You might have read my post on my fussy dog but this is about my other one. I have mentioned how overweight he is and how he scoffs everything. Does anyone know whether it's worth buying weight loss foods. Or should I just cut down the normal amount of the brand of food he's receiving at the moment?

I would just cut down on food and increase exrcise.If you want to bulk up his food try adding veges
Archer

I give both dogs the same amount of exercise but by increasing Byron's (overweight dog) amount would I have to leave the other dog at home. As the other dog is very underweight at the moment then surely he shouldn't be getting more exercise than normal as it would burn off the food that I'm struggling to keep him eating at the moment. If I do take Byron out without the other dog I find that the dog left at home becomes extremely upset. He tries to dislodge the front door from the frame for instance. How do I get around 'the terrible two-some'?

I have found lite diets very useful in the past for a dog that loved her food and did not find a reduced quantity of a normal complete at all satisfying.

I did read the other day that diet food for an overweight dog is no good whatsoever! What do I believe when it comes to this?
Both of my dogs get plenty of exercise. Everyday they definitely get between 2-3hours but I'm still stuck with my overweight one!

The diet foods can certainly work, because they have more in the way of indigestible fillers, so a gets fewer calories but isn't left feeling starved. They're certainly worth trying.
:)

Would it affect his working abilities though? Of course, I'm interested in having him losing weight but I usually do a lot of hiking competitions with him through the summer. I don't want the diet food to push his energy back as well as his weight!

Another thing I thought I'd ask is whether there's a reason for him suddenly putting on all this weight since Christmas?

My bitch always put on weight after her season, a couple of weeks on JWB Senior/light and she was nice & trim again, having no effect on her energy levels.  Once the weight is off, it can be easily maintained using the same food, just regulating the amount given.

Whatever exercise level he is on he is clearly taking in too many calories to stay slim, the excess is just being converted into fat clearly.  You should weigh him on a weekly basis during the weight loss programme and aim to reduce it very gradually that way you are only giving him slightly less calories than is required for whatever level of exercise you are choosing for him and it should not affect his energy levels as he has his fat store to call on :)  When that is used up and his at a healthy weight you can increase the calories again to a maintainance level.

You are at liberty to believe whichever account you wish :).  I believe it because I have had the experience of it working.  A bag of food does not cost a fortune why not try it and see, if it doesn't work.....

It's not only calories you have to look out for, but the food also needs to provide the nutrition a dog needs. i would not feed a normal, healthy dog a "less active" or "reduced calorie" food, simply because they contain much higher amounts of carbohydrates, which a dog really doesn't need.
Reducing the amount fed and feeding a regular adult food is the healthier way to go imo.

They don't have more carbohydrates thats the point :)  A professionally formulated diet food has all the vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates etc of a normal food plus more non digestable bulk to fill up to the quantity that the dog has been used to eating whilst putting on weight on whatever level of exercise it is getting.  Simply reducing quantity would be fine for a dog that is not all that interested in quantity, not many of them in the gun dog group though :) for those it just leads to a unhappy dog. Alternatively you can add fillers yourself but many people like myself prefer to have all the nutrients worked out for them and trust the professionals to do it.

A friend of mine fed her dog on one of the popular light foods and he ate less than half of what he was supposed to eat, simply because he got full too quickly. These foods are full of fillers and dont contain a lot of meat :(  Granted this dog is not a chowhound,but it does show what can happen with these foods!

Isabel it really isnt that hard to feed a dog,it is not much different to feeding your family,when we serve our kids dinner we dont add 1/2 cup veg, .5g calcium, 12% protein etc. etc. nor should we do this for our dogs :)

The only people who say feeding dogs is rocket science are the pet food manufactures themselves, and make pet owners believe that they couldnt possibly put a meal together for their dogs :rolleyes

>he ate less than half of what he was supposed to eat, simply because he got full too quickly.

Excellent! I bet he lost weight quicker. The food was doing exactly what it said on the tin ..!
:)

No JG he was slowly starving/malnourished to death as he couldnt eat enough to get all the nutrients he needed out of the food!

It's generally advised to stop dieting when you reach target weight! ;) Carrying on till you starve to death is just silly.

Exactly, I think I mentioned in an earlier post that you should weight your dog often I would also expect someone to notice if a food is not suiting their dog and how much they are actually eating.  My dog lost her weight steadily and slowly over about 6 months with no loss of condition or energy.

JG i dont think your understanding what i'm saying When a dog doesnt eat anywhere near the recommended amount that they should be for their weight,then they are not getting enough nutrients for their body to function efficiently.

The dog was only on this food for a couple of weeks before she noticed the dramatic decline,she got the dogs weight sorted another easier way.

If it was eating no where near the recommended amount clearly the dog did not enjoy that particular food, that can happen with any food and we have had many a post to testify to that.  I don't see that that is any fault of the food itself, presumably other dogs enjoy it or sales would drop through the floor.

Basically, if a dog (like a person) needs to lose weight, it has been taking in more calories than it's using. That imbalance needs to be remedied. That can be done in several ways - you can increase the energy output by increasing the exercise, but that isn't always possible (ill dog, recuperation from surgery etc). You can simply cut down the amount of food - however that can lead to hunger and scavenging. Or you can feed lower quantities of a balanced diet but add indigestible neutral fillers to prevent the discomfort of hunger.

That is what the 'lite' diets do. The intake is still balanced for the ratios of protein, carb, fat etc, so there's no risk of malnutrition or dietary imbalance.
:)

Glad it worked for your friend's dog, bet she was pleased with the result :)

>we dont add 1/2 cup veg, .5g calcium, 12% protein etc. etc. nor should we do this for our dogs

Quite :), but you do need to ensure the minimum requirements are met over a period of time.  You're right you could sit down and work it all out yourself given all the information (from a reliable source ;)).......or........you could have someone else do it for you :)

>or........you could have someone else do it for you

I guess it depends how busy your life is, whether or not you have the time available to do it!
:)

Thats one reason you might choose to let others do it :) however I'm pretty much a lady of leisure ;) and can pick my hobbies as I wish.  Although I have no doubt with a bit of care and study you could do it yourself and indeed you may choose to do it because you enjoy it, like I enjoy cooking, however if it just does not interest you as a passtime and, having looked into it, you feel that the food manufacturers are doing a perfectly good job with their professional nutritionalists why not avail yourself of them, life's too short to stuff a mushroom :D

Well, with all due respect to everyone...it's about my dog losing weight. He's always been a healthy, well exercised dog but suddenly put on weight since Christmas and I haven't been feeding him any more than usual. Plus he's male so it's nothing to do with him being in season! LOL

Sorry - I'm sure you've said, but how old is he? Is he castrated?

He's five years old in a couple of weeks and no, hasn't been castrated...yet!

K

The metabolism does seem to change over the years, I'm not sure what breed he is, perhaps he is going through a maturing stage and muscling up or perhaps he is now approaching middle age and allthough organised walks are the same length there is less effort going into the running about and less activity indulged in around the house and garden.  Whatever it is, just as JG has described, if you don't want to increase his organised activity calories need reducing one way or another, you know your dog best as to what will suit him out of the three options listed all I can tell you is, having tried them, if you find a lite diet he finds appetising it will definately work.

Thanks for that. I'll definitely bare that in mind. He's a Siberian husky and five years old. What you said about him reaching middle age is very interesting. I didn't think of it like that. The breeder seems to think that huskies usually reach middle age between five and eight years old. Do you know any lite diets which are worth trying?

K

Mine was on Beta Lite as she had been on Beta and I knew she liked it and it suited her, is there a Lite version of what you are already feeding?

He's on Burns and they do a diet called High Oats. They say it encourages weight loss and is developed for diabetic pets. Would you think this is worth trying?

K

Why not? :) You will soon know if he doesn't like it or it doesn't suit him and I would recommend a weekly weigh to avoid the scenario of Fordo's friend ;) ideally you want the loss to be slow and steady.

This sounds really terrible...but where can I weigh a dog his size weekly. My weighing scales are far too small!

K

Can you pick him up ? Weigh yourself and then pick him up and weigh again :)

Daisy

Not with ease! He's a big, heavy dog...and hates being picked up!

How far away are your vets ? Ours has scales in reception, so you can just walk in and weigh :)

Daisy

Would they allow me to do that then? Because, I can walk to my vets with him - hey, extra exercise - and take his weight. I was wondering whether they would mind because they're scales are behind the reception.

Actually, tough, I pay an extremely large price for their services. Why should they mind me standing my dog on their scales? LOL

My vets don't mind - I often take my two along just to weigh them :)

Most vets waiting room s ahve a set and they encourage people to weigh.,  I use this as an opportunity to socialise the dogs to gioing to the vets wehich otherwise they rarewly do.  I had a dog in the past who hated the vets mine love going as mostly they just get weighted and a fuss from staff.

I feed burns and although I've never used the high oats, I do know others who have found it helpful when trying to get their dogs to loose weight.

I would ask the vet to take a blood sample and send it off to ahve his thyroid function checked.  If he hasn't had his ffod changed, hasn't been castrated and his excersise is till the same then thid unexplained weight gain needs investigating.  Has there been a change to his coat?

Nothing any more drastic than usual this time of year. He's going through his yearly malt where you can pull his undercoat out in clumps but is nearly at the end of that. What do you mean by having his thyroid function checked? Is this bad?

An underactive thyroid gland can cause lethargy and weight gain, but it's easily treatable. Have the vet check his blood for that, then you'll know one way or the other.
:)

Not life threatening then?!

Most sites are saying that this usually happens after the dog has been neutered but mine hasn't.

No, by no means. Don't worry!
:)

Phew! At least that's made me feel a bit happier! Thought it was all doom and gloom for a moment then!

You can do a little test to actually see how digestable these foods are :) Fast your dog for 24 hours,then weigh up your dogs portion of food,then when he poops,weigh the poop,say you fed him 8oz of food and his poop weighs 7oz,then you know he's not digesting much of the food.This was the  test my friend did,however the moisture content can have something to do with the weight of the poop but you will get the general idea,another one is if your back yard looks like a horse has taken up residence and you need a gas mask to scoop poop :o

Tsk tsk Isabel,i see your taking davedee's tactics :(

I must be misinterpreting your post, as it seems almost as though you don't think anything should come out of the other end at all! Obviously that would be silly, because bulky waste material is needed to remove toxins from the body. No poo = very sick dog!
:)

I think you are still missing the point of these foods Frodo.  Having a full bowl to satisfy the dog and yet some (althouth certainly not 7/8 ) will not be digested and thus lead to the dog burning some of it's fat.  Personally even when not dieting I believe a decent amount of roughage is required for healthy bowels and bulky stools certainly seem to assist in the emptying of anal glands.  I'm sure some dogs manage OK on reduced output foods but one of mine became horribly constipated when I tried her on one, never again.  Bulky but firm stools are no more difficult to shovel up than little ones and as the bulk of it is just fibre there is no nasty smell to it, but then I don't find horse manure offensive either :)
Frodo says:
Tsk tsk Isabel,i see your taking davedee's tactics
Isabel says:
I think you will have to give an explanation there as I haven't a clue what you are on about :)

JG NO food is 100% digestable,i agree that we and our dogs need *some* roughage in our diets for the reasons you explained :)

Lite diets tend to be chock full of corn and indigestable grain,this is why if you look at the KCal listed on super premium dogfoods  they are very high, as compared to the KCals listed on the, em...lower quality brands. This is because kcals=readily digestible and usable calories. If corn were easily digestible as a protein source the kcals on a purina product would be sky high since that's about all you get in a bag of purina.....and the poops would not be so enormous. Think about what corn looks like after it goes through YOUR digestive system and tell me how digestible you think it really is...... Corn in and of itself isn't all that bad. It's when dog food companies use corn as a protein source and forget to add the meat.