dog is still full up but loosing weight. Personally I think low cal dog food is horrible stuff leaving the poor dog ravenous and ready to eat anything, these are carnivores not vegetarians!

If in doubt ask yourself this how can a carnivore be a diabetic??????

If you look in the sticky on raw food at the top I have posted a guide to the meanings in commercial dog food ingredients, I would read it before choosing a dog food off a shelf and study the labels before buying.

Me? No commercial dog food in my house I care not who endorses, how pleasing its adverts are or how many vets developed it I’ve read the labels!!!
 
Starbucks there is a whole load on raw on the sticky at the top of the Dog Section and being lazy Raw suits me as I don't have to faff around cooking stuff, I just defrost it (if I remember) and chuck it at them!

But here is a link to home cooked recipies, you have to watch some as the grain content creeps up, I would bulk with veg if you go this route and avoid grain! What it doesn't give you is the bulk that raw bone does or the teeth cleaning properties, so you might want to give raw bones occasionally but well away from the cooked meals. I would also cook very lightly feeding any meat rare as they will get more nutrients from it and almost be on raw. You can lightly steam veg and mash or liquidise it. Raw or lightly cooked eggs are great protein sources so you can do a bit of both.

http://www.i-love-dogs.com/dog-food-recipes.html
 
chestnuttymare said:
Millietiger, that is some weight for a dobe, mine in the sig is is 32kg and she is a decent boned bitch.
was that weight gain just due to the cruciate thing. Mine had double surgery done too. She is like the bionic dog now lol. Hope yours makes a good recovery, how long since the op?
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She has always been a big girl- looking at your picture Daisy looks much bigger (taller and bigger boned) than your girl. She towers over every other Dobe we have ever met!

My German pointer is 28kg and very, very lean and at least 6 inchs shorter than Daisy so she seems about the right weight now- you can see the outline of her ribs, she has a waist dip etc.

She had one cruciate done about 2 years ago and the other one done last August.

(sorry for taking over OP!)
 
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