Tommy needs to lose 5 pounds

[Tommy Coyote]

Does it help to change to grain free food? Right now she is getting regular Fromm and it has some grain in it. For $4 a bag more I can get the grain free variety.

 

I keep cutting her daily amount down and now we are doing 1-1/2 cups a day which is just about 600 cal.

 

She was always skinny until she was spayed and then the weight started up slowly. I just had to the vet and she is up to 41 pounds. She doesn't look fat but she really could lose about 5 pounds. She gets lots of exercise.

 

I bought some yams yesterday to cook up so I can add some bulk to her diet so she doesn't feel hungry all the time.

[GentleLake]

Carbs are carbs, whether they come from grain or potatoes or peas or whatever they use in the grain free varieties. Sweet potatoes are carbs, too, and have a pretty high sugar content, so that's not going to help either.

 

If you want to give her some veggies to help fill her up, use green beans, squash (especially summer squashes) and green leafy veggies rather than starchy veggies. The same kinds of things you'd want a person who was trying to loose weight to eat.

 

I suspect all my dogs would all be too heavy on 1 1/2 cups of kibble/day. . . .

[Tommy Coyote]

I bought some lower calorie Fromms. It's 340 calories a cup instead of 407. We'll see.
According to the package she should be eating 2 cups a day but that is too much for her. Zeke gets 2 cups and he seems to do just fine on it. His weight is steady so far.

[GentleLake]

Package recommendations are almost always to much food. It increases their bottom line.

 

Before I switched to raw, I never had a dog who ate as much as the dog food bag said to feed.

[WildFlower]

@ GentleLake -

 

I feed Fromms Classic (cheapest) to 4 dogs right now. 2 of them get 1.5 cups a day, 1 gets 2 cups, and 1 gets 3 cups. They are all a healthy weight. The girl that gets 3 cups is actually a little thin for my liking. And I like my dogs lean.

 

I think that it depends on the dog's own metabolism and the exercise the dog is getting.

[GentleLake]

^^ Of course. I would've thought that would go without saying (silly me).

 

But it doesn't change the fact that the recommendations on the bags are too much for many, of not most, dogs.

[simba]

I sometimes wonder if the package recommendations are for unspayed young dogs, or for dogs who get a LOT of exercise. Even when there's a range it's often too much at the low end for my spayed elderly dogs.

 

And people, if they read the bag in the first place, will often skew towards the higher end or be afraid to feed less than what it says in case they starve the dog.

[urge to herd]

IMO, the amount recommendations on most dog food bags are aimed at one thing: getting humans to buy more of it.

 

Feed the amount/type of food that the dog does well on. No excess weight, good coat, etc etc. Experimentation might be helpful.

 

Gibbs is 40 lbs and a pretty muscled-y guy. He gets about 3.5 c a day of Kirkland dog food, plus liberal treats. When I rub his chest, I can feel his ribs easily. That's the amount that works for him.

 

Ruth and SuperGibbs

[Maralynn]

Yup, that. ^^^

 

My dogs have usually needed the amount on the bag or more. But I always feed by body condition. A little skinny = a little more food. A little heavy = a little less.

 

Just checked the two different Nutrisource bags I have in the house. The performance variety suggests feeding up to about 750 calories/day for the size dog I have. The regular adult food recommends feeding up to 860 calories/day for the same size.

[Gideon's girl]

As I see it, the only real issue with feeding amounts is whether or not your dog is getting the proper amount of vitamins and mineral from the amount of food they require. If you feed a food that your dog requires much less than the recommended amount, your dog may be missing out on needed vitamins and mineral and a supplement may be in order.

[simba]

Between those recommendations, the big dog bowls, the huge 'treat containers', and the giant 'treats' (I was reading a treat package the other day that recommended a maximum of five treats per week for a large dog- how many people do you think are giving them daily, or giving other treats as well?), it's no wonder most people have a skewed idea of what a dog should eat.

 

I have had people giving out to me for filling my small dog bowl just under a quarter full- because that's how much the dog needs to eat (according to the package no less.) But you're supposed to fill a bowl otherwise it looks too little, and most of the bowls are too big, and then you buy more dog food, and on it goes. And the dog gets rounder and rounder.

 

 

Spayed dogs can need 20% less calories or so, so you might have to cut the food down by a fifth compared to what it was, and then check regularly and see how she goes. I found broccoli, apples, green beans, and cauliflower, were well appreciated by the dog I got the weight off. They make the dog feel like it's eaten something or got a treat. This has led to unfortunate incidents where she stole carrots from the shopping or robbed broccoli off someone having a picnic.

[nancy]

I fed Fergie and now feed Dixie 1.5 cups of lamb & rice kibble a day: 3 meals of .5 cup a day, with 1/8 can of wet food added at dinner. Ferg weighed ~50 lbs; Dix is ~40 (Ferg was taller). I give half a small dog biscuit and trimmings from our fruit (quite little) when we eat breakfast; two small treats when we have lunch, and a big dog biscuit when we have cocktails. I buy the cheapest hot dogs, cut each in quarters the long way, then slice those into little slices and nuke them - about 450-500 treats from one package. Tiny but high value (just ask Maggie da Cat who hunts them down). Our vets have always been surprised at how lean and healthy our dogs are.

 

We have a number of mile walks: one before breakfast, one after breakfast, on after lunch, one after dinner, and one before bed. And most days we also do our neighborhood 5K.

[urge to herd]

I forgot to factor in Gibbs and my exercise habits: visit to the dog park daily for about 20 minutes of hard running on his part, walking around on my part. At least 2 30 minute walks a day, one of those is off leash so he gets some more running in. This is interspersed with sniffing, peeing, etc. A couple times in the last few years he has been restricted to leash walking for 3-4 weeks at a time. During those times he got a little less food.

 

He gets to observe while I do my stretching/strengthening stuff in the evening. He's not usually impressed.

 

Ruth a

[Maralynn]

Are there actual studies pointing toward the idea of up to 20% less calories for spayed dogs? I've heard it mentioned a few different places but it never happened with my dogs. So I've wondered if it was true or if the age at spaying often just correlated with nearing the end of growth and not being as active as adults as they were as youngsters.

[Cass C]

My dogs get 1 cup of grain free kibble in the morning, and again at dinner time. I also give them about 1/4 cup of raw tripe and 1oz of premade raw food with dinner. They also get a small grain free biscuit when I go to work or if I have to crate them during the day for some reason (which is very rarely.) All other treats are only awarded for training (usually ends up at about 1 hot dog/dog)

 

They go for a 3 mile walk almost every day. (We will skip it if we get rotten weather.) I also do agility training for 30 minutes a day on weekdays and an hour on Saturdays.

 

My vet has told me that Lyka is a little underweight, but not severely and Lily is a perfect weight for her size. They are spayed and weigh 50 and 30 lbs.

[Tommy Coyote]

I read where spayed females should get 20% less.

 

Joey was too think and I upped his food to 3 cups a day. Now his weight is perfect and he doesn't even really want to eat that much. He leaves some. So I have lowered his food back to 2-1/2. Zeke eats 2 cups and his weight is just right.

 

Tommy's weight has just been sort of creeping up. I have her at just a tad under 1-1/2 and will see how that goes. I just don't want her weight to get too out of hand. Then it's really hard to them back down where they ought to be.

 

Thanks for all the ideas and hints. It's very helpful.

[mbc1963]

When I switched from grainy kibble to grain-free, I ended up paying about the same amount. I was feeding 3/4 cup twice a day on the grain stuff... and the grain-free required only 1/2 cup twice a day (or else the weight went up). So, a bag lasted several weeks longer.

 

(Side note: I was diagnosed T2 diabetic in December, and went online to read a LOT of diabetics discussing their way of eating to avoid taking meds. I cut way back on the carbs, and started eating lots of meat, veggies and good fats. Weight is falling off me with very little hunger. My blood sugar numbers today wouldn't qualify me to be diagnosed diabetic, though obviously i have to live with the label. Makes me really think about our corn-based diet - human AND dog!)

[Maralynn]

Do be aware that many grain free kibbles use white potatoes as the carbohydrate.

 

I prefer some grains to white potatoes since potatoes are so high on the glycemic index. I look for sweet potatoes or lentils with grain free.

[mum24dog]

I don't read labels or measure my dogs' food other than to know roughly how far up the bowl it should come. If they are a bit porky I give them less. If further steps are needed I swap to a low fat brand without regard to other ingredients. Always works quickly for mine.

[rushdoggie]

Some dogs are just easy keepers. My Border collie boy gets a ton of exercise, and eats a grain free raw diet (mainly to deal with food allergies) and I feed him about half of what the package recommends and hes a bit overweight. Not fat (I wouldn't let him get there) but he definitely has a little extra flesh (poor guy). In contrast my male Papillon eats 1.25 the recommended amount and is whip thin.

[aschlemm]

When I switched from grainy kibble to grain-free, I ended up paying about the same amount. I was feeding 3/4 cup twice a day on the grain stuff... and the grain-free required only 1/2 cup twice a day (or else the weight went up). So, a bag lasted several weeks longer.

 

(Side note: I was diagnosed T2 diabetic in December, and went online to read a LOT of diabetics discussing their way of eating to avoid taking meds. I cut way back on the carbs, and started eating lots of meat, veggies and good fats. Weight is falling off me with very little hunger. My blood sugar numbers today wouldn't qualify me to be diagnosed diabetic, though obviously i have to live with the label. Makes me really think about our corn-based diet - human AND dog!)

Wow, way to go on controlling your diabetes with diet! Do you need any insulin at all?