Overweight rescue, diet and dog ramp advice please

Chiffy

Chiffy

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On Friday a nine and a half year old Golden Retriever is arriving into my care. He has been under exercised and overfed for a long time. He has lived above a pub and spent many hours being fed by customers. The poor owner now out of work is being moved to accommodation where the dog cannot go.
The owner took him to the Blue Cross who would not take him. It's a sad situation so I decided to do something practical with my money rather than just donating to animal charities.
The dog has been health checked at a vets and has little else wrong with him except weakening hind legs due to his excessive weight, 50kg!
I shall probably take him to my vet for a check over but vets are not always the best on diet. I realise, like laminitis ponies, he can't be starved and must have low calorie nutrition.
Any advice welcome, I will not raw feed. My flatcoats have Skinners plus some meat for extra taste, they are both perfect healthy weights. This is going to be a whole new challenge.
Any experience of car dog ramps would be good too as I don't think he is going to manage my car.
Thanks all
 
Food; I feed millies wolfheart. They do a low fat option and their help people are very good and well informed. My dogs look great on it and in fact older lab has been on it as well for a month now and this morning has knocked over all the furniture having a mad five minutes, she hasn't done that for years. It has joint supps in it as well so no need to buy extra.
Well done you for helping him, taking him off the chip diet will probably make a huge difference on its own!
 
Thanks Clodagh, I have heard that is a good food if expensive. But this dog is a desperate case and I must do my best by him before his poor legs give out.
 
Thanks MC, I will look into the food. Can you help with type and weight of ramp. I had already been thinking my older flatcoat could do without quite so much jumping in and out of the car.
At first I will be able to help the old boy scramble onto the back seat but in time he needs to go right in the back.
 
It doesn't work out any more than skinners salmon and rice IMO. Especially as no need for me to buy yumove too. I dithered a bit because of the price but they do all look great on it.
I was trying to think what he should weigh, my labs weight about 22 - 25 kgs, a GT would be bigger but no more than 30kgs at a healthy weight? That is some stodge he is carrying.
 
I have a friend who breeds goldies, she says 35 is fine for the males. The vet he has seen said aim at losing 10 kg in 6 months and he will improve dramatically.
The owner has put a notice in the pub to ask for him not to be fed. He is having three 15 minute walks a day and a restricted diet, sadly of Bakers though! Still he will be here Friday.
I get a good discount on the Salmon and Rice, Skinners also do a Light and Senior but I will look into your suggestion because this dog will die if I don't do the best for him.
 
I think skinners is good food as well. I changed because young lab was forever getting bad ears, they are fine on millies. She obviously couldn't tolerate the beet pulp bulkers they put even in the gluten free food. TBH it is so much better than Bakers maybe just put him on skinners for fatties and see how it goes. I would think a joint supplement would help too while he loses a few lbs.
 
Apart from my young girl being fed Millies Wolfheart too, I'm afraid I have no advice to offer regarding other dog foods or dog ramps but I just wanted to say well done for taking on this poor old boy, such a lovely, generous thing to do. I hope he settles well and with his new caring regime, feels a lot better soon. Photos would be great when he arrives too. Good luck :)
 
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I would get him on a low calorie diet, as above, and also look into gradually increasing exercise over time. Hydrotherapy would be worth looking into as well. All treats should be cut out for now.

My own dogs are on Simpsons Premium (as well as some raw) and do very well on it. I believe they do a senior/light version.
 
Clodagh said:
Food; I feed millies wolfheart. They do a low fat option and their help people are very good and well informed. My dogs look great on it and in fact older lab has been on it as well for a month now and this morning has knocked over all the furniture having a mad five minutes, she hasn't done that for years. It has joint supps in it as well so no need to buy extra.
Well done you for helping him, taking him off the chip diet will probably make a huge difference on its own!
Click to expand...

Wow you are converted.

My 2 old girls are on the Tracker low fat and the 2 young boys rotate through the 60/40 range
 
It maybe worth checking out Ebay, lots and lots of Dog ramps for sale, new and used, very competitive prices and many offering free delivery. Just type in Dog ramps in the search bar. Or perhaps on your local Gumtree site.
 
cant help with diet but got the dogs trust christmas catalogue today and there is a trifold ramp for £85, it says it takes up to 200 pounds which i think is 90kg (please check)it 1.80m long and 40cm wide.....supposed to be skid resistant...good on you for taking the dog on..
 
Bless him. My twelve year old Golden boy is about 32 - 33 kilos and looks rather slim.

The ramp flurrydor linked above looks really nice. I would love to try that one. We have tried out the Kleinmetall DogWalk since ours struggles a bit with jumping into the car these days, it works alright but lacks a good grip and the car seems to be slightly too tall in the back to go well with any ramp as the angle is too steep. I wish they made slightly longer ramps.

Best of luck with the boy. :)
 
Evening all, thank you for all the helpful comments and encouragement. I have done a lot of googling today!
Good ramp suggestions , I will let the boy arrive and assess him. I think at first I will just help him onto the back seat, then hopefully choose a ramp later.

For food, so many recommend Millie's Wolfheart but I did baulk a bit at the price. I don't know how you all afford it especially with multiple dogs.
Just found Growlingtums, good website, anyone any opinions?
 
If Skinners is £30 (I can't remember exactly) and millies is £44. Yumove for a month is £12. So the cost is pretty well the same, plus they eat slightly less millies.
From my POV the lack of vets visits is the biggest plus. I am not trying to push you into it, I think skinners would do him fine, and I did object to the price to start with.
 
I found the same when I looked at Millies - no way was I feeding that to 4 greyhounds :D :D I would stick to Skinners personally, it is a good product - he doesn't need a low calorie option, he needs less food :)
 
When my dad got dementia he started overfeeding his dog quite drastically. The vet recommend Hills Prescription Diet r/d and when fed correctly it had very good results. At one point I did catch Dad grating cheese over it for the dog which was obviously why it didn't work well initially but once the dog was in my care and fed the correct amount the weight came off him easily.
 
I think if you feed a fairly good complete, like Skinners, and feed for the weight you would like him to be, he will naturally lose the extra weight. Mine are all on the same food but the good doers get a bit less than the skinny minnies and everybody stays at a healthy weight. I am another one who has to budget with four dogs.
 
Regarding a ramp, a friend made mine from MDF 2 pieces hinged together covered in carpet and 2 door stoppers at the end to stop it slipping. It worked beautifully for Maya. However it maybe worth putting a wanted ad on agilitynet.com in their flea market section. If you say it is for a rescue someone may donate one. Good luck
 
Chiffy said:
On Friday a nine and a half year old Golden Retriever is arriving into my care. He has been under exercised and overfed for a long time. He has lived above a pub and spent many hours being fed by customers. The poor owner now out of work is being moved to accommodation where the dog cannot go.
The owner took him to the Blue Cross who would not take him. It's a sad situation so I decided to do something practical with my money rather than just donating to animal charities.
The dog has been health checked at a vets and has little else wrong with him except weakening hind legs due to his excessive weight, 50kg!
I shall probably take him to my vet for a check over but vets are not always the best on diet. I realise, like laminitis ponies, he can't be starved and must have low calorie nutrition.
Any advice welcome, I will not raw feed. My flatcoats have Skinners plus some meat for extra taste, they are both perfect healthy weights. This is going to be a whole new challenge.
Any experience of car dog ramps would be good too as I don't think he is going to manage my car.
Thanks all
Click to expand...

I use this car ramp it is easy and sturdy http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Solvit-Dog-Ramp-/112160026956?hash=item1a1d42314c:g:MJEAAOSwLnBX94S4
 
I've some experience of this sort of situation, although different breed. TBH unless there is a reason not to I'd feed the newbie on whatever you feed your existing pack on for ease unless there is a particular reason not to. What will make the difference is the quantity being right for his ultimate weight (move down to that gradually so he has enough energy for walks), it being a properly balanced dog food rather than pub grub, and some exercise. If you will be walking them together or he gets very attached to you do be careful he doesn't overdo the trying to keep up in the early stages.
 
Not sure where you are, as on my phone, but we have a ramp going spare. No idea how good it is, as we've never used it, it came with Aled. He seems to jump in and out of the car fine, and really doesn't show his almost 11 years.

I was going to post tonight asking about salad for dogs. Probably a really stupid question, but he constantly seems hungry. We've been feeding Arden Grange senior as it's what he came to us with, but on Clodaghs recommendation, am looking at the MWH tracker. Aled is a border collie, and when we took him to the vet last week, he weighed in at 33.3kg. First goal is to lose 3kg.
 
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