Overweight whippet - help please

[FinellaGlen]

My whippet is overweight, not hugely, but you can't see her ribs like you can on most whippets. She is fed three times a day on diet biscuits (complete food) and she has about a quarter of a small pouch of Pedigree Chum a day, spread out over all her meals so she just gets a few chunks of meat per meal really.

She is walked twice a day for about a mile. At weekends she gets longer walks. She is usually active on her walks and will run on ahead and come charging back to me and then off she goes again but in the house she just lies languidly in whatever spot of sunlight she can find. She is so inert that the our oldest cat sleeps on top of her as though she was a mattress.

Has anyone got any ideas to help her to lose weight please?

 

[prose]

I don't know if that's the appropriate amount of food, because I don't know the weight range of whippets, but I think you might have to up her exercise a bit more. Even if she's running there and back, one mile isn't very far. Does she like to chase tennis balls? Or perhaps you can find a hillier route to take her on.

 

[haycroft]

How tall is she and what weight is she at the moment, i feed mine twice aday mainly raw/bones....sounds like you are feeding her abit too much...you could cut one of her feeds out or uptake her exercise...maybe try taking her out with the bike that way your covering more ground

or post a pic of her

 

[skinnydogs]

Too much weight = too much food. Cut her down to twice
a day and personally I wouldn't feed chum. I'd probably get
her on something like naturediet and give 1 tray split between
2 meals.

 

[FinellaGlen]

prose - she won't chase tennis balls or anything else with any consistency. Sometimes she will run after a toy but she just sprints off with it and drops it somewhere. She prefers to run after animal scents than chase toys.

haycroft - I'm not sure how tall she is but she is big for a bitch. Most people think she is a dog on first glance. I can't remember what she weighs either. The vet weighs her and always says that she is on the large side. I live in East Yorkshire and we have thousands of acres of totally flat countryside with no hills whatsoever I'm afraid so she only sees hills when we take her out in the car sometimes at a weekend. I will try to get her vital stats tomorrow and take a photo as well.

skinnydogs (love your name!) - I will have a look at naturediet. Is it good for dogs with sensitive digestions? She can tolerate the Chum pouches but she's not very good with any other food, even the Chum that comes in a tin. If I don't feed her when I feed my elderly Burmese cat (who needs 3 meals a day to keep her weight on) she barks and whines at me and fixes me with a stare. She won't leave me alone until I put something in her dish.

I know I sound like a stupid, overindulgent owner but none of my other animals are remotely fat, not even my Highland pony who is definitely on the lean side for the breed. I really do want to feed my whippet less but sometimes I just give in to her to shut her up. I work from home and I don't like my customers to hear her whining. I know I must feed her less and I intend to start taking her for a run with me on my bike next week once the nights are lighter.

 

[haycroft]

have you ever thought of having ago at lure coursing which im sure'l she will love ....chasing ...theres a club up your way

or you could try her on chicken wings(raw) they are low in fat
maybe you could give one or two for brekfast then one at lunch and then her dinner later

 

[FinellaGlen]

I went to a game fair at the weekend and that made me want to do something more with her. They had lurcher coursing but I missed it because I was at the equine arena. I didn't realise that any dog could have a go at something like that. Do you have any more details? I think she would like to have a proper "job" to do and I would love to work her.

I have never fed her raw meat, only cooked. Where do you get chicken wings from? I don't eat much meat myself so I'm not an expert at procuring it - gosh, I sound more and more stupid with each sentence that I write...........

 

[haycroft]

Firstly you dont sound stupid...and you should alway feed raw meat to dogs...in the wild dogs dont get their dinner cooked to they

chicken wing s you can either buy from supermarkets/butcher or of the net...when you firsy try to give c/wings hold the tip end and make sure the dogs crunches the bone first if your whippet anything like mine they have your hand off aswell
heres a link about barf feedinghttp://www.k9community.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=11525
another link to a lure coursing in lancaster
http://www.parkstonewhippets.co.uk/

i'll give you an idea about weight my two whippets are about 19inch floor to shoulder and about 26pound
lets us know if links work

 

[skinnydogs]

Both mine love chicken wings, my 15 year old cat also has them but I have to bash them up a bit for her.
I also think she needs more exersise, there is no excuse
after saturday and the clocks going forward

 

[BigRed]

I have 5 whippets, they all eat Pedigree Chum complete biscuits. 4 are slim and one is a fatty. If you only have one dog it is easy to control how much you give her. Buy a complete biscuit that is recommended for sensitive tummies. Do not take any notice of how much the manufacturer recommends, they want to sell dog food !

Feed her twice a day and walk her twice a day. She ought to be hungry enough to eat it all straight away. If she doesn't, put the food away. Don't let her graze on it all day.

Be careful if too much fast exercise if she is overweight. Like all fat people she can strain her limbs if you push it.

 

[foxviewstud]

i would def cut out the chum pedigree is one of the worst foods around full of rubbish, if you are feeding a complete dry food you shouldnt be giving her meat as well as in affect you are giving her 2meals at each sitting, things like burns and james well beloved are good for delicate bellies and also chappie seems very good for delicate bellies, we always used to feed this to dogs at kennels who didnt get on with the other foods

 

[GinaGem]

I would def re-asses her diet. Try a complete dried food, particularly ones with natural ingredients (we've tried a few with Bes since we got her as she has a sensitive tummy). We weigh every meal so she gets the recommended amount and then a couple of times a week we substitute some of it for raw meat or pilchards. Chicken wings are excellent i've found.

 

[FinellaGlen]

I am afraid that I haven't got round to taking any pics or measurements of my dog because the builders turned up to start on our kitchen extension today and it has all been very busy and messy since then! I have taken on board the dietary advice though and I will definitely look for an alternative to the Pedigree Chum.

I have recruited my daughter as chief dog walker this week whilst she is on holiday from school. She takes the dog for a run rather than a walk and she keeps her out for ages so I think that will help to kick start her exercise routine.

 

[KarynK]

I know whippets can be lazy, my sister used to keep them and if they had a choice they wouldn't even have got up to pee on a rainy day!!

Echo above really, raw diet is really the very best at controlling weight, they even have to expend calories and effort to eat it. Chicken wings are very good as the staple as they have an 80% bone to muscle meat ratio and it's muscle meat you need to avoid.

Be very careful with commercial diets and study the label closely, avoid anything that is bulked out with wheat, oats or even rice, these are unnatural for dogs and can cause excessive weight gain and much much worse. Even some claimed to be natural have undesirable ingredients.

The problem with commercial feeds to me is that they are very overcooked and many have to add artificial vitamins and minerals back into the food as they are destroyed by the cooking process, little independent research has been done into just how available to the dog these artificial additions are. Not only that but because it is overcooked the food be it tinned or biscuits is insipid in colour so they add a colour back into it to make it attractive to dog owners, there are no restrictions on what they add to pet food and many colorants are carcinogens!

A lot of commercial food is bulked out to make it cheaper and to do this they add carbohydrates. Any of the ingredients in pet food can be unfit for human consumption! There are no restrictions. What it says on the label doesn’t always accurately describe it’s content, chicken for example, can be legs heads and even claws and beaks!!

Whatever route you choose, get into the habit of reading the label closely!