Fat Bottom Girl

[kel116]

My English lab has been eating Acana Pacifica 2 cups a day and is reasonably active BUT the vet says she's too heavy.

I wounder what I could feed her that is as high quality as Acana (low/no grain) and lower calories I wouldn't like to feed her a smaller voulume of food either.

Oh well I love my girl no matter how big her bottom his... :)

[xellil]

Why wouldn't you feed her a smaller volume of food? Obesity takes a huge toll on dogs. hips, spine, internal organs including heart - the list is endless.

When I was got my Doberman he was overweight and I had no problem feeding him about 1/4 of the recommendation on the bag.

My dachsund was hugely overweight when I got her - I literally counted out eight pieces of food. Yes, it was hard. But I also gave her green beans (which they can't digest) before she went to bed so she wouldn't fell hungry at night.

Acana is a good quality food. If she feels good on it, I don't see a need to change - just reduce the amount.

[Mondo]

Sometimes a dog needs to diet. Toby is down a pound, but probably still needs to lose a pound. He's got atypical cushings, so is off switch for eating does not work too well. I feed him the same amount as Tuffy gets, Tuffy is 17 pounds and Toby is 22. If Toby gets down to 21 then he'll go on a maintenance level diet. Seems to have slimmed down just a bit, but I haven't weight him yet. Just like humans, that extra weight is not good for dogs. Arthritis, diabetes etc.

It is very difficult to have a hungry dog. Heartbreaking even. But it really is for their own good to have them lose weight.

[doggiedad]

cut back on his food and treats.

[Huginn]

I really would recommend feeding her a smaller volume of food. It is for her own good, you have to remember that you are in charge of her health and quality of life. Most of the weight control or lite diets just include more fillers so that the dog gets the same amount of food and less calories and fillers lower the quality of the food. Just cut her back by a bit and see how she does. Does she get a lot of treats? That is something else you could reduce to limit her caloric intake if you don't want to reduce her food.

[DeekenDog]

Deeken ate Acana before we switched to raw. I fed about 1 1/4 cups daily. In order to satisfy him, I would mix his food with a little bit of plain yogurt and water and freeze it in Kongs. This made a huge difference and he never seemed to be hungry. Keep in mind that your dog is a lab and labs will eat themselves to death. She is likely always gong to seem hungry no matter how much you feed. The other thing to look at is how many treats you're giving daily- they add up quickly to a lot of extra calories

[xellil]

Dogs are great manipulators too. They sit there and stare at you and make you feel bad.

With two overweight dogs, I have gotten very hard-hearted. I know they are getting enough to eat, but if left to their own devices they would each weigh a ton.

And my dachshund WOULD eat herself to death. she got into a bag of dog food once and had to go to the ER she ate so much - when they took an xray no organs could be seen. The stomach and intestines were so swelled with food they obliterated everything else. AND she was still eating when I stopped her. AND she was begging my husband for cheese on our way out the door to the ER!

If switching from Acana to a food with more volume, what you get are more crap fillers that aren't good for the dog anyway. My Doberman is on raw but he gets about the same amount of food as dogs that weigh 70 pounds less. And he's losing about a pound a month.

[stajbs]

Just my two cents, but be aware that recommendations regarding the amount of food to feed on a bag of dog food are just that..recommendations. In my 17 years experience I only ever had one dog out of 7 who was fed what was listed on the bag. Just like every human has a different metabolism and genetics, so do dogs, and they frequently do not need as much as is suggested. Besides, for me having two seniors who we now cook for, I am really happy to see them hungry and excited for their next meal. Do you feed once or twice per day? I'm fighting with my hubby all the time because he gives the dogs more than is needed at their age and activity level, then I come along and they look at me like I am starving them, but I know it is healthier for them to be lean than to be heavy. I like my siberians to have a nice visible tuck, and to be able to see their waistline when I look down over top of their backs. In the long run if you can bring yourself to cut back the food a bit you will have a healthier dog. If your dog likes the Acana I would stick with it, it's a good quality kibble!

[chewice]

And my dachshund WOULD eat herself to death. she got into a bag of dog food once and had to go to the ER she ate so much - when they took an xray no organs could be seen. The stomach and intestines were so swelled with food they obliterated everything else. AND she was still eating when I stopped her. AND she was begging my husband for cheese on our way out the door to the ER!

My daxi was also overweight...we did the greenbeen thing as well for the fiber. My horror story ( and $3400 dollar later) was when I made pizza dough, threw half of it out and molly maid just left it on the floor. The 5 lbs of dough was ingest and Echo was acting like a drunk ... then a nice trip to the ER.

Back to the topic... We cut his food from a half cup twice a day (or a full cup depending if my dad was feeding him) to a 1/4 cup twice a day. Trimmed down a good 6 pounds!

Frozen yogurt +1!! Best kong stuffing ever for a dog on a diet!

[xellil]

My daxi was also overweight...we did the greenbeen thing as well for the fiber. My horror story ( and $3400 dollar later) was when I made pizza dough, threw half of it out and molly maid just left it on the floor. The 5 lbs of dough was ingest and Echo was acting like a drunk ... then a nice trip to the ER.

Back to the topic... We cut his food from a half cup twice a day (or a full cup depending if my dad was feeding him) to a 1/4 cup twice a day. Trimmed down a good 6 pounds!

Frozen yogurt +1!! Best kong stuffing ever for a dog on a diet!

Yes it's a shame when you have to have expensive treatment because they ate something bad!!

I have never had a dog so food obsessed. I think it's a mental illness. But she's got spinal arthritis and I don't want her popping a disk. so I just tell her tough luck baby and she calls me a dirty name or two and she hasn't keeled over from starvation yet.