Hello my loves,

Need some advice for puggy,he is 9 years old now and all he does is sleep,he goes out for a pee but thats it,old age has set in and the weight is creeping on,,,he is a pug,and he has put on 3lbs,so although it does not sound alot,its is in a small dog,and also its no good for his breathing probles,spine and knees etc.He cant have the amount cut down as he will be hungry so i want to try a different food but not sure what !!!!!
At the mo,he is has always had arden grange lamb and rice as he cant eat rich meat flavour like duck or chicken,it has to be a dry food which i soak as he has hardly any teeth left,but there are so many to pick from,arden grange out the door as their light one is chicken,i have bought him some james wellbeloved fish and rice in seniour/light but im not actually sure if they are light in diet low fat terms,also,when i finally do get a diet low fat type food,do i give him the same amout as he was on,less or more,
any advice would be lovely
cheers
jo

James Wellbeloved Light is specially made for dogs that may be getting a little overweight.

Looks like it is meant to be a diet food. Read the instructions on the bag for amounts and adjust according to weight loss
Aileen

Agree with Merlot.  And I would take him out for several short walks a day.  To up his metabolic rate.  :-)

> he has put on 3lbs,so although it does not sound alot,its is in a small dog,and also its no good for his breathing probles,spine and knees etc.He cant have the amount cut down as he will be hungry

3 lbs is a lot for a little dog and you are right about it being bad for him. I would disagree that you can't feed him less because he wil be hungry though. I think this is the downfall of many people who have fat dogs--that they worry about them being hungry. If he is gaining weight he is eating too much for the amount of exercise he is doing, it's as simple as that. He may look for more food, but I'm afraid that's greed not hunger :-) 

I also agree with taking him out for many short walks a day. You may find when he loses weight he will be keener to go for walks anyway. Imagine him with a rucksack strapped to him all the time with the equivilant of 1.5 bags of sugar in it-- no wonder he can't be bothered doing anything but sleep.

thanks
i was worried as on the bag it doesnt say anything about it being diet,i took the title senior/light at face value as diet food,i have slowly changed him over and he seems happy on it,as for the walks,he cant go out for short walks,he only gets a couple of short walks a week as they make his slipping pattelles terrible,and he cant stop coughing up mucus after walkies,i know his time is limited as he is now in our room at night as he has a constant nasal drip (clear)and often needs to cough alot in the night,tried all the vixcks,steam,anti biotics to no avail,cant do x rays to see what it is so its a guessing game,putting him on a diet will help his legs etc but they were bad before and walkies is very restricted,never ever feed him treats or tit bits,its deff lack of excercise that has caused it,bless him,luckily he was very thin to start with,a little too thin in the vets eyes,( 16lbs)and now is 19 lbs,which in some pugs is fine,but george is looking pot bellied fat and skinny everywhere else,i will weigh him each week to keep eye on his progress and hope to get the weight down :(
thankyou
jo

When my cocker piled on the weight with old age I added frozen runner beans to his reduced amount of senior kibble, it took him longer to eat it, his tummy was full and the weight came off quite quickly.

I also stopped all treats and gave him a bone to chew on to give his teeth a work out, he still had all his teeth at 16.5yrs when he passed away.

but george is looking pot bellied fat and skinny everywhere else,

With this scenario I would want the vet to look him over as it could be fluid making him pot bellied
Aileen

Ditto Merlot. Sounds more like fluid than fat, so would get blood tests done for liver problems and Cushings.

thanks everyone
will take him back to the vets again and see what they say,is the tests done by blood as he cant have sedation etc,he is gone 9 years old,i will have to look up these health issues and see if the symptoms include constant snotty nose and coughing on and off etc,my vets dont seemt o have noticed or said they are concerned about his belly,so i assumed it was fat,but he doesnt feel fat if yo understand what i mean,its more of how much more he weighs now and also,when he lies on his side he has tis perfect round pot belly,i can still feel his ribs easy
Im sure my pug would love a bone !!! he has about 5 teeeth left which all really wobble so he cant have any hard food,he has to have all food soaked and split into 3 portions so not to affect his hernia as well,he gets alot of teeth abcesses so is treated by antiobiotics and then they fall out,he cant have them sergically done as he cant go under sedation etc
will book him in the vets now,thanks
jo

Once the vet has given him the all clear why don't you try feeding him a complete raw food?  Many come with the bone minced in and so are balanced.  It's very palatable and easy to eat (and store & buy) - there are quite a lot of companies doing it now - Honey's, Basil, Nature's Menu, Natural Instinct.  I think it would help his digestive system and hopefully his health issues.

If he's having antibiotics just add a bit of natural yoghurt to help his gut re-populate itself with the right bacteria.

It might be that the grain content in kibble just isn't suiting him.