aussielover Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 (edited) After reading the nutrition query thread and an article posted there, i thought I would get some others opinions on whether my pup is fat. I have never had anyone tell me she needed to lose weight, in fact a lot of people have commented on what great shape she is in for a labrador. She had a training day a week ago and they didn't mention anything about her weight (although there were several labs there that were noticably overweight imo). But after reading that article, it would seem Mindy is overweight and should diet. I can't feel her ribs without pressing really hard. She is 7 months old and weighs 25kg She is supposed to get 3 cups of dry puppy food a day, but we often cut about 1.5 cups and replace it with a lamb shank or lamb flap. Any training treats are taken out of her the daily allowance. she is quite a tall girl and perhaps she has stopped growing (vertically that is )? I don't have great photos of her recently sadly.... I will try to get one of her standing properly later ETA the other dog is a ~10 month old Doberman pup-you can see Mindy is quite tall! Edited November 3, 2010 by aussielover Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 No I dont think she is fat at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx'sBuddy Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 the measure i use is does she have a waist? can you feel her ribs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 3, 2010 Author Share Posted November 3, 2010 the measure i use is does she have a waist? can you feel her ribs? she has a waist but for some reason I can't feel her ribs? I've gotten other people to try (in case it is just me being stupid) and they also can't feel her ribs without significant effort ie. digging in/pressing really hard Do puppies have more skin covering or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaxx'sBuddy Posted November 3, 2010 Share Posted November 3, 2010 (edited) the measure i use is does she have a waist? can you feel her ribs? she has a waist but for some reason I can't feel her ribs? I've gotten other people to try (in case it is just me being stupid) and they also can't feel her ribs without significant effort ie. digging in/pressing really hard Do puppies have more skin covering or something? i like to keep my dogs trim so i like to feel their ribs without pressing too much. i like a thin covering of fat. i have had labs before and most people think my labs have been starved but they were really the right size just people have forgotten what a lab should look like because most of them are too heavy eta that i never trust the amounts on the dog food packets because if i did all my dogs would be really fat. jaxx gets half what they recommend (when she got kibble) and she was going fine with that amount. she now gets raw Edited November 3, 2010 by Jaxx'sBuddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aussielover Posted November 4, 2010 Author Share Posted November 4, 2010 I've managed to take some standing photos of her: I don't feed her what they say on the food packet either- i think its something crazy like 6 cups a day!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest belgian.blue Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Maybe the lamb flaps are too fatty? Try switching them for something else a little leaner? I find sometimes Ivy ribs are felt with effort, with slight rubbing to feel them. I take that as a reason to change her diet a little and her ribs are easily felt. Though she does have a lot of fur! After a week of lean RMB her ribs are much easily felt. I find goat bones are an alternative to lamb. Could be hard to find where you are but there is a butcher near me that has goat. After she was speyed, that is when the weight was a constant battle with her. On the other scale with Badger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magstar Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I can't believe how much the packets say they should have. I'm feeding Oscar (just over 7 months now) 3 cups a day too, but the packet says he should be having about 5 cups. He would certainly be fat if I did that! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
t-time Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I would usually say that you should be able to feel ribs quite easily with a Labrador but your girl looks to be in excellent body condition with a nice waist so under the circumstances, I'd say she looks quite good! Perhaps she is quite well-muscled over her ribs? My dogs would pop if I fed them as much dry food as is recommended! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mason_Gibbs Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 Aussielover I dont think she is fat at all, she is also still a pup so I would not feed her too little either. I fed my pup at that age about 1,5 cups of food a day, maybe a bit less if he was getting a bone that day or chicken necks etc. Lamb bones are very fatty, if I can only get lamb Mason only gets a bone every 3rd day as he tends to pick up weight very quickly. I now feed manly roo/lamb or goat cubes - about 200g a day with some veggies, I also give him eggs and sardines once a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niques Posted November 4, 2010 Share Posted November 4, 2010 I don't think she's fat. I couldn't feel James' ribs without pressing quite firmly until recently - it's only just now that I can see his last rib. He's always had a very trim waist, however, so I always put it down to puppy fat that he's finally shedding. For comparison, he's 10 months now - a couple of weeks ago he was about 27.5kg, but I would also say he's a fair bit shorter than Mindy. Maybe it's just the angle of the photo, but I'd say he's barely Mindy's height even now at 10 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted November 5, 2010 Share Posted November 5, 2010 I can't believe how much the packets say they should have. I'm feeding Oscar (just over 7 months now) 3 cups a day too, but the packet says he should be having about 5 cups. He would certainly be fat if I did that! Totally relate to that. I was feeding my boy 2 thirds of what the packet said, & he has a weight problem, now he is down to less than a quarter of what it recommends.Now I have figured they just want you to buy more. :D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tapua Posted November 5, 2010 Share Posted November 5, 2010 I can't believe how much the packets say they should have. I'm feeding Oscar (just over 7 months now) 3 cups a day too, but the packet says he should be having about 5 cups. He would certainly be fat if I did that! Totally relate to that. I was feeding my boy 2 thirds of what the packet said, & he has a weight problem, now he is down to less than a quarter of what it recommends.Now I have figured they just want you to buy more. I agree with you two its amazing what they say on the packs :D I am about to take a litter to Sydney tomorrow where all the new owners are meeting up with us - and eachother. The first thing they want to talk about is what to feed and how much. I am taking my two fit adults too so they can see and feel what a healthy adult Lab looks like. The amounts on the packets are insane IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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