Hello everyone. About 18 months ago my wife's family adopted an elderly male chocolate lab that they found on the side of the road. He seemed to be in reasonably good health and was a normal weight of about 65 lbs. We figured he was likely around 10 at the time. He has been the sweetest dog and everyone absolutely loves him. The issue we have now is that he has continually gained weight since we found him - he weighs about 85 lbs now. He has been on several different foods (kibble mostly) for weight control, portions reduced, snacks eliminated but nothing helps. IMO he is not being fed too much. It occurred to be today that we have no idea what this boy ate his whole life. Is it possible that he simply needs to be fed something other than kibble? Perhaps meet and rice or even a raw diet? It seems risky to attempt a major diet change at this stage in his life. Does anyone have experience or advice with doing this for a senior? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
A raw diet would be a great idea. My 12yo is doing great on that The best approach would be a complete raw, if you a new to raw - so you can be sure the dog is getting all the nutrients they need in a balanced way. Ensure there are no grains or carbs in the raw complete you choose, since we know that carbs have an insulinemic response which is what leads to weight gain. (Check out the ketogenic diet for people - the same applies to dogs, in fact, more so - because they are even less adapted to carbs than humans are.) Never feed a dog what a packet of food says (whether raw, kibble or whatever) - they always recommend too much. Reduce the amount of food the dog is getting.
Thank you for the response. I totally agree with the Keto diet and generally adhere to it myself. My concern in this case is the transition from kibble to raw at such a late stage in life. Would it be appropriate to slowly make the transition, mixing more raw into the kibble each day for say, 10 days, until it is 100% raw?
Generally, many people do recommend switching gradually. But I think it probably depends on the dog. My own dogs, I switched right away with no problems. I don't think it would hurt to switch gradually either.
