anniejac Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Doing some research into the best dry food to feed my two staffies who need to lose some weight Vet says Science Diet which is the lowest in calories, but Supercoat (Dr Harry) is heaps cheaper but contains more calories. The same goes for the other dry foods I have looked into. Anyone tried their dogs on the Science diet or any of the others and their dogs lost weight. I would use half my own mix which is mince, mixed vegetables and rice and the other half kibble. It is the Hills RD that the Vet is suggesting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 IMO Science Diet is not a very good food - the first 2 ingredients of r/d are "ground maize, ground peanut hulls" and it gets worse from there, all types of soy and gluten that your dog doesn't really need. The vet is not always the best source for food recs, as he probably sells a few at his practice, and those are usually not the best... I would suggest you are better off getting a good quality kibble, i.e. Nutro, Eagle Pack, Natural Balance and reduce the amount of food you are feeding while increasing excercise... Gomez came out of quarantine with an extra kilo, which for him is A LOT! We managed to get the kilo off him in 2 months. He weighs 7.5 kilos now - The premium brands may cost a bit more, but b/c they are so densely packed with good nutrients, you end up feeding less, especiallyon a weight control diet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clyde Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I've yet to meet a dog which likes the taste of Hills. Supercoat I have found to be a terrible food. It gave my dogs large, sloppy, red poos and hot spots when I tried it many years ago. How about Eukanuba Light? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheridan Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 One of the things the vet told me was that the reason to feed less of the premium foods was because there tends to be more oil than in the regular commercial stuff. When my dog was on Supercoat he did big grey poos. Not that poo is in any way attractive but grey, aaack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
springdog Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I use Eukanuba light and are very happy with the results. Tried Science Diet and wasted my money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Working Dog Lover Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I had excellent results with Hills R/D short term to reduce the weight in my ACD's. They scoffed the food, and never had any skin issues or sloppy poos while on it. They remained in very good health. I was happy with it but every dog is different. Audrey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staff'n'Toller Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Eukanuba also have a prescription weight loss diet that would probably work faster than the light variety. Mel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 One of the things the vet told me was that the reason to feed less of the premium foods was because there tends to be more oil than in the regular commercial stuff. I would disagree - the premium foods have less fillers so you feed less, the cheapo foods have more fillers, therefore you need more of them to get the good stuff - therefore bigger, sloppier poos. You mentioned grey poos also - the other day I saw a big pile of grey green poos that some pooch had left on the side of a tree... I wonder what he was eating?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conchy Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 I have really been investigating the best food for my dogs lately and I am going to try Eaglepack Holistic. Having read the ingredients and then read up on those ingredients in many of the other foods this seems like one of the more natural, healthy options at the moment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Conchy that's the best thing you can do - read all the labels, do your ingredients research and choose what you think is best for your dog. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conchy Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 My male dog grew up eating science diet and I had never even looked at the ingredients list until a few weeks ago . I have been on a really steep learning curve these past few weeks that's for sure. I am really looking forward to seeing if this change in diet makes a difference at all. His coat is quite dull, dry and wirey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gomez the Norfolk Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Amazing what crap goes into some foods, isn't it? Once you know a few basics, it's not difficult to research this stuff - have you read this website? http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=intro Great information there, especially the page on what to avoid - Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gezza Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 (edited) if i was feeding a dog i would give it a variety rather than one particular thing.. ie lil bit of hills/euk, chicken frames, beef, fish!! blended up greens. Just cut back on the dry stuff and add other things.......working dog luvr is very right though... each dog IS different, part of the fun finding what works for your dog i recon. Edited May 21, 2007 by gezza Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
conchy Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Thanks for the link gomez. I'll go back and have a proper look in a minny. Not quite sure if I had seen it cos I have spent so many nights into the wee hours looking at all those dietry sites. I couldnt really see me being quite so fervent regarding my own diet even though I think I could probably do with it at the moment :D . Gezza, that is my plan to get some fresh stuff into the mix too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Poodle wrangler Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 Hi. I found these useful hints in another thread about a VERY overweight dog. I'm not sure your dog is, but you it's still useful (the thread was full of lots of other crap, so have edited). Feeding can be an emotional issue for some people: food=love. Remember dogs are dogs, not people, and they don't have the psychological issues around food many people have. They'll quickly adjust to less food without resentment. There are also "senior" and "weight management" formulas in supermarket kibbles if your budget doesn't stretch to the superpremium brands. Espinay: I have a 12 year old Dallmatian whose weight I always have to watch. She runs on the smell of an oily rag. Here are some ideas I have used with success to keep the calories down but the interest up:Replace part of the meal with warm low fat/salt broth or stock. It will fill the tummy and taste good without adding much in the way of calories. Replace part of the meal with white tripe (either cooked or raw). It is low in calories but will fill them up. Replace part of the meal with pureed raw or cooked /mashed veggies Replace some of his meals with ones that require more energy to eat eg a Raw Meaty Bone or lump of muscle meat. Try and keep whatever you give fairly lean. Turkey necks or kangaroo tails are good. Also look to the exercise - remember the calories in need to be less than the calories used in order to lose weight. .. Cordelia: Get rid of the dry food and get him onto a natural/fresh diet.He can have as many vegies as you want to give him as they have no calories. Grated carrot and pumpkin and great for this, also brocolli, apple, cauliflower etc. Only give 50-100g of lean meat (skinned chicken or lean beef). I wouldn't give Roo as it is very rich and likly to cause runny poos in dogs who aren't used to eating it. He fills up on fresh vegies (put them through a food processor) and gets nutrition without the fat. sas: We knocked just under 10 kg's of Leila in 6 months with the following: (It's actually what Cordy's reccomended and what our Vet reccomended as well).Monday - Mashed Veggies (high ratio of Pumpkin, no carrots, no corn) - We went for no Carrots as it was high in sugar as she didn't do much on a walk apart from plod) Tuesday - The Same Wednesday - BARF Thursday - Mashed Veggies Friday - Mashed Veggies Saturday - BARF And so the cycle continues. With Veggies you can give as much as you want. We also found a park where she could go off lead and run around which was a great help. With fat dogs you don't want to do forced exercise because you'll end up doing more harm than good. By forced I mean, 'making' them run. They may turn their noses up initially...but they'll eat when they're hungry. Best wishes. It's great that you're helping your dogs lose weight- they'll live longer and happier . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panda Posted May 21, 2007 Share Posted May 21, 2007 My dog was on Eagle Pack Holistic for well over a year with firm stools and shiny coat. I was happy with it. I'm feeding him ZiwiPeak now and he just can't get enough of it each meal. I'll stick with ZiwiPeak now since he loves it so much. Every meals time is like a treat to him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycow Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 (edited) This suggestion wouldn't help the original's dog to lose weight will it? I thought that's what she asked. ??? Poodle Wrangler, thanks for the extracts, it was informative without the other craps. So fresh foods is probably still the way to go for overweight dogs I see. I keep tracks of such information as I have a Lab who is prone to put on if I'm not careful with her diet. Edited May 22, 2007 by flycow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flycow Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 Amazing what crap goes into some foods, isn't it? Once you know a few basics, it's not difficult to research this stuff - have you read this website?http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?page=intro Great information there, especially the page on what to avoid - Hmm... I'm looking but so far it didn't mention anything about things in gluten form, you find it lots in many dry foods... any idea where on the website has info on it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peibe Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 My dogs had very dry coats when I was using it They did not like it very much either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panda Posted May 22, 2007 Share Posted May 22, 2007 (edited) Hi Flycow, I know someone who owns a pet shop and that's where I got my ZiwiPeak from. She has a labrador who was wayyyy over weight. I know the dog as I used to go to their place a lot about a year ago. She told me that her dog lost about 9kg since he's been on Ziwipeak. ZiwiPeak has no carb or junks like some of the pet foods. She said that her lab is very healthy now and he moves around a lot more. Apparently, my son stayed at her place about two weekends ago. My son is friends with her son. When my son came home the next day he told me that I won't recognise Toby (the dog) now. He has lost so much weight and more active. I guess because ZiwiPeak has no fillers. I hope that helps. Edited May 22, 2007 by panda Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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