Overweight dogs...it can be fixed!

[Aru]

Just after reading the posts on overweight dogs and felt i had to put up these pics to show hat a difference a year on a strict diet and loads of exercise does....
im so happy shes a different dog now so much more energy!

its my 1st time posting pics tho so i hope i get this right!

jesse last year

A few months later

Jesse now

Still chubbier than ideal but we are getting there...

 

[devilinajar]

Wow what a difference a year really does make!! She is well on her way to her ideal weight now!! Well done to both of you!

 

[CazD]

Can I ask what you were feeding her to make her loose the weight? I have a cairn terrier that I desperately need to get some weight off and any help would be much appreciated.

 

[GoJo]

she looks so much better- it is difficult getting weight off and keeping it off them, one of my GSD's is a nightmare. ditto above question on feed.

 

[mattilda]

My rr lost a load of weight on Purin Proplan OM (Obese Management). I allowed her some wet food also and a treat like a jumbone medium sized. She is now a trim doggy and her arthritis has improved immensely.

 

[Aru]

i think in Jesse's case it was what we were not feeding her more than what she was fed if that makes sense?

she used to get scraps from dinner ie potato skins and bits of feed as well as nuts(from whatever bag was on sale in the co-op) so that had to stop and she just got feed her nuts,1 cup full morning two cups in the evening, and the odd egg that was cracked ...

the brand we use now is Redmills leader brand, not sure if you have them in england tho...its a high protein food with no presevative or colourings food...
But it must be fairly tasteless because jess who would eat anything! (this dog ate raw potaotos for gods sake!) refused it for the first week or 2 even with her old nuts mixed in but when she got no other food when she left the mills behind she ate it....
then we just slowly reduced the amount of pedigree til she had only mills which she munched happily...

BUT the main reason she lost the weight is exercise.
she went from having just a long walk a day and the freedom to roam around the garden(shes an outside dog) to being walked two or 3 times a day for at least 30 mins each time(i was lucky my aunt uncle and cousin all love to bring her for walks too) and long walks or runs on the on the beach as well once she got fitter,maybe once or twice a week...tryed to get her swimming but shes a wuss who doesnt like to go in to deep so that was out... and of course her fav game of fetch.. we got one of those throwing things for a tennis ball and left it outside the back door so everyone got in the habit of using it....

Basicly it was just exercise exercise exercise and the fatty eventually got fitter and livelier as the weight slowly dropped

looking back now tho i wish i had the sense to take pictures every month because it was hard to see if there was any difference in weight for a long time its only by chance i had these ones on my fone

 

[Goya]

Well done to you. It shows how much happier and healthier your dog is.

 

[Goya]

Here's a picture of my 10 year old Lab showing her super waistline.
If I remember correctly she has just spotted her ball in the undergrowth.
At a dog show recently I was complemented on having a fit and healthy dog which obviously made me feel very happy.

 

[prosefullstop]

What a great job! Your vet must be rather pleased.

I don't think feeding scraps is in and of itself a problem. Stella gets fed human food, and she also gets scraps--kale, carrots, apples, blueberries, the healthier dog biscuits, the odd egg etc.--and she's trimmer at age six than she ever has been. Course, I think being a fetch *nut* helps enormously.

 

[Aru]

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I don't think feeding scraps is in and of itself a problem.

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i dont think it was as much scraps as the volume of food she was getting and the type....and of course not enuf exercise was the killer..

my older brother esp used to just use her as a bin and jesse being the greedy lab that she is ate every thing given to her...im talking things like pototo skins every day out of date cream,cheese etc as well as nuts...
it took a few chats ie rants from me and using the top picture a lot before i was eventually told to take charge of feeding the feckin dog myself which i quite happily did and bought the food and left instructions of what she was to get and when while i was in collage during the week..
....and after all for my effort and joy of being broke i got told that going to vet collage had corrupted me

...my family gota love them we dont even have a farm anymore but they still have the farmers attitude...shake head...and dont start me on their attitude towards dogs and the vet...the words 'if its not broke dont fix it' have been said alot!some lot of good that ill do the poor dog if she gets parvo..
so i brought her in on the sly when i was on work experience and the vet took pity on a poor student and told me i could help out instead of a fee...so a win win situation for me

sorry bout the rant!

 

[KarynK]

Well done you’re doing a great job, keep it up, you will add years to her life and help her mobility in later life!

But I can't help thinking that it was not the scraps that caused the problem.

It's really interesting how the weight loss feed was high in protein Atkins for dogs or more accurately Lighter Life as it is highly processed packet food, not meat!

To me these dogs that are becoming overweight suggest that the problem lies in the unnatural carbohydrates found in large amounts as bulk in dry and even some wet dog foods, yes even the "good ones" use it for bulk (usually rice)! Carbs are cheap and there are no controls on dog food so you can buy up GM and unfit for human consumption even, if you want to really cut your production costs. Add to that off and or condemned meat and these foods are not brilliant value for money if they do this to dogs, but they are easy to feed, a bit like ready meals.

As Billingshurst points out in his book Give Your Dog a Bone, you did not find this level of obese dogs before convenience dog foods were introduced. Complex and highly processed Carbs are not a natural foodstuff of canines nor are they to us for that matter, especially bread made from modern breeds of high starch content wheat; we too are getting bigger on average!! Not to mention how unbearably boring it must be to be fed little biscuits for your entire life.

Of course carbs are also somewhat addictive!

Just watching my two tuck into a turkey leg each, and thinking they don't put on vast amounts of weight! But they do not get any form of complex carbs in their diet, just meat and bone and a bit of liquidised veg. Although muscle meat puts weight on in their diet it does so slowly, so I simply up the bone content if they get a bit porky, that way they get the nutrients and are still full at the end of their meal.

 

[Aru]

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Well done you’re doing a great job, keep it up, you will add years to her life and help her mobility in later life!
But I can't help thinking that it was not the scraps that caused the problem.
It's really interesting how the weight loss feed was high in protein Atkins for dogs or more accurately Lighter Life as it is highly processed packet food, not meat!

To me these dogs that are becoming overweight suggest that the problem lies in the unnatural carbohydrates found in large amounts as bulk in dry and even some wet dog foods, yes even the "good ones" use it for bulk (usually rice)! Carbs are cheap and there are no controls on dog food so you can buy up GM and unfit for human consumption even, if you want to really cut your production costs. Add to that off and or condemned meat and these foods are not brilliant value for money if they do this to dogs, but they are easy to feed, a bit like ready meals.

Complex and highly processed Carbs are not a natural foodstuff of canines nor are they to us for that matter, especially bread made from modern breeds of high starch content wheat; we too are getting bigger on average!! Not to mention how unbearably boring it must be to be fed little biscuits for your entire life.

Of course carbs are also somewhat addictive!



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i have heard this before alright and i do think that dogs can get hugh benifits from the raw diet...i considered it for jess over the summer's but even after a brief overview on the web of the basics i no that i wouldnt be able to keep it balanced enough or have the dedication to stick to it...and then there was the fact that she would be back to family looking after here while im in collage anyway and while they have been great with helping me to increase the exercise i dont think they can be convinced to do a balanced raw diet

The carb thing is something that i find quite intreasting tho because it make a lot of sense i never really gave it much thought before...
processing has never been the waistlines friend

i do wonder if a high fibre diet would be useful tho..hmm

As for the dog food being made of complete crap, your preaching to the converted, the words meat derivatives is enough to make me shudder as we got shown a list of things that counted as meat derivatives in collage...mmm hair yum..not! and like you pointed out most of the meat is not fit for human consumption for various reasons can up in dog food but hell at least its meat not just mascarading as it...

im not sure if the feed is high enough to produce the atkins effect in a dog tho as its only around 20 or so percent crude protein... it was just high compared to the other feeds i compared it to that i could afford.Plus from a meat source or at least was high percent of meat i cant remember which to be honest..basicly not a meat derivative source ...i bloody well hope its not anyway the last thing i need is a dog with liver and kidney problems!sigh must go luck that up tomorrow and make sure...

i chose Redmills adult is a reasonable price,is stocked locally and as it wasnt made of meat derivatives, wasnt full of preservatives and colurs and had the minerals and vitamins supplemented so i didnt have to worry to much about jess already under pressure bones and it didnt seem to be particulrly high in fat.The base ingredient is chicken and there are plenty of battery hens in ireland which is where i suspect the cheap meat is coming from...sad but true....
i didnt choose the light option because i didnt want to sacrifice the crude animal protein content for carbs and have to pay more just because its specialist....

but i still think the scraps were a problem not the main one but not exactly helping matters...she really didnt need half a plate of potato on top of her nuts or a few cartons of cream as a side dish

they were all just extra calories on top of her balanced dry food ...even if it was sometimes crap full of preservatives etc..ming you she does still get the odd egg now and again or meat leftovers..just no potatos,no high fat products..

The main problem for jess was not getting enough exercise..she was always a bit chubby when i lived at home but when i went to collage she balllooned because she wasnt getting the same amount or time of walks and general exercise but still got the same food..

to little exercise plus too much food equals the top picture

Also Goya your lab is gorgeous!i hope someday i see Jesse that trim and fit looking!
and prosefullstop i was just wondering what breed is your dog she looks familiar but i cant place the breed?

 

[prosefullstop]

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and prosefullstop i was just wondering what breed is your dog she looks familiar but i cant place the breed?

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She's a Boston Terrier.