Getting and keeping wieght on an active dog.

vallin

vallin

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Daisy has always been light but recently has started looking a little ropey. She's fed 250g of MWH 80:20 in the morning and then 1/2kg of Natural Instinct in the evening which according to the feeding guidelines should be more than enough for her. She's 20 months old, lab x GSP, very active (2hr + off lead walking a day plus generally bounding about the place and playing with other dogs at day care) and generally well in herself. Ideal weight is about 26kg and is probably 23kg at the moment. We'd like to keep her on a kibble/raw mix as it makes it easier when we go away and she seems to really like the kibble.

Any thoughts appreciated,

V

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When mine was really active he was eating up to a kg of raw a day, and he is a 17kg whippet. I was doing 2 hours a day fell walking as a minimum, some days we were out 5 hours. He was incredibly fit and a ball of muscle, but it took a lot of food to maintain him!
 
Mrs Spaniel is super active - two hours of walks daily during the week, plus time up at the yard being a hooligan, four hours daily at weekends plus her flyball training and does need a lot more than the supposed 10% to keep her going. I had to double the NI and add chunks of heart and chicken necks to keep her weight at a sensible level.
 
Natural instinct (in line with all other good raw foods) do not advocate feeding raw and kibble, I know it is easier but it is the reason I stopped feeding my previous dogs raw, the gut ph is often higher in kibble fed dogs and lower in those fed raw, feeding both can mean a dog is unable to utilise either food efficiently.
What are her stools like and is she up to date worming wise?
In your shoes I would contact MWH I have found them so helpful in the past, I had a brief look on their food calculator on your behalf and they recommend endurance, ultima, peak performance and lamb and veg.
How long is yours with others at doggy day care for each day?
Can you put a picture up showing her weight?
 
I believe MWH advised me that the 60/40 was best for weight maintenance over the shooting season, and mine certainly looked good all season, out 3 days a week.
 
choose one or the other, raw or kibble, dont mix. The digestion rates are different among other things.

When mine were on raw I had to feed WAY more than the guidelines to keep weight on and found NI’s duck and lamb were the best for that.
 
She looks super to me .
My dog is so slim that people don't believe he's a Labrador .
He's a big dog and at 32 kilos he looks like an lat .
If the dog like kibble I would feed it kibble .
IME young dogs are often super slim .
 
Interesting thoughts, will have a think on it. May well switch her completely to MWH as she seems to like it just as much as the raw and it's far easier for us when travelling etc. Interesting that they recommended the 60/40 Clodagh, I suspect there is one that will be more fattening than the 80/20.

Will try and get a side on shot at some point this weekend but we've got a 6 hour walk planned so gawd knows what she'll look like after that!
 
Our two year old PRT is still very slender, but I know he will mature up in the end (we also have his older brother)
He has a spoonful of peanut butter on an evening for extra fats.

Dogs are like horses, many overweight, and you just get used to it
 
Hard to tell from that one photo but I wouldn't be wanting an extra 3kg for sure on that dog if it was mine. Firstly, dogs don't read text books so it is totally irrelevant if some bod says that the ideal weight is X! They don't have YOUR dog in front of them to put their hands on and test activity levels.

Also, at 20 months she is NOT fully mature and will do some filling out in the next year. Has she even had a season yet? Many of my GSPs don't until nearly 24 months.

Not wishing to be rude but are you used to seeing working dogs and working dogs at the end of a season's work? Just throwing that into the mix as many of the pet dogs that I see are grossly over weight, although the owners think they are fine.

PS As she is a cross it is possible that she takes more after the GSP than the Lab, so again use your eye to judge against the GSP standard rather than the Lab. I have fully mature, fit, working GSP bitches at the 23-4kg weight; I also have males at c35kg, so it is VERY individual.
 
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gunnergundog said:
Hard to tell from that one photo but I wouldn't be wanting an extra 3kg for sure on that dog if it was mine. Firstly, dogs don't read text books so it is totally irrelevant if some bod says that the ideal weight is X! They don't have YOUR dog in front of them to put their hands on and test activity levels.

Also, at 20 months she is NOT fully mature and will do some filling out in the next year. Has she even had a season yet? Many of my GSPs don't until nearly 24 months.

Not wishing to be rude but are you used to seeing working dogs and working dogs at the end of a season's work? Just throwing that into the mix as many of the pet dogs that I see are grossly over weight, although the owners think they are fine.

PS As she is a cross it is possible that she takes more after the GSP than the Lab, so again use your eye to judge against the GSP standard rather than the Lab. I have fully mature, fit, working GSP bitches at the 23-4kg weight; I also have males at c35kg, so it is VERY individual.
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we were at an agility comp at the week end and there were a few public wandering around with dogs who had come to watch.these non competeing dog stood out like a sore thumb by looking porky.
 
Are you sure you want extra weight on her? Pointers are lean and labradors are ideally (though rarely!) lean! Are any of her vertebrae protruding stood up?
 
The picture isn't really there to show her weight, i should have taken a side on picture of her stood up. Vertebrae​ and hips are visible as are back 5 ribs. I in no way want a fat dogs and have spent a fair amount of time around working Vizlas so whilst not exactly the same, fairly similar in stamp. The 25kg comes from having her weighed at the vets at this weight and her being in what I see as ideal condition for her - last 3 ribs visible but no vertebrae or hips.
 
Might you reduce the intensity of her work a little and see if that stabilises things .
I did this with my lab by reducing the time off lead on walks .
But there's no doubt about he's a lean looking dog ATM the vet says he's fine just immature fit and very lean and it's just that some people have never seen a Labrador that slim, I suppose I was letting peoples comments get to me little .
 
Goldenstar said:
Might you reduce the intensity of her work a little and see if that stabilises things .
I did this with my lab by reducing the time off lead on walks .
But there's no doubt about he's a lean looking dog ATM the vet says he's fine just immature fit and very lean and it's just that some people have never seen a Labrador that slim, I suppose I was letting peoples comments get to me little .
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Not a bad idea, thanks. We did end up doing that a bit yesterday as (unsurprisingly!) Daisy has no idea about pacing herself for a long walk ;) might try it on her regular walks and see if that settles her weight down a bit :) Will also force us to do more work on walking to heel on the lead which wouldn't be a bad thing!
 
80/20 food is high protein/low carb, she may well need more carb and fat to maintain her weight. MWH do a high fat 60/40 which may well suit her better (it worked for my very skinny Springer) I think it's called Ultima. Or if you have to feed that high protein for some reason add Salmon oil and coconut oil to her food.
 
It's interesting to read people's thoughts - none of my lot could be called hugely active any more as they are all getting on, although Amy and Flick do their bit!

Amy & Flick have always been easy to keep weight on, always look the right weight on and are really easy to keep. Islay and Hoover have always been difficult to keep weight on regardless of how active or not they are & I've just changed them back to raw again because I find that it keeps weight on them much more effectively than kibble.

I agree with you Vallin, I hate seeing fat poorly muscled greyhounds but I don't like seeing hip bones, seeing 3 vertebrae is going idea for me
 
Lamb and tripe are good raw meals for adding a bit of weight to a dog.

I also feed half raw/half kibble without any issues whatsoever and don't buy the different digestion rates argument. Dogs thrive on all sorts of feeding regimes and if it suits your dog then I wouldn't change.

There are lots of old wives tales out there about not feeding kibble and raw and/or not feeding them together completely unsubstantiated by any body of scientific evidence.
In fact some advocate it ...
http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/mixing-fresh-food-with-kibble/

So you could try feeding fattier foods, feeding a little more and/or reducing exercise.
 
WorkingGSD said:
Lamb and tripe are good raw meals for adding a bit of weight to a dog.

I also feed half raw/half kibble without any issues whatsoever and don't buy the different digestion rates argument. Dogs thrive on all sorts of feeding regimes and if it suits your dog then I wouldn't change.

There are lots of old wives tales out there about not feeding kibble and raw and/or not feeding them together completely unsubstantiated by any body of scientific evidence.
In fact some advocate it ...
http://www.b-naturals.com/newsletter/mixing-fresh-food-with-kibble/

So you could try feeding fattier foods, feeding a little more and/or reducing exercise.
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Thanks, we're planning on replacing the 80:20 with the 60:40 when we run out and keeping her on raw for dinner so will see how we go - she's looking better after a few days of increased kibble so will reduce it if she starts to look 'well' and leave it if she maintains a better weight :)
 
Hi Vallin. As has been said, it's possible that your dog is leaning (pardon the pun!) towards the GSP side in her breeding - they do often have very high metabolism & can be difficult to keep weight on. I believe the correct guide for weight in a purebred GSP is to have the last rib visible, but no hipbones seen. As a example, one of my bitches, 23inches tall, weighs about 23kg, in fit, racing condition (they're sled dogs). One of my boys is very difficult to keep/put weight but i find tripe helps (green, not white) - just be careful not to feed too much at a time or it may be too rich & go straight through! I agree with Gunnerdog re maturity - GSP's can also be very slow to mature (one of my bitches didn't have her first season until she was 2yrs!) so as she's still maturing, it could be she's just taking an upwards spurt & the next stage will be filling out again. FWIW, i feed raw & kibble with no issues at all, & have done for a long time.

P.S A current sideways on photo would be very helpful - i think we are so used to seeing fat dogs these dogs, sometimes it's hard to judge what's right any more :-)
 
another that feeds RAW and kibble-although its a very good quality kibble. Fitz was somewhat lean when I got him but has put on weight steadlily on Eden and various RAW minces (most with tripe).
 
eatmyshorts said:
Two of my girls in lean condition (sorry, not a very good or recent photo) ... is your girl lighter than this?

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I'd say she was slightly leaner as could see hips and vertebrae (since upping her feed and giving her a few 'quieter' days she seems to be looking a better weight again). I think it was just a bit much work and not quiet enough/the right feed so hopefully an increase in feed until we've finished this bag and can switch on to 60:40 will keep her at a better weight :)
 
I don't know about your girl, but with my boy (the one who is difficult to keep weight on - don't have any photos of him with me just now) his metabolism is such that one day he can look fine, the next he can look thin - a crazy day can be all it takes! :-) On his thin days i'll sometimes give him an extra feed (3 a day as normally fed twice) & that'll be enough to get him looking better again.
 
This is her today after being on increased feed for about a week. She's gone a little too far the other way now but hopefully we can slowly decrease the feed until her weight stabilises a bit, we were both just a bit shocked that she seemed to suddenly look a bit like a rescue case!

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