Need a slimline food as an extra to regular meals. Any ideas ?

[ribbons]

After the diagnosis of meningitis and starting the steroid treatment, followed by a week of dreadful diahrreah, we now seem to have settled down and bum business had resumed to normal, thank god.
The problem is an appetite like a maniac. All she thinks about is food, constantly hungry. Vet says that's a typical side effect of steroids and ignore it, but 6 months of that will be dreadful for her. She's not usually a greedy dog and I really feel for her.
Any way, I don't want a great fat chihuahua either, so looking for extra things to feed her that will fill her up without piling on the weight or upsetting her tummy.

She is raw fed, human grade from the butcher is cheap enough given her size, always had plenty of bones but that in itself worries me at the moment. Instead of the usual sensible chewing crunching and enjoying she is wolfing them down as quickly as possible.
I need something to take the edge of her appetite that won't have a fattening or digestive effect.
It doesn't help that she's not as energetic as usual, another side effect apparently.
Any ideas folks.

 

[Imogen Rose]

I feed my boy well cooked rice. He is a labrador, so the amount of food he needs nutritionaly is quite small, and as he is old he dosent get around alot so is prone to weight gain. He thinks he is starving hungry, even after his dinner. He gets bowls of rice, with carrots and apples in the evening. Seems to be working!
Although it is a lab thing to eat everything, dont know how fussy yours is. My other lab eats salad...

 

[ribbons]

Thanks for your input.
Well if she's fussy about it I won't feel guilty but I doubt she will be, she'd eat cardboard at the moment.
Is the rice not fattening?
I thought about raw fruit and veg but wondered if it would disturb the digestion of her raw meat as it is not digested very quickly or efficiently.
What is your lab's main diet, raw, tinned or kibble.

 

[Toffee44]

Antler / bull horn type chews??

 

[AmyMay]

Chopped cabbage.

 

[gunnergundog]

I thought about raw fruit and veg but wondered if it would disturb the digestion of her raw meat as it is not digested very quickly or efficiently.
.

It is if it's pulped - which it should be for the dog to get the nutrients out of it, otherwise it just goes straight through......which may not be a bad thing in your case.

 

[Kallibear]

Sugarbeet? The non molasses type, possibly with some gravy to make it tasty. Very bulky but with little calories. Introduce a small amount and see how she copes?

 

[be positive]

When my lab had a badly upset stomach from eating horse feed, she ate so much she was bloated and on deaths door within 24 hours, she was touch and go for several days on a drip etc, we never got a true diagnosis as to what toxin caused the upset all tests failed to definitively find the cause, she did pull through and was on steroids for ages afterwards as it took a long while to wean her off, she was fed just plain boiled rice and chicken as her main food for months she did need to put weight on initially but once she stabilised and the steroids were reduced her appetite settled so did the weight gain.
I would be very careful about giving her anything that is hard to digest, other than her normal diet if she is doing ok on that, rice will fill her up but be easy to digest, my lab still needs careful monitoring as anything other than her normal food can set off a bout of diarrhea which has taken several days back on rice to clear up, not easy keeping a lab away from food but her system just cannot cope.

 

[Imogen Rose]

I dont know how much fat there is in rice. Not alot though, if your trying to lose weight you should eat boiled rice and chicken? The rest of his diet consists of one pack of nature diet split into two meals, with a multivitamin tablet. He has eaten this for 10 years, and has never been fat.
Antlers would also be a good thing to chew without many calories?

 

[ribbons]

Thanks everyone. Some ideas to try. Just heard from vet, her blood test results are excellent so can reduce steroids a little.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Tripe, low fat, very appealing, probably cos it ruddy stinks.
Cooked green beans
Cooked or raw carrot, probably cooked if digestion has been icky.

 

[Summer pudding]

Thanks everyone. Some ideas to try. Just heard from vet, her blood test results are excellent so can reduce steroids a little.

My PR is on a steroid type pill for food allergies which inc all poultry and rice, so not easy. She is much hungrier and has put on weight so I pad her meals out with cooked vegetables.