How To Exercise A Fat Lazy Dog.

[whitka]

I took Toby to the vet today to have him weighed and he's still fat I've been having problems with his weight a few months now and fineally I thought I was getting somewhere but got proved wrong today. I figered what im going to do feeding wise but what should I do about exercise. Toby is really lazy dog and has arthritis. I've tried giving him a free run but he stops after a few mins, would swimming be better for him?

[Tilly]

Swimming is low impact on the joints so it should be very good for him

[Gretel]

As a person with arthritis I would say a definite yes to swimming being better. Is he on any pain meds? He may be more inclined to exercise if he's not sore.

[poodlefan]

The short answer is "carefully".

Ditto to swimming. Gentle walking would be a second option but non-weight bearing exercise would be best.

Best to walk him on lead slowly.. sustained low impact exercise would beat a few minutes of running around.

He may not be "lazy" but in pain. Did you discuss any medication with the vet?

Edited January 13, 2010 by poodlefan

[whitka]

The vet just said that once he starts loseing weight that he will feel better, but I think im going to put him on Sasha's Blend because it worked so well for my old lab who had terriable arthrits.

[Danelady]

Be very careful swimming! Dogs who are not used to it tend to panic and will swim with 'gusto' so to speak and end up very very sore. Also swimming doesn't do much for the hind end of a dog as they tend to tuck their hind legs underneath their body and use from their hock down to swim. A dog can just use their front legs to propel themselves forward in the water. Unless you can get him to a proper heated dog pool, give the beach or lakes a miss as this will make him even worse as the water is too cold. Keep going on the diet and be very strict with it. No treats, no extra bits even when they give you that face! Yes you are hungry when you are on a diet as well. Weight + Arthritis = Pain.

[persephone]

A 5 minute walk/play/MOVE a couple times a day is a good starting point...... slowly and gently to start with ..so he will get fitter and more able to cope with the extra demands....

and maybe look at THIS

or THIS

Edited January 13, 2010 by persephone

[whitka]

Be very careful swimming! Dogs who are not used to it tend to panic and will swim with 'gusto' so to speak and end up very very sore. Also swimming doesn't do much for the hind end of a dog as they tend to tuck their hind legs underneath their body and use from their hock down to swim. A dog can just use their front legs to propel themselves forward in the water. Unless you can get him to a proper heated dog pool, give the beach or lakes a miss as this will make him even worse as the water is too cold. Keep going on the diet and be very strict with it. No treats, no extra bits even when they give you that face! Yes you are hungry when you are on a diet as well. Weight + Arthritis = Pain.

Sadly there is no heated pool for dogs down here, id have to go to Melbourne.

[Dogsfevr]

I would look at bowen or similiar,get him on a low dose course of meds & simply start doing a a few short walks here & there.

My boy is bad but still runs an acre 7 goes for very short walks to keep the whole body functioning.

He is on meds ,goes to bowen monthly .

We now have him on olive leaf oil for bad joints & this seems to be doing wonders.

[Sankari]

Hi whitty ;)

I would highly recommend the swimming. Charlotte did a double knee injury and her Hip has Degenerative Joint Disease on the right hip. We were recommended to get her swimming for her hips, we had to ease her into exercise slowly due to the risk of her re-doing the injuries again. So we took her once a week and it built up muscle tone, got her legs moving and originally she was doing 6 laps of the indoor heated pool and she now copes well with 20 to 25 laps. I am going to try her for the first time for nearly 5 months in about a week or so how she goes with swimming at Ruffey Lake. She has swam in cold water twice now and she went well, but would just like to see her swim in water she really loves - dirty water with ducks Just for the record she never gets ducks just likes swimming with them.

About 2-3 times a week she manages a walk around the block (half hour walk). Every night she gets Joint Guard which has helped alot and fish oil capsules. Every so often she gets a booster of Cartrophen (she had the course in the beginning). On her bad days where she needs a "pick-me-up" the vet said we can give her Rimadyl but not on a daily basis.

I do highly recommend the Joint Guard and getting him onto something to help with the pain or discomfort from his arthritis.

[Golden Rules]

I have a 32kg Goldie with arthritis and HD.

He has been as heavy as 36kg, and as light as 29 kg. The vet wants to see him at 27kg which would be underweight for his size (he's a big Goldie) but would be good for his ailments.

When trying to get his weight down, walking would be OK, except after 20 minutes, he would have slowed right down and be limping.

Running would last all of a few minutes before he'd collapse for a rest before trying again.

After his last cruciate op, (he's had 3 now) the vet suggested putting him on Metacam daily on order he be pain free so he would be more encouraged to exercise and build up the muscles around his knees and hips.

Wasn't keen on daily Metacam but honest to goodness, it's been the best thing ever for him. His stamina has improved 100% and he can do so much more these days.

I have tried all the natural remedies, and supplements, and I mean ALL of them!

What has made the most difference is the Metacam, and this dog now has amazing quality of life, he can't wait to get out there and do stuff!

Talk to your vet again hey. Even if you can manage a trial period of some pain relief, see how you go (or the dog goes )

Good luck.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Don't overdo whatever you do, particularly in this weather. You need to build up gradually.

Have you tried giving your dog just protein and vegetables? I had to get my cattle cross's weight down quite quickly due to a health issue and my vet told me just to feed her a handful of protein and make the rest vegetables.

It certainly worked for me. She weighs around 20 kilos so you would need to take your vet's advice on how much to give.

It's very easy to overfeed dogs, I find the guides on some of the dog good are over-generous and the minute I start following the guides is when my dogs start porking it on.

[Rappie]

In the absence of a medical problem with metabolism, weight loss requires less calories in and more calories out.

If you can't reasonably increase the amount of exercise that is done (due to pain or other physical limitations) then the food intake needs to be decreased even further. We have on occasion admitted a dog to hospital for a week and strictly controlled it diet (weighing kibble on kitchen scales) and they do lose weight.

Once excess fat has accumulated it doesn't take much energy to keep it there, and we need the dog to start using it as a source of energy.

Pain relief can certainly help with mobility if that is the issue. However in dogs with joint disease or respiratory disease the level of exercise should always be 'moderate' - they should not get sore and excessively tired from doing it. If you cannot increase exercise, I would decrease the food intake further.

[Kelly_Louise]

My girl has pretty bad arthritis, and is slightly over what we'd like her to be (difficult to shift her weight as she has Cushings disease), but we find that a slow ambling ON LEAD walk is fine for her, and she even looks forward to it (will race to the gate and wait to go). She may walk 500m to the park, then have a 5 minute rest lying down - then trot along again for another 500m or so and have another rest. But we don't overdo it and it's gentle and at her own pace. Whens he wants to stop and rest, we do that. If she wants to have a run, we do that - if she just wants to wander and sniff, we do that. But it gives her the physical exercise she needs And it doesn't have to be long walks. 10 minutes of slow ambling, building up over time will help.

Also, we walk her at the park on the grass and off hard surfaces (easy for us as my parents live directly across the road from the park) - but try to keep them off hard surfaces as much as possible - even if it means allowing them to walk on the grassy bits that run next to footpaths.

If you are still having problems shifting weight, I'd get him checked out by a vet. We thought we just weren't being vigilent enough with Chloe's diet (no matter HOW hard we tried) but found out we were fighting a losing battle due to her untreated and undiagnosed Cushings disease. Since then, it's been easier - but still a challenge.