Hi
My 8 year old terrier was castrated earlier this year and has put on a fair bit of weight (which I understand can be a problem after this operation).  I have reduced his food intake a little and upped his exercise but he is not losing any weight.
I don't want to starve the poor boy but would like him to lose just a little bit of weight as he never had any weight issues before the operation.
He has issues with seasonal allergies which affect his eyes, ears & skin so he's on Arden Grange Sensitive White Fish & Potato which he enjoys and agrees with his condition.
Is there any other complete (dry) food that will help him to lose weight whilst also helping with his allergies?
Thanks in advance.

You could try soaking his present food, whilst giving him less.   Same bulk, but fewer calories ;-)

Or try giving him the smaller ration, and adding some cooked green beans to bulk it out.

Or put his smaller ration in a large Buster Ball for him to roll around - activity food, and it will take him longer to eat it :-D  the Buster has a useful ability to make it more or less difficult  and the larger ones should accomodate the kibble :-D

If he still is looking for something, try a large steamed bone which you can flavour with things like home made beef/chicken stock diluted and sprayed on, then allowed to dry.

I found with my Afghan X who was neutered, he needed about half of his previous ration   Luckily, he wasn't one to eat if he didn't want it, he just left it.  Which was worrying at the time.

The link given is for illustrative purposes and not a recommendation of the website - I cannot vouch for the website as I've never bought from them ;-)

Thanks Dill
I like the idea of the buster ball and the steamed bone - unfortunately with these type of things, the other dog will want the same and it will cause some issues!
I think I might try soaking a smaller portion of his food to start with and see how we get on.

To be honest the only reliable way to get weight off and keep it off is to do smaller potions of a high quality food and then up it slightly once weight down.

Using diet foods is an expansive way to use fibre and cellulose as fillers and I have found condition is reduced (poorer coat and muscle tone etc).

We let the dogs take turns to have the Buster Ball ;-)  they soon learn to be patient :-D

One dog is out in the garden, unless it's raining, or in another room with a nice chewy, whilst the other trundles around the Buster Ball.   Or we just put the one having the treat ball in the kitchen with the dog gate/door closed ;-)

Why not let both dogs have steamed bones?  good for their muscles and very calming for them :-D   Of course they may need to be in different rooms (mine don't ;-) )  but that's the same with lots of treats, for many dogs.   I find steamed bones far less contentious than 'roasted' or raw bones, with those it's just not worth the hassle, epsecially as they need to be watched with the roasted and raw as they're likely to crunch chunks off and choke.

I agree with Brainless on the diet foods - Very expensive, but the dog loses condition on them.   What's needed is a reduction in weight, not condition ;-)

Also if the dog has allergies and is settled on a particular food, far better to stick with that food than go through loads of different ones trying to find one that works, and meantime the allergies flare up again ;-)

Regarding the weight loss, don't expect the dog to lose the weight in the same time he put it on, it can take a lot longer to come off!

So a good way of managing your expectations, is to count how many weeks/months it is since he was castrated, then that's the minimum length of time it should take to come off.   It could well be double that, or more, since he's now neutered and his metabolism has changed ;-)

Thanks everyone
I would rather stick with the food he's on as I have tried changing food (many years ago) and it did cause all sorts of problems.
Where would I get steamed bones from?  Are they readily available as it's not the sort of thing I would have at home.

You can buy filled or unfilled steamed bones in places like wilkinsons and pets at home.

I prefer to buy them unfilled as the ingredients listed for the filling are so vague,  cereals,   meat derivatives etc.    

I fill them with whatever's handy,  but I don't fill them up ;-)    So eg..   Soft cheese triangles rubbed round inside,   peanut butter,  pate etc.     Anything really that will get them chewing.

If I wanted to 'fill'  one,  I'd pack it with the dog's food,  then put it in warm water for the food to swell up,  it would  need  wrapping for a while to allow it all to settle,  but that's too much hard work for me ;-)

I have been known to buy smoked,  filled bones and  remove and discard the filling.   The dogs LOVED the smoke  flavour!

A good  rule  is to make sure the bone is big enough -  it  should be bigger than the dog's jaws.   And make sure their lower jaw can't get caught in either end -  I tend to  buy the ones that are very wide on the one end and too small on the other to  get their jaw into ;-)

I recently had success reducing the weight of an overweight dog using Burns Weight Control food (Chicken and oats).  He was unhappy when fed reduced amounts of his normal food, even with added veges.  I found the price comparable with the Arden Grange which formed part of his usual ration.  Fed the Burns for both meals per day, he lost weight steadily even though he had a chemical castration implant (when that ran out, he dropped 1kg in  fortnight! and is now back on normal rations for one meal a day and monitoring).

I don't know how that might fit with your terrier's allergies, though.

why not buy a couple of marrow bones from the butcher let them lick it clean and then wash and refill with something tasty.  I do this for mine and then put them n the freezer ready for use. Much cheaper and a raw bone is safer than a steamed or cooked bone

If reducing portion size and increasing exercise has not resulted in weight loss, just reduce portion size a little more and increase exercise a little more. Keep doing that until he starts to lose weight. There is no downside or danger to this. Weight loss is no different in dogs to humans: calories in v calories out. Tip the balance and you lose weight, don't and you don't. If you're happy with his current food, just give him less.