Just Need Some Food Confirmation Please

[bret]

HI guys, i will keep it quick, but I am just trying to work out how to feed my border collie again. I have slipped in my ways of feeding, she isn't a super active dog, i take her for her walks every day for an hour and most days she gets 20 minutes of frisbee and stuff, but the food i was feeding her was cobber, working dog food. I have learned that this is too high calorie for her as she is not active enough.

she is currently 10kg over weight, i haven't fed her this cobber for well over 6 months now. I purchased the 'normal dog' cobber, which is a lower calorie food, and my last vet visit she was still 9 kg overweight. I have now just put her back on raw meat and bones. For those who are in australia or know what I am talking about, she gets about 80g of chuck steak, which is not fully fat, but is a fatter cut than something like a topside roast, and 1 chicken leg or wing in the morning. and at night she gets 1 chicken wing or leg. I have also recently just remade up a batch of veggie pulp which she got as a puppy, but she doesn't like it that much so i just mix the meat up in it so she has to eat it.

My questions though are these.

Can you point me to a topic or a thread that lists a complete list of foods that allow for the dog to be nutritionally supported, and assist in weight loss? I know that swimming is by far the best exercise, and she hasn't done much of that lately, which we will get back into. AT least 30 minutes a day I also know about the time for digestion in regards to dry food and raw food, which is why I also have started giving her her dinner earlier in the night, like at 5pm, so by the time she goes to bed at 10 it has digested quite a bit.

so, if anyone can really give me a clear list of meat that is 'low fat' good for her, and maybe portion sizes so that i can get back on the right track, it would be greatly appreciated.

ps. the place up in brisbane that does the raw foods i read about in another 'pinned' thread. what is the costs of this? how long would a 50kg bag last? and how much woudl that cost? it might be just easier for me to take the trip to brisbane and get it from there.

sorry for the long first post :

regards

bret

[hopenfox]

Hi Bret,

I'm sure you'll get plenty of helpful replies soon, but in the meantime have a read through this topic if you haven't already. Many of your questions will be answered there.

A guide is to feed your dog 2% of it's ideal adult body weight...every dog is different though, so you may need to adjust the amount once she's reached her ideal weight.

My dogs are between 17 & 20kgs and get fed around 450 -500gs per day.

Lean meats include rabbit, kangaroo and chicken with the skin/fat removed, but remember fat is a vital part of a dog's diet, so leave some on.

hopenfox (feeding 2 dogs, & 3 ferrets on Raw Prey Model)

[Golden Rules]

My big Goldie is on a diet at the moment because he has HD and buggered both cruciates (not because he is overweight, he isn't at all).

I normally feed a prey model diet, but because one of his knees has become sore again, I decided to use Bonnie Light as I know the weight drops off very quickly with this.

In 4 weeks, he has gone from 33kg to 29kg. That's 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup at night and if I have cooked pumpkin, he'll get a big piece of that at night as well.

He also gets a couple of diet free days per week where he gets chicken carcasses for breakfast instead of kibble. As well, he gets one raw hide chew each day and gets to clean up any leftover catfood (not kibble). He might also get a small bone once a week. He isn't a hugely active dog so he is eating quite a lot, and losing weight quickly. We are aiming for 27kg - he'll be a very tall and lean boy then

So I give Bonnie Light a big for weightloss, and once he has reached his goal weight we will go back to the prey model diet where he maintains his weight well.

[persephone]

Hi-I would also suggest BONNIE lite...

we had our old golden ret X on this , and he did well

[puggy_puggy]

Ho much does she actually weigh and how much should she weigh?

10kg overweight is a massive amount. How active is she?

To get the weight off her I would probably only be giving her 1% of her ideal body weight. So maybe 3 chicken necks a day plus veggie slops.

[Nekhbet]

one chicken carcass a day or a cup of minced carcasses/pet mince

boiled rice with veges like carrot, brocolli and stem, cauli and stem, zuchinni etc or I just buy a bag of cheap mixed veg from the supermarket.

I also add some flax seed oil, whatever sprouts are cheap and add a little vegemite to the cooking water to get her interested.

weight drops off all my dogs in no time at all. I would also be feeding her twice a day on this mix - make it 60/40 rice to mince

[bret]

HI guys, i will just answer a few of these questions then.

where and what is bonnie light? is it in australia?

as for her weight, i was told by the vet and the dog charts at the vet as well as my agility coach (when i could take her) that her ideal body weight should be around 19-21kg. currently at last weigh in (about 2 weeks ago) she was 29kg.

are chicken legs and wings with skin off raw way too fat for her? I understand that dogs use fat a lot more for their energy consumption than does a normal dog.

Feeding her a higher amount of veggies ie: frozen and mixed would not lend to her weight problem but would fill her up, much like a human correct? I just don't want to starve the weight off her, I want to lose it responsibly.

thanks heaps

bret

[Golden Rules]

Hi Bret

Bonnie is made by Purina here in Australia and I think is available everywhere (except supermarkets), if you can't get it, most places will order it in for you.

Extra veges particularly cooked pumpkin will fill her up without adding weight.

Chicken legs and wings without the skin would be fine but maybe just give 2 or 3 as a meal. There's not much to crunch in those for a medium to large dog, so I prefer chicken carcasses.

It's not hard to get weight off a dog without starving them, you just have to be consistent with portion control. Don't let any sooky looks get to you either, go play a game with her instead! :cool:

[Nekhbet]

Feeding her a higher amount of veggies ie: frozen and mixed would not lend to her weight problem but would fill her up, much like a human correct? I just don't want to starve the weight off her, I want to lose it responsibly.

that is not starving - I dont like cutting back meals dramatically or moving to one meal a day. Your dog still needs some energy and to keep her tummy full so she's not simply focussed on food. 2 meals will also help her keep her mind of being hungry.

wings, necks, drumsticks etc are not too fatty, she still needs a little in her diet in order to help her body maintain a good coat. Slim her down until you can feel her ribs easily and you can feel a waist. I would rather you do that method then focus on numbers, as with happens with people, we end up obsessing. If she gets more active she will get more muscle mass which weighs more then fat so a numerical plateau may not truely reflect what is happening with the dog.

muscle - waist - ribs is what you want on a dog

[bret]

Chicken legs and wings without the skin would be fine but maybe just give 2 or 3 as a meal. There's not much to crunch in those for a medium to large dog, so I prefer chicken carcasses.

when you say carcasses, do you mean the chicken frames you get? that are just left there?

cheers

bret

[Golden Rules]

Chicken legs and wings without the skin would be fine but maybe just give 2 or 3 as a meal. There's not much to crunch in those for a medium to large dog, so I prefer chicken carcasses.

when you say carcasses, do you mean the chicken frames you get? that are just left there?

cheers

bret

Yes, frames and carcasses are the same thing - I get them from a chicken supply shop very cheaply but you can sometimes get them from a butcher, or supermarket, or Lenards usually have them.