I have been trying so hard last few month with Tilly's weight longer walks veg fruit instead of chews or biscuits dunno what do has anyone got any advice I might go to vets see if they have dog slimming tablets it's really frustrating
It's really pretty simple - to reduce her weight, she needs to eat less. Reduce the size of her meals by a quarter. It may not look like much to you, but if she's not losing weight, it's obviously more than she needs. Fruit is high in sugar, so I'd cut that out. What do you use the treats for? Are you training with them? If so, make them tiny - they only need things about the size of a pea. If it's not for training, assess if she actually needs them. The kindest thing you can do is get her slim, so know that in reducing her food, she'll end up happier and healthier.
Carrots are pretty high in sugar, too. Does she like ice cubes? My two love them, they are zero calories You could add a splash of low-sodium chicken stock to the cubes if she prefers.
Hello there, I'd go with cutting her food down by a third, and if she didn't lose weight, another third. And I'd keep going until she was losing weight at a steady pace. I'd also not feed carrot sticks as treats so long as she was getting any kind of food in a bowl. Giving a dog food in a bowl is just handing it out for free, for nothing. I'd use proper food for training and put the carrot sticks in the bowl!
Try green beans, glycemic index is zero. Some people cut food back but add green beans (fresh or low sodium) so pup still feels as full. Is the weight of such a concern that you should check thyroid levels? Hypothyroidism can make them gain weight. I bet most weight gain is simply too much food for the dog's activity level though.
You can add veg if you like - whenever my dog needs to lose weight (he has never really been overweight but I like to keep him very slim so if his weight creeps up even a bit I do something about it) I just cut down his food, and that's that. I don't fuss, add veggies or anything. I just cut down his food until he is back at his fighting weight.
My Labs seem to have very little to eat, my German Pointers who are smaller dogs, ate twice as much. It is suprising how Labs can do very well and make the best of what they eat. I don't think I would add broccoli or sprouts, dogs cannot digest vegetables unless they are whizzed up I believe. Cut her food down as advised and when you get to the ideal weight, you can increase it slightly to maintain that weight. A friend of mine let her whippet get very fat and the poor dog got pancreatitis, the vet gives her special, low fat food and she is now losing weight, it is expensive though.
The advice to just reduce meal size is good. I was using raw feeding chart base on age/weight that was way to much food per day. Vet said he was loosing is hour glass figure so I cut back. Now he's getting 21 to 25 ounces a day. After 2 weeks I can see the difference. What I've learned with a lab is no matter how much or how little food you give them they always want more food and will give you that hungry look. I've learned to ignore it. After 5 minutes or so and realizing no more is coming he's off into something else.
I got Tilly down from 73 to 67 in about 3 months just by reducing her food. 67 is about perfect for her. You can feel her ribs but not see them. She can see her tuck from the sides and above. She used to be a free feeder, and it worked ok, but she doesn't get as much exercise now, and Cooper will eat Tilly's food if Till doesn't finish it pretty quickly. We have gone to feeding both of them 2x per day at the same time. We just changed Cooper from 3x/day to 2x/day since she is almost 12 months old, and is pretty much full size, although she will fill out some more.
Midge is the same she is just 23kg a very tiny lab but as shes got older i've had a similar problem with her weight. I control it by just giving 1/2 her usual food in the mornings for a few days and giving only half a treat if I,m giving them. I also used steamed green beans in her food which she really likes. She less mobile at 13 years so its hard to keep her weight ideal but I am managing to keep her at a reasonable weight. The problem is that to keep her as thin as i'd like i would have to starve her and I'm not willing to do that to a lovely old lady. So shes a bit fatter than I'd like but not over weight so we have just had to compromise, I don't like it but shes a sweet old thing and i don't want her to be miserable and hungry. Most labs must spend their whole lives hungry
Carrots are high in sugar, but only if the sugar is accessible. Cooking them breaks down the cellulose cell walls making the sugar available, also juicing them and removing the fibre. But raw whole carrots? When Snowie eats them, they come out again, only crunched up into tiny bits. I'm pretty sure he's not absorbing much nutrition from them. I would suspect that if raw veg is not digested, then it's a good thing to allow dogs to munch on raw veg, to give them the satisfaction of chewing without adding calories. Of course then they get into the spiral of eating all the time -- much like humans who are trying to diet, eat lots of low calorie food, then on the occasion the food is high calorie, they can't stop because they're so used to eating all the time.
I would never describe Juno as a tiny - she's right at the top end of height for a bitch. Juno gets 2 meals a day, breakfast and dinner, a fish stick chew or similar at lunchtime and some treats out walking or training, no kongs to settle etc., and she never has
You should see some of the big girls round here they all dwarf her and she's the smallest lab ever not much bigger than a large springer
doesnt help that she somehow sneakily got a pizza from the shopping without me knowing and ate half before i could stop her lol
And Cooper makes Tilly look small. Cooper is 80# and 24" at the Shoulder. Even taller in the rear, and still puppy skinny. Tilly can walk under Cooper's tummy, without stooping too much.
