Hi, does anyone have any suggestions as to why my 2year old male lab is over weight please? Before you answer, here's his story, Benson has always been a chunky big boned boy, his dad is a champion show dog and is a chunky monkey too. When I first took him the our vet at 7weeks old, he said to expect him to grow into a big big boy, around 45 kg, he is now 51kg so even though I know he's a chunk, he's still over chunked! He is walked 3/4 times a day, goes training once a week and does agility too. He's fed raw diet, consisting of 2 meals of 150g meat, (either tripe, chicken, rabbit, beef, heart, liver etc) plus raw veg, coconut oil on morning meal and a raw egg plus shell, and afternoon meal is the same but no egg and cod liver oil replacing the coconut oil. He has NO titbits AT ALL and the only treats he gets are raw carrot or apple. I've recently had his bloods tested for under active thyroid but they came back normal. He still has a bit of a waist line but you have to press really firmly to feel his ribs. Any suggestions will be very appreciated, thank you in advance. Nicki x
Welcome to the forum! How tall is Benson if you measure from the ground straight up to the top of his shoulder? If you think he weighs too much then the most likely explanation is that he's getting too much food for his needs. My first Lab was a tall boy (61cm at the shoulder) and was a good weight for his height at 38kg. He ran on the smell of an oily rag and got about half as much food as Benson. That might not be relevant to Benson though if he's a totally different height and build Pics would also be great (using Flickr and pasting the BBcode into a post is one way to go).
Hi and welcome to the forum. Wow, Benson is a really big boy at 51kg, and It does sound as if he may be a little overweight if you are struggling to feel his ribs; as I understand it you should be able to feel ribs just by running your hands over without applying pressure and that there should be a discernible waist when viewed from above Here's a short article with pictures which might help. http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/dog-feeding-tips/dog-ideal-weight/
With a raw diet it will be really easy to get his weight down a bit - just reduce the amount you are giving him by about a third for a week; you will very quickly see a difference.
Here's an article that might help: Fat Labrador Recognising the problem is half the battle, so you are well on your way
Hello and welcome to the forum! You've been given some good advice above. The simple truth is that, unless there's an underlying medical condition*, you simply need to balance the caloric intake and expenditure. If he's too big, then you need to reduce his food. The amounts recommended for any type of diet are just guidelines, and you need to use your discretion in altering it to fit your dog. As Pippa said, the fact you've recognised it is a big step, so well done! The best advice I ever heard was, when you touch their sides, it should feel like their ribs are covered by a blanket. Not a sheet, and not a duvet. I'm sure you know how important it is to keep Labradors slim for their general wellbeing, and specifically to look after their joints. Looking at his diet, the main things that make me raise an eyebrow are the two types of oil and the daily egg. Both cod liver and coconut oil are great, as are whole raw eggs (I feed them to my two as well), but they are all very calorific and so it would be easy to go over the daily calorie allowance just with these things. I would recommend only feeding him an egg a couple of times a week. My two get them with breakfast on Mondays and Fridays. Just this one measure will reduce his weekly intake by 400 calories. Look also at the oils, as I mentioned. One tablespoon of cod liver oil is 122 calories and of coconut oil is 116 calories. That's a lot of calories for supplements! Good luck. I hope you keep us updated with progress * Edited to say: even if there is an underlying medical condition, the energy in vs energy out still holds true, but the way that the body processes different nutrients changes. In most cases of such ailments in humans (such as with PCOS), it's encouraged to reduce your carb intake and increase your muscle mass. I have no idea if the same would hold true in a dog, so that's one for you to research if needs be, but I would suggest that the issue is far simpler than that in this case, and he simply needs to eat less.
Hello! And a warm welcome to the forum. There isn't really a reason to look much further for an explanation than he is getting too much food. I have a pretty (but not massively) chunky show line lab - I keep him on the slim side of normal so you can clearly see the ends of his ribs - he is spot on the Labrador height standard at 56.5cm and he weighs 28.5kg. His siblings and relatives in the show ring are much, much heavier. He gets half - 150g - of the food that your Benson gets.
Hi and welcome to the Forum from me and my yellow boy Dexter who is nearly 3. Good on you for committing to take action to adjust Bensons weight...he sounds like he has a lovely life with you and your family Best wishes Angela x
Wow thanks everyone for such friendly and helpful advice, I'll definitely reduce the eggs and oil Fiona as well as reducing the amount of meat he has Julie T. I'll see how we get on and will keep you all updated as we go. Thanks again all xx
Welcome to the forum! We also have a Benson ...20 months old, and a Casper..6.5 years old. Both show line labs who get plenty of exercise,around 2 hours a day, plus agility and other training sessions on top. I so sympathise with your concern re:weight issues. I really struggle with the older lab...he just has to look at a meaty bone and a couple of pounds seems to materialise on his hips! He gets a lot less food then the younger (entire) lab, but still has put on a bit of weight, so frustrating! I am wondering whether the fact he is neutered makes any difference. Has your Benson been neutered? I also have the opposite problem with the younger entire lab, to the point he has actually sightly on the thin side. I guess my point is, that feeding guidelines are all very well, but it is surprising how between 2 very similar labs that calorific requirements can very so much. We are changing to a lower fat version of the food they both get to see if that helps, at least this will give us a bit of leeway with training treats. Be interesting to hear how you get on over the next few weeks, maybe we can start a lab fat club?
Photos need to added from a sharing site like Flickr. I've found that it's much easier now on the new forum. I'm sure there are some instructions under the technical issues tab on a "Sticky" for easy reference
Here is something we made earlier that might help with photos http://thelabradorforum.com/forum/i...posting-a-photo-from-flickr-update#post238913
