Help! Husky With Weight Problems

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

How do I start! Dakota is a four year old Siberian Husky an is currently weighing in at 29kg. She should be around 21kg, to keep her joints healthy. I did the BARF diet and she put on 3kg, so I took her to the vet, who said to put her on an all raw meat diet. She put on a further 2kg with this.

I was getting desprate so I took her back to the vet, who did a blood test, it came back saying Dakota had a low glucose reading of 1, when it should be around 4-6. I asked if this meant she diabetic and the vet said no. She then put her on the Hills R/D.

Dakota has been on the Hills R/D for three months now and has only lost 1kg. It is not lack exercise, as she gets between 2 to 3 hours a day. Bike riding in the morning and fast walking in the afternoon. She is also a dog club girl and attends training on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Please note that Dakota is not a normal Husky, she is not active, if I did not make her do exercise in the morning and afternoon she would lay on the lounge all day and night!

Help, does anyone have any suggestions. I am getting desperate. I have not put up a photo yet, but will tomorrow.

Tracey and Dakota

[KitKat]

There are a few 'diet' pages on this forum if you do a search. But perhaps cut her kibble meals back but say a quarter adn replace that quarter with raw mulched vegies, eg carrot, beans, etc.

With the BARF diet...if they start putting on weight you cut back how much you are giving them...and a fast day once a week or so doesn't hurt either. (Both my dogs are on a mostly BARF diet)

Kit

[Purple Julie]

How much do you feed your husky? And do you weigh it?

I feed my German Shepherd on a raw prey model diet. When I started she weighed 32kg and then she dropped to 30kg. I aim to feed her 640g a day on average. She gets raw meaty bones, muscle meat and organ meat.

I would suggest if you want you husky to weigh 21kg, start by weighing out how much you feed her and I suggest 420g would be a good amount to start with. See how she goes on that, and if she continues to gain weight, or doesn't lose any, then reduce the amount you are feeding her. I guess if you are feeding a much larger quantity of food just now, eg 1kg/day, then gradually decrease the amount to 420g.

I give myself 20g leeway when preparing Jyra's meals. You can't weigh it out to the exact gram, so I'll accept meals that are 20g over- or under-weight and I figure that it'll average out right.

[poodlefan]

I agree with other posters - your girl sounds like she is getting too much food to eat.

My vet's advice is that if your dog is overweight, its better to get the weight off FAST.

Regardless of what kind of diet your dog is on (and an all meat one sounds unhealthy IMHO), she recommends HALVING the quantity of food you feed. Once you have the dog at the desired level of weight (you should be able to feel ribs without pressing hard on the rib cage), then slowly increase the amount until the dog is maintaining weight.

I don't weigh my dogs food - fat content etc can vary soooo much. I do it by eye and use feeling my dogs ribs as the method of watching their weight.

[SilverHaze]

When people look at Siberian Huskies, they often comment "geez they must cost alot to feed/must eat alot etc" It's not true, Siberians actually require alot less food than other breeds of equal size. They have a very effcient metabolism.

When feeding a Siberian, look at the recomended feeding portion and halve it, and you may be somewhere in the right feeding portion.

To give you an example, I have a 6 year desexed Siberian bitch, very much like the one described in that she's a lazy little bugger. She can and will exercise, but would be much happier laying around, or perhaps going on a leisurely stroll. This dog gets 1/2 cup of Advance adult, plus a small handfull of mince per day. To bulk it up at times i will add frozen beans which she loves. Doesn't sound like alot does it - but i tell you, she's not the skinniest dog in the world thats for sure!!! This bitch would probably be around 22kg.

I don't know much about BARF so i can't comment on that diet, however at least halve the meals, and if she's starving you can bulk the meals with some veggies, or a fav of a friend of mine who has worked miracles on fat dogs...add some chicken or vegie soup hehehe...

Edited February 3, 2005 by SilverHaze

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

Thank you to all that responded. Interesting thought that I did not add how much I actually feed Dakota, that most assumed I feed her too much! She only gets 1 cup of Hills R/D Biscuits a day, except for training days, she gets no biscuits, only her training treats.

The barf consisted of 6 small slices of meat and vegies at night. The vet said by cutting her down I had lowered her glucose (go figure).

Thanks, Silverhaze I will try your way, since it works for your husky. I will cut the biscuits in half again and add vegetables. This way she can have her suppliements.

Again thank you all, but remember not to judge people if dogs are over weight, sometimes, as in my case is, it is not always in our control.

[SilverHaze]

Glad I was able to help a bit. Sibes just don't need that much food - though some of them may disagree *lol*

Make a small portion that is her dry food & whatever supplements you normally give (like mine get meat, vegies etc) and then if the dog is still acting like a starving beast, give vegies...an easy one to do is whole carrots...keeps them occupied while letting them have a treat that won't affect their weight.

To give everyone a better idea of how little food sibes need, it's currently summer, so my very active 23kg male is getting one cup of advance energy, plus medium handful of mince per day. During race season he may get upped to a cup and a half. He's not a skinny dog, though when i'm working him i may change food portions depending on the weight he maintains.

Tracey I will also add, i make sure to keep my girls meal portions small, as she has a knack of supplmenting meals on her own...terrible food theif!!!

[poodlefan]

T & D writes:

Interesting thought that I did not add how much I actually feed Dakota, that most assumed I feed her too much!

If she's fat T&D, and she doesn't have a medical condition that's causing it then it can only be two causes - too high a calorie intake or not enough exercise or both. Since exercise wasn't the issue, how else would you have suggested cutting her weight?

Quantity of food is a poor measure IMHO. How your dog feels is more important.

Edited February 7, 2005 by poodlefan

[KitKat]

yeah...if i fed my dogs what was on say the back of the kibble packets they would be as wide as my car :rolleyes: if they start looking a bit too lean i feed them a bit more if they start looking (or feeling) a bit pudgy then they might get a fast day or a little less in their dinner bowl. It's is one of the 'fun' things about the Barf diet...'go by feel' as it were.

[Prydenjoy]

Its amazing how energy efficient some dogs are. Tessa (cattle dog x) gets the same amount of food as Montie (tiny Papillon) every day, plus she fasts once or twice a week. It can make it hard though when there are glucose problems as well. I would agree with others here to make up for that with veggies.

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

Well time will tell. She is now getting half cup of Hills R/D and a bit of veg. What I was really wanting to find out from this site was not how much to feed my dog, as I have had many and know how to feed them, but if anyone has heard of low glucose casuing the weight problem????

This is what my vet told me. I did as most of you would have and cut her right down. She lost nothing, so the vet did a blood test. She told me it was low glucose. The vet told me that by cutting her food back, I had reduced her glucose level to 1 and this makes the body overwork and store fat??????

So I must admit. I am scared to cut her back too much. All the internet searchs on low glucose says diabetic, but the vet said she's not???

I refuse to exercise her for me than 2 1/2 hours to 3 hours a day (my body would give up then). That is what she currently gets. We are not riding at the moment, but hope to get back to that in a month.

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

I understand what Poodlefan is saying. Dakota has more energy on the Hills R/D and is more happy. But it is more me that is worried. Food is the only way if it is not exercise, but when a vet tells you, it was because you cut back in the first place, what do I do

[SilverHaze]

Tracey, have you had Dakota's Thyroid levels checked?? This can be a problem in Siberians, and i believe it is an underactive (could be overactive???) thyroid, that can cause weight gain, not matter what measures you take. There are medications she can take if this is the case which will get her weight under control. Might be worth discussing with your vet,

Cheers,

Soph

[Guest angenbear]

I did think about hypothyroid, i don't know if siberians have this in their genetics, but it's something to check anyhow. With hypothyroidism, the thyroid is underactive which causes the energy level to be low. Symtoms of hypothyroid are weight gain, lethargic, fatigue, hair loss. I think you should ask your vet to run the thyroid test.

As for your vet, that doesn't sound like a nice attitude to have, blaming you for cutting back on food, isnt' that suppose to be good if she gaining weight than losing?

Edited February 11, 2005 by angenbear

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

Thanks SilverHaze and angenbear.

The blood test we had done came back negative for Thyroid, as that occurred to me also, but it only came back with low glucose. I am changing vet's anyway, as I have not been happy with any of the advise and when they did the blood test on my little girl it was horrible.

The vet and vet nurse insisted on holding her, they would not let me near her, which I protested about. My baby got so upset, they tried to get the needle in both legs (so had to shave both), she dislodged the needle both times and blood was all over the place, so in the end they had to let me hold her, but she would not let them near her legs, even with me holding her, so they had shave her neck and put it in the jugular

SilverHaze I will let you know how the half a cup of Hills R/D goes with a bit of veg. I never gave her what the vet said, which was two cups!. I tried one and a half the first day, she ate just under a cup and rolled over an burped at me!!!

My babydoll is my life! That's her nickname by the way, as she is a real princess. Sit's next to me every morning while I put my makeup on and now she has her own powder bush, that I bush over her face after I do mine and her own tube of lip gloss, since she kept pinching mine!

[SilverHaze]

lol -she sounds gorgeous...my girl is a princess as well...though sometimes upgrades herself to Queen Bitch!

Definitly sounds like your in need of a change of vets, ask around the dog world in your area and get some recomendations on vets. Once you choose a new vet i would definitly get another blood test!!!

[Guest angenbear]

Wow, that is too bad that they treated her very badly. Do they normally do shots on the legs there? When Bear has his shots, they will allow me to help, and they actually like that. They give the shot in the neck area. Good luck in finding a good vet. Maybe you should have some questions to ask the vet before taking her there so you can get a good feel of comfort with them before visiting.

Questions maybe ask, how often does it get busy there. can you do drop ins? Are they ok with you helping with holding the dog if needed. How often do they have siberian huskies in their office?

I would think that if she has low glucose that the vet would prescribe something that holds a bit more glucose intake. Hopefully the new vet will offer more help.

[Prydenjoy]

Oh poor Dakota, I never even noticed that she had a shaved neck! The poor girl, good luck in finding a better vet - I use the one in Uralla now (closer), the lady vet is very friendly and very gentle, and has taken very good care of Lilian over the past few weeks. If you're not happy with any of the others you could try there

Agenbear, I think she was talking about drawing blood, not actual shots - I think all shots are given in the neck.

Have you tried kelp? Does anyone else know of anything to add to increase thyroid or fat metabolism? The problem with any dry food is that they contain grains, which = carbs, which dogs do not digest very well.

Edited February 14, 2005 by Jeanne

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

Thanks Jeanne, you must have been away the weekend Dakota had the blood test. She showed everyone who would look at her arms, that she had been butchered!

I have had a person from Dog Club research the problems Dakota is having and we have narrowed it down, so I will post the details soon and see what you all think.

Cheers

[Guest Tracey and Dakota]

For all those who have been responding, I just want to let you know that Dakota is going back in for a full panel of blood testing and we will be looking at hypothyroid again and for Addison's disease.

I cut her down to 1/2 cup of biscuits with veg to bulk up the meal and I think I lowered her glucose again. She stopped eating and she did not want to interact with anyone, especially at dog club, would not even look at grilled chicken breast!