Hi, I'm not sure if I have a problem here or not and I would really appreciate your thoughts, based on experience, knowledge and not just opinion. She is 2 years old and weighs in at 23.4kgs. She is a small Red Fox field lab and comes from a line of gun dogs. She is very active and fit and rarely walks anywhere, usually only at the end of a 5 mile walk (That's 5 miles for me not her) Her rib cage is often visible, she has a deep chest and very obvious waist. She poos about 5 times per day on her present food. The more food I give her, the more she poos, but doesn't put weight on. I've tried her on Burgess Super Dog kibble, Skinners chicken and rice track and trial kibble and she is now on Chappie kibble. All foods seem to work well for her in relation to energy and wellbeing, apart from the fact that she looks, perhaps underweight. My thoughts are that she just has a rapid metabolism. I would be interested to learn your thoughts. I tried to attach photos but it wouldn't let me. Keith.
Hi If you can see your dog’s ribs then yes she is underweight. I would look at the quality of the food you are feeding not the quantity. If you feed kibble go for the one with the highest protein content that you can afford. I just looked at Chappie and it only has 20% protein. The reason your dog poos so much is because of all the fillers in the cheaper foods. Too many carbs and not enough protein especially for a young energetic dog.
Hi JD, Thank you for your reply, that's interesting. We also have a Dalmatian bitch, who also feeds on Chappie. This was advised by the vet, as Dallies have a purine issue and need to keep the proteins down to prevent stones in the urinary tract. Obviously not a problem to Labs. I'll have a look around for a higher protein feed for her. It never entered my head that Chappie could be an issue for her. May I ask what you, and anyone else who reads this, feed your Lab.
Have a look on the website all about dog food. You can put in the type of food you are looking for, dogs weight and price range. It will then filter all the food and show what is in your parameters. We feed our 14 month old on raw and have done since she was 5 months old. Hope you find something that works for her!
My lab was weaned on Purina Proplan large breed but we had lots of issues with stomach and skin. At the moment he is fed raw complete meals(Nutriment) which has sorted the stomach but not the skin entirely. When I switched to raw initially he put on weight as some of the meals were higher in fat as well as being a lot higher in protein. We have now settled by carefully looking at the ingredients. I’m sure you will find something more suitable and see some weight gain and fewer poos!
Chappie has a nutritional rating of 15% on all about dog food. Find something above 80% but do the transition slowly, mix 75% old with 25% new for two days, then if its okay do 50-50 for two days then 75-25 and then finally get rid of the chappie kibble. If you are in the UK I use simpsons premium they have an adult range which has 89% nutritional rating. If you are swimming in money Orijen has about 95% nutritional rating
You should not be able to see her ribs, but an obvious waist is common with field style dogs. Cooper has a deep chest, and a decided tucked up tummy.
We used Simpsons premium puppy 80/20 when Luna was younger and she thrived off it but then it became a little rich for her we think. It is a great kibble though and cheapest we found it was pet planet.
Sorry to side track the thread but how did you know it became too rich for her? I use exactly the same one puppy 80/20 for about a month now (Clover is 6 months old) so just wanted to know what I should watch out for?
Luna got really bad diarrhoea so bad that it was quite explosive poor thing. Vet checked her and done stool samples they then told us to switch her onto the adult version of the food but she was only 5 at the time and we thought it would affect her growth and development as she wouldn't be getting all the nutrients required for a puppy. We had been toying between going onto raw or not and this was the decision maker for us, we didn't transition as the food was upsetting her tummy so ordered for next day delivery and started as soon as it arrived.
5 months does seem far too early to switch to adult food. Clover stool has been a little softer than I'm used too recently so the vet gave her a probiotic and it's got a lot firmer but she's finished the probiotic now so I will have to monitor it. I'm a vegetarian and feeding raw just feels like a step too far for me, obviously if vet advised I'd do it but wondering if you or anyone else knows about any dry food that is good for digestion. Would be good to know for the OP as well
Luna had a pro-biotic and digestion prescription food and it cleared up but once back on the kibble it came back. You can get hills digestion food but think it is quite expensive. We just found it strange as she can eat absolutely anything else and not affect her stomach. Maybe try the plain Simpsons premium? It could be the 80/20 mix that is to rich
That's a good idea I didn't think of that, she was on puppy potato and salmon sensitive but I switched to 80/20 because its got a better nutritional value more fibre protein etc. I have the YuDigest tablets so will see if that helps, if her poo goes soft again then it's clearly the food. Never knew before getting Clover how much of a minefield feeding a dog could be!
Tell me about it! When we were first thinking about getting Luna thought we would be able to use supermarket kibble which is really cheap. As soon as we looked into it scrapped that instantly and spent honestly weeks reading reviews, checking nutrition, protein, brands and we just had to decide on one and stop.
