My bitch is putting on a lot of weight.
Do they put on weight after being spayed or is it she is eating to much.
I have never had a bitch who has been spayed before.
Dog

Yes, it's common for bitches to put on weight after being spayed.  Have you tried upping the amount of exercise she has? :-)

Yes, neutering both dogs and bitches alters their metaboloism, and they need less food than they did before. You need to cut down her food by about a third and give her more exercise.

Obviously I agree with both posts above. They do tend to put weight on more easily after spaying, but it as with any dog gaining weight, it is a case of too much food and not enough excercise, or both.

Dog food manufacturers usually recommend feeding amounts of about 25% above what a dog in average normally needs. (Wonder why they do that?! :-)) So bear that in mind when working out her diet.

What breed is she?

i was told that feeding guides are dictated by 'research' and have to be put on labels according to this 'research'. the problem is that the research is not done on pets, but animals in laboratorys or similar stressful environemtns and this means that these animals have very different metaboilsms to our pets who in many instances have a nice easy life. on this note, if you care about animals then you shoudl also consider whether the food you are feeding has been tested on animals, IAMS are notorius for this but visit BUAV or Uncaged for recommendations on companies that do not use laboratory tests. good wholesome nutrition is not a science but an art!!!

>good wholesome nutrition is not a science but an art!!!

Weird dog i hope you choose to hang around here :D We need more members who care passionately about nutrition :)

Also applies to LAYYYDDIIEESSS of a certain type...of which I am one:rolleyes:...well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Thanks everyone.
She has muscle wastage so she has not been getting to much exercise.We are building it up slowly.
I don't know if that is the right way to do it or not.
She doesn't really eat that much.
None of my dogs have ever eaten as much as is recommended by the manufacturers.
Thanks again for all your help.
Dog

Hi Dog,

It sounds like you're going the right way about things with her exercise.

Do you give her treats?  If so, try treating with her normal food, taken off the amount she has at meal times rather than giving her extras :-)

if she needs muscle then she needs meat protein, cereals are carbs and will be coverted to fat and sugar.

think atkins diet with just a really small amount of carbohyrdate for extra energy, protein is used for muscle development and repair so good quality lean meat would give her really good nutrients but cannot be stored as fat. egg is a rellay good protein but it must be cooked and onlyfed now and again, but tripe is the top good muscle building meat.

diet is seen by the body as famine, and it compensates by storing what it can when it can. so if you feed cereal foods in small amounts she will probablyconvert it to fat and store as much as she can. meat has to be used or wasted.

Why does egg need to be cooked?

It doesn't:rolleyes:

Actually I should have phrased that better and asked why the origanal poster believed that egg must be cooked. As I do frequently give the dogs a whole raw egg to play with and eat shell included.

raw eggs contain an enzyme called avidin which prevents bitin (vitamin B) absoprtion in the gut. biotin deficiency whilst not too much of a problem in adults (possible dull coat and dry skin) can impair affect growth in young and juvenille animals. cooking destroys this enzyme very easily.
the occasional raw egg probably would not cause to much problem but regualr feeding could upset the balance of an otherwise good diet

The egg yolk contians a high amount of biotin though which  more than balances this out so feeding whole raw eggs is not a problem it would only become so if you only gave egg whites.

quite right, a raw egg every day is fine, eggs are considered the "perfect" food.

There is no proven need for carbohydrates in a dogs diet.

Dogs require complete proteins which do not just come from meat but fish and eggs.  Most commercial foods also contain incomplete proteins from grains.

Eggs can be fed raw and tripe is not the top muscle building meat at all; tripe is lower in protein than many other sources.

I've found they gain weight, we put our girl onto a light diet and is looking fab! 

I tend to recommend to cut the food portion by about 1/3 after neutering for a few weeks and then adjust according to weight loss/gain... Seemed to work for all our dogs as none of them are overweight despite being castrated.

Vera

I would agree, you would soon notice loss in weight and it is more easily rectified than trying to get weight off a dog whose meatabolism has been slowed down even more by neutering.

one of my girls has put weight on she had a litter over a year ago and up until then she did agility and OB 3/4 times a week this routine changed after pups she still has free running and road walking but not as much exercise as she had before she is 4 and half . I have returned to agility but not onsuch a regular basis, I have also cut her food down /no treats etc months ago , still having trouble getting the weight off .She is fed Nutro adult which is fine for my other bitches who are tip top condition ,any ideas as to a different diet would I be better feeding her a high protein meat  diet with a little more exercise.  

Thanks everyone for your advice.
I am cutting her food down .Also her treats are being cut down.

We have only had her 16 weeks and we have been spoiling her.
It is hard not to.
Dog

My first dog (bitch) became overweight not long after she was spayed - basically through inexperience on my part.  The best thing is to make a decision about how much food you are going to give her.  Stick to a high quality sugar free food such as Naturediet, JWB, Burns, Arden Grange.  I don't know about raw so I couldn't advise you on that.  By all means treat her, but take her allocation of treats OUT of this allowance (so it is not in addition to her daily diet) - she won't know!!  Use low fat treats such as tiny pieces of baked chicken breast (for special treats) or some of the biscuits from any dried food you may give her.   I also give mine 2fish4dogs sea jerkys a day to clean their teeth. 
Plenty of exercise - but you know that already!!!

She has now been a perfect weight for three years!  (Unlike me - I wish that I could be as strict with myself) 

Ditto, all my girls are just right for weight, but not me.

Also carrot and apple make nice treats.  Once spayed they are often less fussy and anythign edible witll be a treat, I know how they feel.  I love food.