Feeding Issues

Discussion in 'Labrador Health' started by choclolly, May 23, 2014.

  1. choclolly

    choclolly Registered Users

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    Hi

    I'm new to the forum, so Hi everyone!

    I have a 14 month old chocolate lab - our vet advised her to put her on a diet. Not a problem or so I thought. She has always been quite fussy with her food and seemed to prefer the Butchers Lean, but we wanted to get her off this as it's not the best and we need some of high quality to help with her growth and training (she's a little giddy!).
    We have introduced her to Acana which has been highly recommended. We have introduced it gradually but she seems to eat everything exept the Acana but if I put a handful in her treat bag then she can't get enough of them!
    Confused, apart from feeding her these biscuits one by one by hand, she picks at them from her bowl
     
  2. Naya

    Naya Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Hi and welcome :) what's your girls name? Do you have any photos?

    It might be worth getting a few samples from different brand foods that you feel are suitable and see which ones she likes. Most good brands enable you to buy 'sample packs'.
     
  3. drjs@5

    drjs@5 Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Hi there, welcome to the forum.
    You could try soaking in warm water to help "release the fragrance" and tempt her.
    Also, if not eaten within 20mins, just lift the bowl. I imagine missing a meal or two won't do her any harm and might persuade her to value what you give her.
    If she eats it as treats, sounds like she likes it well enough :-\
     
  4. choclolly

    choclolly Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Thank you
    I will try and post some pics soon, away for the weekend.
    Her name is lolly.
    She has always been a bit fussy but will try the warm water to see if that encourages her.

    She did manage a little more yesterday :)
     
  5. Penny+Me

    Penny+Me Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Butchers lean isn't a bad food, not amazing but certainly not the worst. Do you use the meat or dry? If the meat you can mix it with the acana and see if that makes it more tempting - then when she's eating fine you can gradually reduce the amount of meat until she's on whatever you want.
     
  6. MadMudMob

    MadMudMob Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    [​IMG] from a teeny tiny black 5 1/2 year old Lab known as The DivaDog

    [​IMG]
    and her pet human [​IMG]
     
  7. Stacia

    Stacia Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    I believe that Arcano is quite dense so you need to feed far less of it. If she likes it as treats, then perhaps feed her like that until she gets used to it?
     
  8. choclolly

    choclolly Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Hi
    Sorry it's took me a while to reply.
    Tried it with water but she didn't like that at all. We have stuck with it and she does appear to be getting used to it, I put a little bit of turkey ham in it which is nice and lean and she loves the smell.
    She did not lose any weight in her first week and still weighs 32.6 kg

    I'm not quite sure how to attach a photo of her :-[
     
  9. Oberon

    Oberon Supporting Member Forum Supporter

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Choclolly, do you have a Flickr, Photobucket or Dropbox account? You can upload photos to any one of those sites and then get a link to the image that you paste into your post :)
     
  10. lablover

    lablover Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Hi Choclolly, welcome to forum. Meg was overweight a few years ago and I was advised to use Arden Grange weight control. It certainly worked for meg. I kept her on it until recently, she flatly refused to eat it so sent off for some samples and she chose fish4dogs small bite. I'm careful how much I give her because it's not for weight control.
     
  11. pippa@labforumHQ

    pippa@labforumHQ Administrator

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Hi there and welcome to the forum. :)

    A helpful rule of thumb is to reduce the daily ration by one third, if that does not trigger weight loss after one week, then reduce by one third again.

    You can switch to lower calorie foods if you wish, so that you can feed the same quantity but with less calories. But there isn't really any need. It is simplest to just pick a good quality food and reduce quantities until the dog starts to lose.
     
  12. choclolly

    choclolly Registered Users

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  13. drjs@5

    drjs@5 Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    I can see it. Lolly is lovely.
    Putting some welly into the tug game ;D
    Others who aren't on FB won't be able to view it - it is really easy to set up Flickr to host your photos. I use dropbox myself but Flickr is easiest I think to get just the right size pics, and really is pretty easy to use if you are interested.
     
  14. choclolly

    choclolly Registered Users

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    Re: Feeding Issues

    Thank you
    I will give Flickr a go :D
     

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