Overweight Lab - Feed Only At Night?

[Molz_25]

My friend's 4 1/2 yr old Labby is overweight and needs to lose 5-7kgs

We are both aware that Labs love their food and can put on weight easily!!

She was told by the Vet to cut out his breakfast and only feed him once a day at night..

She has cut his food and was wondering why has she been told to feed only at night - WHY?

Can she not feed in the morning so that he can then work it off and not gain anymore weight?

She is exercising him more and giving him the same amount of food but he has GAINED weight which has

surprised her... he is on "epileptic" medication - is that the reason for the weight gain?

Any help/ideas appreciated.

SORRY - DOUBLE POST!!!

Edited October 6, 2009 by Molz_25

[Dogsfevr]

What exactly is she feeding including treats??What portion size?

Personally for a dog on a diet to lose that amount of weight we would do 2 small meals with the bulk am & light snack pm.

Dogs dont get fat on thin air so either the food is an issue,soemone is sneaking treats or there is another issue.

We board alot of epileptic dogs & known obese or prone to gaining weight but that is something that should be discussed with the vet

[Golden Rules]

Your vet has probably said to only feed once a day instead of twice a day, meaning HALVE the amount of food, not feed the same amount only once.

Lab? I would try Bonnie Light - I use it when my Goldie needs to lose weight from time to time - great stuff. Also add bulk to the meal without calories - that is cooked pumkin and other veges.

More exercise too - but gentle to start with

[Molz_25]

It's my friend's Labby.... she says she gives him half a cup of dry food in the morning, a carrot OR apple in the mornings and dry plus some mince for night.

He has recently (a few mths ago) gone for walks (once a day) but has still put on weight.... occasionally he gets marrow bone but I will ask her exactly what he gets as food for the day...

Could it be the medication he is taking for epilepsy??

[shoemonster]

I feed my guys at night to keep the weight on them

If she was going to cut a meal, cut the night meal, so he works it off over the day

[Jumabaar]

I agree with keeping two meals. It works the same as in humans- smaller meals less often will work better than one big meal. That having been said make sure that the key word is SMALLER!!

[Cavalier]

Epilespy medication only increases the dogs appetite....so they wont put on weight if they are not being fed more.

If dogs are overweight, they are being fed too much. Its pretty simple I advise people to reduce what they feed by 25% then reweigh in 2 weeks, if there is no change, reduce again by 25%.....and so on.

My Cavs get 1/8 cup of Hills once daily and one treat in the morning.....nothing else. They are all a very healthy weight Most people greatly over-estimate how much dogs need to eat!!

[Poodle wrangler]

I'd say to halve the amount of food until dog is at normal weight.

Little snacks/ tidbits/ treats add ALOT of calories.

I don't think it matters much if fed morning or night.

Less food/ calories+ exercise= weight loss.

Exercise will help a lot.

On lead walking shouldn't be a problem at all.

Even short walks are better than nothing.

Good for us humans, too

[Starkehre]

Dogs "do better" on one meal per day... to say that if you were feeding the same quantity in total either over twice per day or once per day, the dog would be holding more weight at being fed that quantity once per day. Sort of like people in that regard, the less meals we consume, the slower our metabolism, hence we hold the food and weight better. Also the digestive system goes into a survival mode as it is unsure of when the next meal is coming when fed less often, so it utilises the food given at one meal per day to it's utmost.

So, to lose weight, it is best to feed more meals per day. and if the dog still does not lose weight doing this, then you also need to decrease the actual food portions sizes and fat/calorie content.

Silimarly with feeding once per day, dogs will utilise their food better for warmth and weight if they are fed at night after all exercise in complete. Hence, feeding the dog earlier in the day when it is more likely to be active results in more burn off.

If it was me, I would feed this dog on 2 small meals each day - once in the morning, and once in the afternoon.

Exercise would be given at least 1 hr after the meals. Exercise is brilliant, but the weight loss CAN be achieved without it. Diet is the biggest criteria with weight loss.

Cut out all treats (unless training and then make them low fat or try to use another form of reward), and the owner needs to be 100% honest with themselves when doing this. Many owners claim they do not treat their sdogs, but it comes down to it, you find out there is a bit of left over this, and a bit of yummy that, and it all adds up. My gut feeling is the dog is simply being over fed.

If treats are used to train, this needs to be taken into account when feeding times comes and subtracted from the next meal.

[ellz]

Like the masses, I'd be feeding less but more often.

The metabolism is like a slow burning fire. It needs to be fed when the body wakes to give the body the energy to burn calories during the day and the fire needs to constantly maintained to keep burning.

The last meal shouldn't be fed too late in the day either.

To add extra "bulk" to the feeds so that the dog thinks it is eating as much, but isn't getting the calories, try adding heaps of grated carrot to the meals.

[Molz_25]

Thanks everyone for your advice... will pass that on to my friend - she is quite upset that her Labby is still overweight even though he has started regular walks/exercise ...

Guess it's better to know now and to try to control his weight while he is still relatively young and to maintain exercise regime for him so that he can remain healthy..

[Sandra777]

Another thing - when she feeds the dry food have a game with it. Take the dog outside somewhere there's a concrete path or driveway and throw each piece of kibble (no, they don't go far!) so the dog has to MOVE to get it's food. Make the dog come right back to you before you throw the next piece (even if this means only throwing every second piece). Takes a little bit of time but adds a reasonable amount of exercise.

Treats of pieces of carrot or fruit won't do a lot of harm and will help with the starving dog eyes