My dog is too fat, please kick me!

jumbyjack

jumbyjack

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Laska is a Parson Russell and is shaped like a breeze block. She has developed fat pads on her hips and can't reach her bum because she can't bend in the middle. I know the answer is less food and more exercise, the food bit should be the easiest and I should (will) cut down or out the vast amount of tit bits she gets . Exercise is the difficult part because of her chronic nervousness, sometimes I can't get her out of the gate without she has a panic attack. I tried taking her to a local footpath on my husband's mobility scooter, she thought that was a great idea but would only get off for a quick wee and then popped back on again, not quite the idea for more exercise! I have posted about her issues before and I don't need to add obesity to her many problems. I was the same with my Shetland ponies but have been kicked by the YO several times and am now controlling their diet. It's clear I'm a feeder and for Laska's sake i need to stop. Pointless post as I know the answer but as many kicks as possible would be appreciated.
 
Sorry about your exercise issues because exercise is definitely a key. See Levrier’s post about how trim she has got her Jack Russell Rescue.
However you must be strong willed on the food front. Weigh each meal gradually reducing the amount and if you must feed treats, use healthy ones such as little carrot batons. You can google other options.
Good luck, be determined!
 
You know what to do as far as food is concerned. It sounds as if upping the exercise will be more problematic. Can you give her more exercise at home? Will she chase a ball or a frisbee? You don't have to throw it far to get her moving a bit. Would she walk with another dog who she knows well? I have a friend who has a reluctant exerciser but they have recently got a puppy and the older one walks with her much more happily.
 
Weigh her food. That will make a big difference. Will she bother with a Kong or similar? That could help with the titbits if she’s got something else to focus on. Although exercise is great, I still think it’s possible for them to lose weight without increasing it. It might also be a good idea to weigh her weekly so you know if you are heading in the right direction.
 
For exercise, have you tried her with a flirt pole? As she is a JRT she might like one with a rabbit skin lure.

You need to be careful on turns, keep her going the same way round for one game and change direction for the next game rather than change direction at speed - no point giving her a ruptured cruciate.
 
agree, weigh her food (I started this for a wee dog I had who would pile on weight and I now do it for my current two). Your local vet practise might hold clinics for weight loss that will give you advice on feeding for weight reduction-often run by vet nurses.
A flirt pole is a great idea as can be done in the garden, try some scent work-she could work for some of her daily ration this way and there are lots of online resources we can point you to if you want to try this. Dog parkour is another one-different exercises will get her using different muscles so is good for cross training and you can use stuff you might have in your garden-even a simple bench means you could do lots with her.
 
Another one agreeing with weighing her food and taking her treats into account as well!

My GSD started to look like a hairy table top. I'd got out of the habit of weighing and slipped into giving her almost as much as the Rotties. She might want it but she definitely didn't need it!

Can you up the exercise in the house and garden? Make a little climbing frame? I was watching our dogs running up and down a steep bank and marvelling at how much energy they must be burning. I can only dream of doing the same thing :eek::cool:
 
I would say the tit bits is where the weight it at. There is no point in weighing meals if you are going to feed them from the plate. I agree with carrot batons. No reason why you can't put a few on your plate, and continue with plate based tit bits then.

Or, if we are having a meal that Hector is not allowed, we put a bit of sliced chicken on the plate so he can still feel included, but then it is deducted from his meal allowance.

Hector has no interest in walks, but he does like to play in the house and garden. Raucous games with lots of scrabbling and running. I have a pair of sheepskin slippers which he is allowed to attack (not allowed to bit feet unless those slippers are on!). We play a game of 'foot' where one foot is attacked whilst the other bops him. Gets him well exercised.
 
Weigh her food, weigh her treat ration for the day as well, avoid high fat foods. You can make a dog lose weight merely by reducing the food intake as needs to happen with some handicapped dogs. Exercise should be geared to her present level of fitness and increased carefully to avoid too much stress at once on an unfit body, same as you would do with an unfit horse being brought back into work. Could you teach her to look for her treats all over your house and garden if you have one? You can make a mini agility course in a living room and through doorways with household items too. Teach her some fun moves like weaving through your legs. Youtube is a good resource on how to go about teaching dogs some of these.
 
Ditch the food bowl.
Weigh food and take treats from the food portion.
Place three small piles of food a little apart in the garden, gradually increase the amount of piles and the distance they are spread apart, aim to be able to open the door and throw the food across the garden and she goes out and hunts it all out.
 
I have Nina Otteson (spelling?) pyramids to feed mine from if I think we've not done enough stuff. They're great. And they give them quite a work out. Not for any room where you care about the skirting boards though!
 
I’ve got a great ball that big dog used to like, makes them move round whilst snuffling up bits of kibble. Alternatively, sometimes I just chuck a handful of kibble round the kitchen. Could you hide biscuits round the house for her to find?

Hydro is fab, but if she panics on a normal walk, then a pool might be sensory overload!
 
Some great ideas, many thanks all! I'm going to give swimming a try, she did go ages ago and although not impressed she didn't panic. She has a bit of a problem with her knee joints so I need to be careful what she does. She has an agility course in the garden which she does fly round at times. There is an safe exercise paddock at the local kennels which she could use. She wouldn't search for food, she'd just run back indoors, she has the Nina Ottersonn games and is a whizz at them and a light bulb moment has made me think to use her kibble ration instead of cheesy bites! I'm going to try carrots too and letting her think it's a treat of my plate is great idea. She's 10.5kg at the moment so hopefully I can get her to 8.5. Watch this gradually reducing space!
 
Good luck ,one of our labs has been on a diet most of her life .
As above you need to weigh the food and use a quality low cal kibble use carrot batons for snacks and be strict with your self with titbits .
 
Some dogs have to be taught to hunt.
That's why you start with two or three small amounts (3-4 kibbles) out of her daily ration very close together, just outside the door with you about but not paying her attention.
It can be a confidence thing not wanting to go off searching but teaching her it's safe will start to build her confidence.
 
Lucy,a food obsessed Parson JRT,is on Pred and has to be on a diet.To keep her weight at 7.2kg,she gets 30 grams,dry diet food a day,her snacks are carrot sticks,one "Greenie"for her teeth, one teaspoon a/d to hide the tablet and 20 grams Greek yoghurt.Of course she would scoff any thing else if she could but looks very well for 12 and her vet is very happy with her.I just feel like a very Mean Mummy.
 
30 grams!!! Oh my word I thought Laska was being restricted and I've been giving her 85 grams twice a day plus 75grams of wet food. She also gets two cocktail sausages a day for her pills!!!! Plus the gravy bones, the cheesy bites, the bits off my lunch time sandwich etc etc!!! It's not surprising she's porker!
 
You can do it lol! My big dogs are on reduced exercise at the moment and get 2x200g cups a day, for comparison. I don't know exactly what it weighs as the kibble I use isn't the same as the one the cup is designed to take, IYSWIM! If they get skinny, or are in full work I just add another cup(s). If I am training, I put all or some of the cup into my pockets, so I always know.
I don't think I've ever fed off a plate or shared my food with a dog :o
If she is hungry, food will be more of a motivator, she will be more trainable, which will help with some of the other issues you mention, and if she is thinner, hopefully less pressure on her joints :)
 
jumbyjack said:
30 grams!!! Oh my word I thought Laska was being restricted and I've been giving her 85 grams twice a day plus 75grams of wet food. She also gets two cocktail sausages a day for her pills!!!! Plus the gravy bones, the cheesy bites, the bits off my lunch time sandwich etc etc!!! It's not surprising she's porker!
Click to expand...

She has nearly as much as our older lab! :-)
 
Eeeeeek! She's eating nearly as much as a lab, I am so shocked! I've just given her little bit of carrot instead of my bacon butty. She ate it!!!!
 
Our girl had steroids and went from 7kg to 12kg as I was tit bitting and generally spoiling her - she was also unable to excercise for a while. She was completely rectangular in shape. I did not realise how bad it was until a child commented that "that dogs head is too small for its body!". I realised it wasn't her head that was the problem. From then on I weighed her food and only fed healthy stuff for titbits. She slowly came down over the next year and then was able to excercise again which helped enormously. Of course the less she weighed the easier the excercise so things sped up then. She remained between 6.5kg and 7.5kg for the rest of her life even when back on steroids. As she got older and excercised less I reduced the food.
 
I’m amazed at how much my little dachshund cross eats vs. Some of yours! She’s not thin or fat so I have never thought to weigh her food before and she’s getting about 500g a day mixture of wet and dry!
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My elderly neighbour could not understand why her staffy was so fat until one day she told me she had cut his food from 4 tins to 3 tins a day as he did not seem to want all of it.... it seemed a lot.
I read the tin and of course it said for his weight 3/4 of a tin a day. She had interpreted it as 3 to 4 tins a day!!
 
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