Nutrition Query

[BC Crazy]

Your Aussies are beautiful. Yes, I am obviously giving Sonny far too much to eat per day so we are now starting to reduce that amount by small steps each day. He loves raw vegies so we are bulking his half a cup of dry food with half a cup of the. Half a small chic. carcess per day.Fingers crossed we will see some results soon, I will keep you posted as I am on a mission to reduce his waist line.

How much exercise does he get? Upping that will speed up the process.

My vet recommends halving food intake for weight loss - no mucking about.

Geez, halving his food intake, that certainly is not mucking about alright. My vet said to cut down by 15%. They all have different ideas. I am going to go for 1/3 & see how we go. Sonny gets 5km walk/run, 2.5 hours he is out & about every morning & 20 mins or so most afternoons. Rain, hail or shine, without fail. We live walking distance from a leash-free dog beach , so he gets to swim as well as mix with other dogs. But when he gets home from morning run he sleeps for 3 or so hours, Then arvo walk, Back home, grooming. then he comes inside has his dinner & sits with us to watch T.V & when we go to bed, so does he in the laurndry in his crate until morning. I have started to motivate him a lot more during our walk's in the morning to run more & I am finding he wants to run more & more which is great. Because before he was quite content to walk beside me all the time, which is wonderful but I have got him running most of the time now, which he is lovng & is great for his waist line.

[Kavik]

The times I have boarded the dogs and one has put on weight while there (Zoe is a gutz!) I halved her food intake. I am a hardarse and have no problem doing that :D It works too along with plenty of exercise

[BC Crazy]

Geez, I might have to start being a 'hard arse' LOL

[poodlefan]

Geez, I might have to start being a 'hard arse' LOL

My friend's BCs weigh between 16 and 18 kilos. Unless he's a giant, I'd say some hard arsed dietng may be called for.

[persephone]

Can we see a pic of this beautiful boy?

[aussielover]

Your Aussies are beautiful. Yes, I am obviously giving Sonny far too much to eat per day so we are now starting to reduce that amount by small steps each day. He loves raw vegies so we are bulking his half a cup of dry food with half a cup of the. Half a small chic. carcess per day.Fingers crossed we will see some results soon, I will keep you posted as I am on a mission to reduce his waist line.

How much exercise does he get? Upping that will speed up the process.

My vet recommends halving food intake for weight loss - no mucking about.

Geez, halving his food intake, that certainly is not mucking about alright. My vet said to cut down by 15%. They all have different ideas. I am going to go for 1/3 & see how we go. Sonny gets 5km walk/run, 2.5 hours he is out & about every morning & 20 mins or so most afternoons. Rain, hail or shine, without fail. We live walking distance from a leash-free dog beach , so he gets to swim as well as mix with other dogs. But when he gets home from morning run he sleeps for 3 or so hours, Then arvo walk, Back home, grooming. then he comes inside has his dinner & sits with us to watch T.V & when we go to bed, so does he in the laurndry in his crate until morning. I have started to motivate him a lot more during our walk's in the morning to run more & I am finding he wants to run more & more which is great. Because before he was quite content to walk beside me all the time, which is wonderful but I have got him running most of the time now, which he is lovng & is great for his waist line.

wow, what a lucky dog you have :D

I had an Australian Shepherd, who sounds like she had a similar build to your dog. She weighed 23kg at her heaviest. Her father, who was a show dog and taller than her weighed 25kg.

So I think it would be ideal to get him to around 23-25kg. Unless he is a HUGE Border height-wise.

Our aussie was on 1.5 cups of dry food a day plus a bone once a week (no dry on the day of the bone).

Adult dogs only need to be fed once a day.

BTW I am also cutting back on Mindy's food, as I can't feel her ribs with the flat part of my hand.

She is currently getting 3 cups of dry puppy food per day (or equivalent in bones, etc) . Obviously too much...

She gets exercised heaps and is always walking with me (she comes wherever i do lol), but I guess you have to be really strict with labs!

I am cutting back to 1.5 cups for a week and then see how we go.

[BC Crazy]

Your Aussies are beautiful. Yes, I am obviously giving Sonny far too much to eat per day so we are now starting to reduce that amount by small steps each day. He loves raw vegies so we are bulking his half a cup of dry food with half a cup of the. Half a small chic. carcess per day.Fingers crossed we will see some results soon, I will keep you posted as I am on a mission to reduce his waist line.

How much exercise does he get? Upping that will speed up the process.

My vet recommends halving food intake for weight loss - no mucking about.

Geez, halving his food intake, that certainly is not mucking about alright. My vet said to cut down by 15%. They all have different ideas. I am going to go for 1/3 & see how we go. Sonny gets 5km walk/run, 2.5 hours he is out & about every morning & 20 mins or so most afternoons. Rain, hail or shine, without fail. We live walking distance from a leash-free dog beach , so he gets to swim as well as mix with other dogs. But when he gets home from morning run he sleeps for 3 or so hours, Then arvo walk, Back home, grooming. then he comes inside has his dinner & sits with us to watch T.V & when we go to bed, so does he in the laurndry in his crate until morning. I have started to motivate him a lot more during our walk's in the morning to run more & I am finding he wants to run more & more which is great. Because before he was quite content to walk beside me all the time, which is wonderful but I have got him running most of the time now, which he is lovng & is great for his waist line.

wow, what a lucky dog you have

I had an Australian Shepherd, who sounds like she had a similar build to your dog. She weighed 23kg at her heaviest. Her father, who was a show dog and taller than her weighed 25kg.

So I think it would be ideal to get him to around 23-25kg. Unless he is a HUGE Border height-wise.

Our aussie was on 1.5 cups of dry food a day plus a bone once a week (no dry on the day of the bone).

Adult dogs only need to be fed once a day.

BTW I am also cutting back on Mindy's food, as I can't feel her ribs with the flat part of my hand.

She is currently getting 3 cups of dry puppy food per day (or equivalent in bones, etc) . Obviously too much...

She gets exercised heaps and is always walking with me (she comes wherever i do lol), but I guess you have to be really strict with labs!

I am cutting back to 1.5 cups for a week and then see how we go.

Yes, as both my dogs parents were over 25 kg, his dad was 26.5 & was grand champ. in his day, I would be really happy with 25.5kg's, I am after the' ribs' feel too & at the moment they are under cover.LOL. Well ,first diet day has gone really well, he is looking for more food but I ignored him & I am sure he will get used to it just like he did eating his head off before & he will feel tonnes better in his new slim line bod.

[dancinbcs]

wow, what a lucky dog you have

Yes, as both my dogs parents were over 25 kg, his dad was 26.5 & was grand champ. in his day, I would be really happy with 25.5kg's, I am after the' ribs' feel too & at the moment they are under cover.LOL. Well ,first diet day has gone really well, he is looking for more food but I ignored him & I am sure he will get used to it just like he did eating his head off before & he will feel tonnes better in his new slim line bod. :D

Have pm'd you about this but your dogs' parents were not particularly big dogs and certainly not over 20kgs.

Edited November 2, 2010 by dancinbcs

[OSoSwift]

I am also of the opinion that you just cut their food and ingore the pleeding. Big brown puppy eyes have no effect on me!

Cut his food by at least 25% then if he is not losing weight cut him down more.

I have had one dog that needed to be fed a huge amount of food to keep her condition but on the whole most dogs don't. Most dry dog food bags grossly over estimate how much a dog should be fed on their guidelines.

If my dogs have had a slack day they get fed half, if they have had a full on day they get more.

[BC Crazy]

If you can't feel ribs- your dog has too much padding :D

Why not alternate his meals?

One day.. his chicken frame

Next day, his dry/meat/veg?

That way he is still getting a variety of taste/texture and nutrients ..just not all at once

Yes, great idea. I am going to try that. Thanks.

[Starkehre]

I'd be ditching the cup of beef casserole with cooked vegies. Not much nutrition in there plus beef can be quite drying. Everything else you are giving him sounds fine, but it won't be that casserole that is making his coat gleam.

Then I'd be monitoring how his weight goes. if you required further trimming, I'd cut down on the dry a bit.

My dogs get less than your boy and they weight up to 51kg.

Let us know how you go with him. :D

[BC Crazy]

I'd be ditching the cup of beef casserole with cooked vegies. Not much nutrition in there plus beef can be quite drying. Everything else you are giving him sounds fine, but it won't be that casserole that is making his coat gleam.

Then I'd be monitoring how his weight goes. if you required further trimming, I'd cut down on the dry a bit.

My dogs get less than your boy and they weight up to 51kg.

Let us know how you go with him.

Thank's for your help, I had no idea beef could be drying. So I am putting a stop to that as we speak. I weighed Sonny on scales at home & am really pleased to say that they were slightly 'out', after taking him to the vet & using his scales,yes we are on a strict diet but the problem is not nearly as bad as first thought. I never used the scales at home (your dog at 51 kg's weighs more than me) LOL. Ihave had him on a diet for 2 week's now & he has lost 1.5 kg's. The vet was very happy with that. Apparently the weight is dropping off him quickly, I am thrilled. So now I am continuing on with three quarters of a measuring cup of Royal Canin Light per day & 1 small Chic. carcess. 2 desert spoon's' mashed pumpkin. See how we go. We are going to drop into the vets in another 2 week's to monitor our progress. Keep you posted.

[BC Crazy]

Can we see a pic of this beautiful boy?

Most certainly.My computer skills are very limited. My son is coming home from the Navy at the start of Dec. for holiday's, so I will get him to put a photo on my beautiful Sonny on for you. I love him to bits.

[piper]

Have pm'd you about this but your dogs' parents were not particularly big dogs and certainly not over 20kgs.

I didn't think the sire was as big as 26kg but didn't want to say for sure as I only saw him in the flesh a handful of times. Knowing others from similar lines though it owuld have surprised me for him to be that large.

I know with my 2 boys (different lines but both good average size dogs) at 22kg they were noticably too heavy. They were at their best at about 19kg when doing agility and in their retirement they settled to around 20 - 21kg.

My girls - Piper is heavy at 17, good at about 16. Jazz at 17 is lean. 18 would be right for her, if doing agility I would probably keep her closer to 17.

[gila]

You can bulk out his meals with veggies - largely undigestible fibre will fill him up.

Boiled, dry baked or mashed (no butter) pumpkin is excellent for this.

I'd be less interested in what he weights and way more interested in how he feels.

This article gives excellent guidance on how to test your dog's weight and what his ideal "feel" should be.

Good article PF. I have a question about this bit though:

"To check the neck, press your thumb and index finger deep into the side of the neck just ahead of the shoulder, and pinch them together. If your fingers are more than 1/2" apart, the dog is overweight. (Note: this is where old dogs tend to carry most of their excess fat, and they may actually be thin in other locations.)"

I always thought my boy was lean cos I can easily feel his ribs and he has a very defined waist, but it seems he does carry all his fat around his neck like the article said. I can grab a fistful of it I didn't really notice for awhile cos he also has a thick ruff.

Should I be cutting his food down? And if I do cut his food will he end up looking like a skeleton cos he doesn't carry much fat on his mid-section?

[poodlefan]

I always thought my boy was lean cos I can easily feel his ribs and he has a very defined waist, but it seems he does carry all his fat around his neck like the article said. I can grab a fistful of it I didn't really notice for awhile cos he also has a thick ruff.

Should I be cutting his food down? And if I do cut his food will he end up looking like a skeleton cos he doesn't carry much fat on his mid-section?

Old dogs are different I reckon - they loose muscle tone from all kinds of places. Have you got a pic?

[gila]

Yeh he is 9 yrs old so that might be it.

Just took these pics.

ETA: sorry for hijacking your thread BC Crazy!

Edited November 3, 2010 by gila

[BC Crazy]

Yeh he is 9 yrs old so that might be it.

Just took these pics.

ETA: sorry for hijacking your thread BC Crazy!

No worries ETA, I am very interested in listening to all passionate dog owners.Your boy is lovely. It is hard when they get older, isn't it. I had my last rescued magnificent red/white Border Collie for 14.5 years & he just changed soooo much.' Redman' was in wonderful condition right up until he was about 12 ( apart from his very distinguished greying of his muzzle. Then his body shape changed as he became less active. As we do I guess. Everything goes south