Hi,

I have seven year old Dobie, who my wife and I both love to bits. However we are both guilty of giving her the odd treat, pigs ear, pigs trotters, bits from our meals etc and now she is a little overweight.

She is just over 40Kg but is of a big stock and so doesnt look too much overweight, however she has an arthritic knee which troubles her after exercise. She is on metacam and Glucosomine for it and that seems to work well, however we really want to get her weight down as we feel this will be the best course of treatment in the long term

What I would like to know is what are peoples recommendations on how much we should we be feeding her on a daily basis and how, i.e. twice a day, once a day???

We currently feed her once a day (usually as we eat our evening meal) and her food consists of a combination of a complete dry food with maybe half a tin of wet food such as butchers or Pedigree mixed in with it.

thanks in advance

You could try just giving her the same amount for her proper mealtime.  And nothing at other times!

It's the "extras" that are putting the weight on.  :-)

If she's anything like my Dobie she probably hoovers all food in sight.  We feed twice a day, with a healthy fish skin treat at bed time. The only other treats are the occasional raw carrot, she loves them but are not going to make her fat.

My friend feds her dobe bitch who is about 8 now 9ounces of dry food and nothing else. 

If she gets any left overs then she gets less dry food.

I would weigh out 6 ounces of dry food and find a beaker/cup/container that will take that amount exactly, and use that as a measure.  The only treats should e slices of apple or carrot, or other low cal vegetable.

Once her weight is correct and she has a nice waist then up her food to the 9 ounces and see how it goes.

It will take quite a bit of time to get the weight down.

I'd cut out the more flavoursome tinned food.

40kg does sound pretty heavy, even if she is fairly big boned. My large male Goldie weighs in at around 36kg and I know when his weight went up to 39kg he did look porky - it sort of crept on unnoticed. My 2 Dobe girls weigh 28kg (5 years old) and 30kg (nearly 8) and are of average build, so I would guess your girl will need to lose around 5+ kilos.

I've always fed twice a day and would go along with what Brainless says, measure out a set amount and stick to it until she develops a waist. As a guide mine currently get 3 ounces of dried food (Orijen or Acana) along with about 10 ounces of raw meat per day.

9 ounces per day!! oh my word, that is such a small amount.

I normally give her around 12 oz plus half a tin of meat.

That seems such a drastic cut, do you think I should reduce gradually perhaps?

> her food consists of a combination of a complete dry food with maybe half a tin of wet food such as butchers or Pedigree mixed in with it.
>

I would feed a little less complete food (the Butches wet food per gram will be less calorific than complete food, so she wont feel so hard done by by dropping off a small portion of kibble as opposed to a lot of wet food). Make sure you measure out every meal, it's all too easy to over estimate.

My dog has elbow displasia so keeping him lean is very important, every meal is measured. He has 2 meals per day, each consisting of 1 scoop of complete and half a tin of butches wet food (or same qnty of raw tripe).
He has a few treats throughout the day, but if ever he gets any left-overs from our meals then his food is cut down accordingly.
It's  abit of a juggling act to keep a dog lean (especially a greedy food-obsessed pig like mine ), but worth it :)

Whatever way you decide to do this, it boils down to less calories in = weight loss :)

Well done for recognising she could do with a litttle less weight on her & acting on it :)

> I normally give her around 12 oz plus half a tin of meat

My mastiff weighs approx 76kg, he eats 12 ounces of complete per day + 1 tin of wet food (split between 2 meals, I wouldn't dream of feeding that volume in 1 meal), he is not very active, but he is lean.

12 ounces seems like a massive meal in 1 go, especially if the kibble is soaked, it would fill up a large dog bowl

thanks for the great advice!

12 oz equates to about 340g which is 60g less than a full tin of wet food

So theoretically, if I were giving her all wet food, my 12oz plus half a tin would equate to 1 full tin and a third. This doesnt sound excessive for a big dog does it?

I dont generally soak the kibble, should I?

this is the dry food I feed her

http://www.ukpetfood.com/davies-ranger-chicken--rice-15kg-540-p.asp

> 9 ounces per day!! oh my word, that is such a small amount.
>

That is what she gets to keep at her normal weight to reduce it it will need to be 6 ounces or less ;)

This is not a bitch that is small, and she has owned 6 over the years and none of the mature bitches got more than this, the males would get half as much again.

Until she had children 6 years ago the dogs never got any scraps or extras other than a bone or chew.  The dogs lived to 13 and were fit and muscular getting a lot of excersise.

My medium size breed are only getting between 5 and 7 ounces of dry food a day, LOL

Thanks Brainless, at the end of the day I want my Dobe to live as long as possible and to be fit and healthy also.

When you say plenty of exercise, how much are you generally talking?

I take mine out one in the morning for a 10 min stroll and then a good 45 min play in the park on an evening with a tennis ball.

Anything more than this and she is pretty worn out.

I agree with Mastifflover that you would be better off feeding twice a day(12oz in one meal is too risky as regards bloat for such a large deep chested breed) and cutting down on the complete rather than the tinned.Also measure out the treats at the beginning of each day as part of her daily intake-and don't go over that amount.And try and keep to healthy low carbohydrate treats(such as fish skins,jerky etc) not biscuits.
Good luck!

> So theoretically, if I were giving her all wet food, my 12oz plus half a tin would equate to 1 full tin and a third. This doesnt sound excessive for a big dog does it?
>

If you were to feed just wet food, you would need to feed more than 1 & half tins. Wet food is approx 80% water, dry food approx 10%, so gram for gram, the wet food has less calories/nutrition.
That's why I sugested to cut down on the complete food, not the wet :) The wet food will help to 'bulk out' her meals so she still gets to feel like she's eaten a good meal :)

Most of us will soak the complete(dry) food in water prior to feeding it, so it swells up (before it's eaten, rather than in the stomach), as a prentative measure against bloat. Also feeding two smaller meals a day, instead of one large one is a prentative against bloat. Neither of these are a fail-safe, but it is thought to help in the prevention of bloat (a serious condition in which the stomach swells & can twist around causing death very quickly :( ).

>When you say plenty of exercise, how much are you generally talking?

As an adult I'd say a half hour in the morning with an hour later in the day as a minimum.

Soaking a small amount of dry food so that it swells to capacity will make it look (to you) and feel (to her) like a larger quantity. She'll eat less without feeling hungry, which is good for painless weight loss.

> It's&nbsp; abit of a juggling act to keep a dog lean (especially a greedy food-obsessed pig like mine <IMG alt=eek src="/images/eek.gif"> ),

You have such a way with words.   :-)  :-)

> If you were to feed just wet food, you would need to feed more than 1 & half tins. Wet food is approx 80% water, dry food approx 10%, so gram for gram, the wet food has less calories/nutrition.

When my Dobes were fed on Naturediet, and nothing else, they got three quarters of a pack, twice a day (so 1 and a half packs a day), so I don't necessarily think you would need to feed more than 1 and a half tins.

To the OP she is probably exhausted after her evening exercise due to the extra weight she is carrying.

Pedlee, thanks for the info,

I like the look of that Naturediet, it looks like good wholesome stuff. I think I might give her a go on that at the quantity you suggest.

It might be an idea to try her on the Senior/Lite variety until you get her weight under control, but any of the varieties are good. Even now, although it's not their main diet, I give them the odd pack and they all love it.

Good luck with the weight loss, it will take some time, but will be worth it in the end.

Hi Pedlee,

Last time I pester you, but if you take a look at the feeding guide from Naturediet, If I want my dog to weight around the 36Kg mark for example, I need to be feeding her 1550g per day (almost four packs, as each pack is 390g)

Are they just trying to sell more of their product perhaps?

http://www.naturediet.co.uk/adviceadultfeedingguide.html

thanks again

I used to feed Davies Ranger once, when my dogs needed to GAIN weight and this was recommended to me as a good food to gain weight on. :)

> they got three quarters of a pack, twice a day (so 1 and a half packs a day), so I don't necessarily think you would need to feed more than 1 and a half tins.
>

Good point Pedlee.
What I meant was, 12 oz of complete does not equate to the same nutrition as 12 oz of wet food. So if a dog was eating 12oz of complete food (as a maintanence diet) it would need to eat more than 12 oz (1 & half tins) of wet food to be getting the same nutrition (if I am making any sense?), not that the OP should be feeding more than 1 & tins.
:)

ETA, nor do I mean that the OP should be feeding 12oz of complete. (LOL, I am gettting in a right muddle today!)

But also don't forget that Nature Diet is 70 odd % real meat, take a different type of wet food and you may only have 7 % meat! You'd need to feed a lot more of the cheaper food. Nature Diet also adds the weight if you're not careful because it is so rich.

> Are they just trying to sell more of their product perhaps?

Quite probably. If I fed that amount mine would be enormous! The guide is just that, a guide, albeit a very generous guide.

I fed ND yesterday and used 4 packs (2 packs per meal) between 5 dogs (they did also get a small amount of Orijen [3 oz per dog]).

My dogs are by no means skinny, all are well covered. I've always gone by eye rather than "feeding guides".

"I used to feed Davies Ranger once, when my dogs needed to GAIN weight and this was recommended to me as a good food to gain weight on.  "

Uh oh!!!

I am going out to buy some Naturediet as recommended by Pedlee and will start her on 1.5 packs per day from tomorrow.

I would suggest you cut out the wet food split her meals into two and add loads of lightly steamed veg. I am not a lover of tinned foods but if you find she turns her nose up at the veg try putting a spoonfull of wet in just to give "smelly" interest.
My 8 year old Bernese weighs in at 48kg and is about the right size, she gets  (I feed all raw) 1lb of raw food, tripe, chicken, chicken necks, carcasses rib bones, raw sardines etc... a day with loads of steamed veg split in to two meals. I accept raw feeding is not for everyone so cut out the wet, cut down the dry to about 2/3rds of what she is having and bulk up with veg. It works a treat and fills tummies up nicely.
Try natural treats such as fish skins,  tripe sticks etc. and limit to no more than one a day. Raw carrots apples etc can be given more often if she likes them.
Aileen

I am not a lover of tinned foods

Ah but Nature Diet is the next best thing to feeding raw. :)

Yes true I was referring to the "Butchers or pedigree" the OP stated she fed. Sorry for the confusion. I never think of ND as tinned!!
Aileen

Hi

My 9 year old Dobe Bitch weighs approx 33 kg.  She is fed on Vitalin Senior/Lite 200 gms daily, topped up with a third of a pack of Nature Diet usually Rabbit/Turkey.  She is fed twice a day.  I top this up with veg.  She is fed up on a stand with a large cup in the middle to slow her down, and the food is soaked.  Another young Dobe I know died last week of bloat, in the the past I've lost one to.  I certainly wouldn't advocate feeding once a day, it's too much for the gut to take, and I don't exercise mine for at least one hour either side of their meal.  I am parnoid about this scurge on my breed.

My old girl is doing really well, still in the show ring in fact, so I must be doing something right.  But please please remember an overweight dog is an unfit dog, don't feed human food and keep the trreats down to a minimum.  As the guys have said in previous posts the reason for her lack of energy is her weight and it certainly isn't helping with her knee.  I'm sure you'll get it all under control.

Thanks Jovigirl,

yes, its my number one priority to get her weight down, she can't help being a greedy Dobe, and its us at fault for treating her. I think we have been to easy to give her our food scraps in the past, and coupled with the odd pigs ear, raw hide chew etc it soon mounts up. The other things is, she is on Propalyn for slight incontinence, and this looks to me to be quite syrupy, i'll bet this adds a few calories, also she has sneakily eaten the cats food on a few occasions too!!

You say 200g of Vitalin and 1/3 pack of Nature diet, I assume you split this over two meals? or is this per meal?

thanks

> I am going out to buy some Naturediet as recommended by Pedlee and will start her on 1.5 packs per day from tomorrow.

As it's a new food remember to introduce it gradually over a period of about 5-7 days. Once she's acclimatised to it, and that's all she's having, 1.5 packs a day, split into 2 meals would be the way to go.

> Anything more than this and she is pretty worn out.

That is because she if overweight.

My friend always took hers out for an hour off lead in the morning and at least half an hour, but usually an hour in the evening, often road walking.

They certainly did this much until over 10 years of age.

I would advise giving the dry a go, it is less tasty than the wet (you want her eating less not looking for more) and easier to measure out.

The other lady is feeding 1 1/2 packs of nature diet for maintenance so you would need to cut ti to say a pack for weight loss, and even then it may be slow as she isn't using much energy in exercise.

I feed 2 meals a day.  She has 2 thirds of her daily allowance for her evening meal and 1 third for breakfast.  I only put the Nature Diet in the evening meal.  Obviously your girl has to be on her Propalyn.  Cats food is a no no, it contains enzymnes that are not good for dogs., or so I've been told !!!

Pigs ears and raw hide are full of fat, I only give my lot one as occasional treat.  I use the Pedigree low fat ones, or raw veg.

Hope this helps.  It sounds cruel to feed only these amounts but it will be so good for your girl in the long run.  She'll have more energy and if she's got that she'll be able to burn more calories so it'll have a knock on effect.  Be aware also that extra weight can affect her heart, especially at this age.

Onward and upward !!!!!