Food for a lab

Kat_Bath

Kat_Bath

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Hi everyone,

I'm hoping you lovely HHO AAD people will be able to help me with a food question please?

Through family, we have recently rehomed a 4yo chocolate lab. He's currently on Morrisons own brand dog food (dry) - we're not sure which one. The only thing we were told is that Harringtons runs through him but he's fine on everything else.

I don't think I have anything against Morrisons own food but I haven't seen a packet and I'm kind of assuming it won't be the best thing for him.

He's now on three 30-60 minute walks a day (he hasn't been walked much in the last 3 months at least so that's a big change) and he's a little on the porky side (I think he needs to lose about 4-5kg). His previous owners had him from 6 months so we know his history and he has a good health record.

Does anyone have any recommendations? I haven't had a lab before so any help would be much appreciated. Ideally we'd like to pick something up on the next week or so, so we can mix it in with his current food and introduce anything new slowly.

Thanks in advance :)
 
there is a sticky all about dog food so may be worth reading that. i may be wrong but dont think it matters what breed the dog is as long as you feed a good food and in the correct amounts. next time you are at the vets with him have him weighed and ask them what he should be. i only go with how the dogs look, you should be able to feel their ribs when they have lost enough weight.. i dont bother with weighing mine unless i need wormers i just am careful with how much food they get as the guidelines on packet and tins is always overestimated....
 
I had missed that completely - I'm so used to scrolling passed them in the Tack Room etc that I didn't even look - how embarrassing! Thank you for pointing it out.

He is going to the vets soon and he will be weighed. He was last weighed at 32.6kg but he is more than that now and he should be under 30 according to his last yearly check (and I agree). He definitely looks porky but he's not fat and it doesn't impact his exercise. He's too heavy for my liking though.

Interesting you should mention overestimation because according to most guidelines, he should be on 400-450g of food a day. He was previously on 100g per meal (and had 2 meals) and we've upped that slightly to 125g per meal to account for the change in exercise. If we gave him 2 meals of 200g, he'd be massive!
 
Another vote for All About Dog Food.

Personally, I really rate Millies Wolfheart personally and their nutrition team were really helpful when I had issues with Fizz’s weight (turns out she was on the wrong mix).
 
Annette4 said:
Another vote for All About Dog Food.

Personally, I really rate Millies Wolfheart personally and their nutrition team were really helpful when I had issues with Fizz’s weight (turns out she was on the wrong mix).
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Same. But the trouble with food threads is 20 replies will all be different! Our labs are all on millies and look great.
 
Thanks for the Millies recommendation - I'll have a look.

It's good to know that he should be OK on anything - I guess he always has been to be fair.

I think the difficulty will come with finding the right amount of food to help his weight but to keep him OK for 3 walks but it'll all settle.

Thanks again for the recommendations everyone - very much appreciated :)
 
KB they just need amazingly little food. In the summer when our labs get two good walks but are not working they get just over a thermos lid a day. They are on double that now, but still less than recommennded amounts.
 
Clodagh said:
KB they just need amazingly little food. In the summer when our labs get two good walks but are not working they get just over a thermos lid a day. They are on double that now, but still less than recommennded amounts.
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This! ours is an old boy now and barely walked but struggles to maintain weight- he was on 1.5trays of forthglade for the last good few years with a thermos lid (literally!) scoop of various kibbles. As the other dog doesn't get on with the kibble for storage reasons he's now onto forth gladecomplete and is maintaining BCS 4/9 on 2 trays once per day.
 
For years we fed our Labs on tinned meat and plain dog biscuits. Then we had a dog of a different breed, which was very sensitive to various foods, so the whole lot ended up eating hypo-allergenic kibble, for our ease, the labs did well on that too. I have had Labs in their later years who found it difficult to maintain weight, so had to adjust their feed accordingly but in the main a tin of Butcher's, or similar, and a couple of mugs of biscuits per day, split however you please has usually done them well - I have had Labs live healthily to 15, although I have also lost the occasional one at 10. 12-14 seems to be most usual and they are prone to arthritis, so need to be kept slim.
 
If you look on All About Dog Food you can get a score out of 5 on any dog food you may choose. What to feed largely depends on your budget and whether you want to buy online or from a shop but aim for one with a score over 4.

I’d recommend weighing the food. You can buy jugs that will weigh food so it’s simple to do. It’s so easy to add an extra few mouthfuls to food without realising and it all adds up when you are watching calories.
 
Amounts needed vary so much on the food: sometimes the cheaper food is misleading as you need much more of it.
I personally feed Millie’s countryside mix to my lab and collie. I weighed it first and figured out which size cup to then use! Although both mine have he opposite issue to yours as they needed to gain weight (and muscle) when we rehomed them, I didn’t want to overload them
 
Gahhh, I can't work out how to do multiple quotes on my phone - so annoying.

Clodagh and Rara - I'm glad you say they don't need a lot because I really don't want to feed him much and he doesn't get treats or anything.

Pearl - I always read your username as Pearl A Singer. Not relevant to the thread at all but hey ho! I think he'd do OK any food and he'd definitely be happy on any food but I want him to be as healthy as possible.

Meleeka - I've been looking at the website, it's so good! We're already weighing his food just using our kitchen scales, for consistency and so we can monitor things more easily. He's actually not a fast eater so that helps as well - he doesn't finish within 2 seconds and give me the eyes!!

Pippi - a very good point on amount v quality, thank you.

Thank you all again for your hints and tips and recommendations - it's very much appreciated.
 
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