Royal Canin Satiety Weight Management - food experiences

[Kat_Bath]

Morning all!

Harvey (nearly 11yo chocolate lab) needed to lose a couple of kgs (he was 33kg), mostly for his joints. He wasn't overweight by much, but it was excess, and he was/is slowing down a bit. The vet suggested RC Satiety food and he's been on that for about 6 months now. Last time he was weighed (4 weeks ago), he was 28.7kg, and he's back to the vet today for his next librela injection and boosters. He'll get weighed again, but he has lost more and I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was 27.something, maybe even low 27s. Side note: this is including his various lumps and bumps, two of which are fist-sized (and I think it's really unfair they are included in his weight because he can't do anything about them! )

Obviously, I will ask the vet, but they're looking at the dog in front of them and I'm curious to know if anyone else has any experiences with this food. If anyone has, did you change food after the weight was lost? Or up the amount so weight was maintained? I can't imagine I can keep Harvey on the same amount, because he'd continue to drop, but if the amount is increased he is going to be pooing even more, because of the amount of filler in it (he currently poos 4-5, sometimes 6, times a day and they're not small!)... I'm wondering if we could keep him on it but supplement with something high in protein...

I think we're also playing a bit of a guessing game with him at the moment because he is starting to slow down, and it could be age, it could be pain, it could be lack of energy. I don't know how much of it is energy... It's hard to tell. The potential pain aspect is being monitored and managed. He's generally happy in himself, but does slow down on walks (although I think some of that is boredom during the week, and also, we live on a hill, and all routes home are uphill, and I don't know if finds that harder now, or if I'm anthropomorphising... (I also hate hills!)

Any thoughts welcome - here he is, as thanks!

 

[Amymay Again]

He's soooo handsome.

No experience of the food myself. But are you feeding him the recommended amount for the weight you want him to be?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

I would gradually add in a different brand, with a view to eventually swapping altogether.
Our 3 yr old brown Lab appears to have inherited the 'hungry gene', she was in poor condition when we rehomed her, so needed careful feeding with oily kibble. Now she is eating low-fat food!

 

[Clodagh]

That’s a lot of poo!
I presume it contains a load of fillers to make them feel full. Ffee would never feel full and is the greediest dog most desperate for food I’ve ever met.
She’s always hungry so just had to be that way. But I’m mean .
I agree with PAS I would gradually swap him to a quality diet. More than 3 poos a day is excessive imo.

 

[Kat_Bath]

Thanks AMA! I am biased, but he is such a good looking boy and an all-round stunner! His grey hairs are making him ever so distinguished!
He has been on the recommended amounts, yes, under the guidance of the vet nurse who does the weight loss clinics. We decreased a bit because the amount he first started on was too much (1, for weight loss - he started steady - and 2, the amount of poo coming out of him was so much that he had to keep asking to go out, bless him - think that was a bit of a shock!). I am guessing she will say to increase the amount now he has lost when he needs to, but I'm then back to lots of poop, and I'm just not sure that can be good for them... I don't know... You never know, she may suggest another RC food...

Thanks PS - he definitely has the hungry gene. If he wasn't a lab, we would try and make him a natural grazer, but he cannot be trusted, so he has 4 small meals a day and that really suits him. But thanks to the hungry gene, he has always been very trainable When he came to us almost 7 years ago (time flies!), he was on cheap supermarket food, and I think he is a bit of a basic boy at heart

 

[Kat_Bath]

It is a lot of poo, right?! It is the filler, yes, the vet nurse did say that's normal, but the poor love was on hydrolysed protein for years beforehand and sometimes only did 1 poo a day! He was on that because it helped (we thought he might have allergies and slightly dicky tummy, and tried the food and it helped) and it got to the point of why-fix-what's-not-really-broken, so he was just left on it, but he has done well on the RC, so I think we could find a happy medium.

I guess I'm just wary that he could go too far the other way (too skinny) if we continue on this trajectory. Of course, having a nice-sized lab is great, and best for them, but he has lost nearly 6kg in 6 months, and he does look better, but he might also start looking a bit ill soon! People have started commenting that he has lost a lot, and he wasn't hugely overweight to start with.

 

[Clodagh]

It’s hard to judge a dogs weight by eye, but equally by eye is far more appropriate than the scales. Ffee is 30kg, more or less, huge for a lab bitch, but she’s just a really big dog.

 

[ihatework]

I found similar on the RC in relation to poo volume! Although it was effective for weight loss.

If it helps, I’ve switched both my dogs onto skinner’s recently, more as a cost saving exercise and was very surprised that both are doing better on it poop wise than the more expensive brands!

Bonkers terrier is on full fat stuff, but the fat old spaniel is on this one and I wouldn’t go back to the RC! On paper it’s probably not the best, but my dogs say different.

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[Aru]

Try the royal canin mobility c2p food. Still lower calories but also has joint support supplements included in the food but much less filler so you should see less poo. Should be similar cost wise to Satiety as well.

 

[Annette4]

Jack corgi moved to 'normal' food after a prescribed weight loss diet. We ended up on skinners senior (he was 2yo at the time) and it worked for him.