Double Lab Love Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 I was hoping that I might be able to get some advice or verification that I am a massive worry wart I have two 17mnth old Labs - very active, happy and bouncy so I guess typical Labs.... Just a quick background... I have them in doggy day care a few days a week and i also walk them both when I get home for a min hour ( bushwalks for longer on the weekend) which pretty much means from after 8.00pm week nights I have two very quiet and tired Labs. The issue I have is with my female Tippi... I was advised by my vet that she needs to lose 2-3 kgs so have cut back her RC Lite dry food to 1/2 cup a day and have also been supplementing with raw - chicken frames/necks/barf patties - depending on what's on hand - with lots of mashed pumpkin / veges etc and upped her excercise... this has been going on for the last few weeks and i am starting to see good results BUT for the last two days at day care I have been told she has basically slept from 6.30am till about 2pm yesterday and till about midday today - this is from a Lab that loves to play/walk/socialise and who has also been getting a good 7 hours a night. Tango has been fine and has been his normal self with no nanna naps at all.... even my wonderful day care lady said it is out of character for Tippi to sleep like this.. Other than that she was fine when I picked her up last night - happily went for her hour walk / scoffed her food - bounced around and happily went to bed.... I did notice though she was just a tad more clingy than usual... Happy and bouncy this morning as well when I dropped her off at day care.... My question is - is she just tired / not getting enough sleep / lacking energy or could it be something else ? Any advise / suggestions greatly appreciated... Oh BTW was at the vet for her annual check up 3 weeks ago and the vet was very happy with her progress - except for the 3 kgs ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
best4koda Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Hi, not quite sure really. Perhaps she is getting a little tired due to reduction in food and upped exercise but does sound odd. Is she just cat napping? Or full on sleeping, is she easily encouraged to get up and about or doesn't want too? My shepherds have always cat napped thru the day if not much was happening. Have you thought about going to a weight loss kibble instead of a light one that you are feeding less of. Our previous GSD boy got fat and we were advised to go to the weight loss one as it allowed the dog to feel full but less calories to stop the hunger attack so you feed the same amount. I would ask a bit more detail from the babysitting person (which you probably have) and then perhaps ring your vet or visit to have her checked. Being that you have just been checked by the vet they probably will quite happily advise over fone. I would be watching for any other illness signs as well as being listless is a concern....they are up to date with vaccines? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Lab Love Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 Hi, not quite sure really. Perhaps she is getting a little tired due to reduction in food and upped exercise but does sound odd. Is she just cat napping? Or full on sleeping, is she easily encouraged to get up and about or doesn't want too? My shepherds have always cat napped thru the day if not much was happening. Have you thought about going to a weight loss kibble instead of a light one that you are feeding less of. Our previous GSD boy got fat and we were advised to go to the weight loss one as it allowed the dog to feel full but less calories to stop the hunger attack so you feed the same amount. I would ask a bit more detail from the babysitting person (which you probably have) and then perhaps ring your vet or visit to have her checked. Being that you have just been checked by the vet they probably will quite happily advise over fone. I would be watching for any other illness signs as well as being listless is a concern....they are up to date with vaccines? Thank you for replying best4koda... All vaccs up to date / worming / heartworm etc...my vet thinks i am a worry wort as it is bc we always seem to be there for one thing or another - usually trivial but I am of the mind that it is better to be safe than very sorry... I have her on the diet Royal Canine ( sorry that it what I meant by lite) and trying to make her feel fuller with lots of pumpkin/veges and I always like to give in addition as much raw as I can.. Apparently they were a bit concerned yday at day care and woke her a couple of times but she wasn't interested in playing and went back to a sound sleep Less today but still more than is usual for her... she is a very busy and nosey doglet and likes to be involved in everything usually... Not listless at all and when not sleeping seems to be her usual self.... just a litle bit more sooky than normal... OH and I talked about it last night and we had a very busy weekend with a few late nights for us and them and my thoughts where that they didn't have alot of loafing time during the day and combined with all the walking and decreased food perhaps she was just tired ?? I am not too sure how many hours dogs need to sleep a day so perhaps she is a bit sleep deprived All a bit concering or perhaps I am just overeacting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Everythings Shiny Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 If her diet is reduced, maybe it is lacking in the energy she needs.... I'd keep an eye on her toileting etc in case she has picked up a bug and maybe talk to your vet if this continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Lab Love Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 If her diet is reduced, maybe it is lacking in the energy she needs.... I'd keep an eye on her toileting etc in case she has picked up a bug and maybe talk to your vet if this continues. Thank you - I will definitly keep an eye on that as it could be a bug - although she is still scoffing her feed but then again she is a Lab My first thought too was a lack of energy but then as this is our third week I would have expected to see it earlier ? Although come to think of it she did have a couple of kilo's of extra fat to live off - and now that those are gone perhaps she is feeling a bit rundown... poor love she is probably sleeping more in order to dream of food I know when I have been cutting down on my food and exercising more you do feel a bit rundown/tired - i just didnt think it was something that dogs would experience....maybe as Tango is fine (no food reduction) that's what it could be... Could it be depression ? One of OH's friends has just told him that his Lab had something similiar and the vet told him it was a mild form of depression ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oakway Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 Just a thought. You said you had cut back on some dry food. This food just might the cause of the dogs energy levels. Some people find that some dry foods cause energy rises in their dogs. Some of us think it is more likely to be a strange allergy to the the particular food they have been feed. In your case just cutting back on the food is enough to reduce the energy levels of the dog. Often the foods we feed can be a trigger to some behaviour problems. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumtoshelley Posted May 19, 2011 Share Posted May 19, 2011 1/2 cup of food a day sounds quite low to me, I'm trying to get my 3 year old female golden retriever to lose weight She use to get 2 cups a day but now only gets 1 and half cups a day. If I drop her food any lower then that she starts to eat everything she can find. I'm walking Shelley min 40 minutes a day, Some days she gets 80 minutes. Her exercise is mainly offlead runing, I also get her to jump over things and I also got her jumping up on platforms and runing down a slide. On nice weather Shelley also goes for swims. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Double Lab Love Posted May 19, 2011 Author Share Posted May 19, 2011 1/2 cup of food a day sounds quite low to me, I'm trying to get my 3 year old female golden retriever to lose weight She use to get 2 cups a day but now only gets 1 and half cups a day. If I drop her food any lower then that she starts to eat everything she can find. I'm walking Shelley min 40 minutes a day, Some days she gets 80 minutes. Her exercise is mainly offlead runing, I also get her to jump over things and I also got her jumping up on platforms and runing down a slide. On nice weather Shelley also goes for swims. Hi mumtoshelley... Retrievers and their food :D Perhaps I have gone a bit overboard on food cutting back and upping the excercise? In addition to the half cup of Diet RC she also gets 3 -4 small chicken necks in the morning and her kibble at night with mashed pumpkin/veggies and usually some sort of raw ( small portion) be it roo mince/lamb/chicken pieces... Going by what others here feed their Labs I thought it was along the right guidelines ? I do know what you mean about trying to eat everthing in sight.... - silly OH left his new custom made shoes on top of their crates last night and came downstairs this morning to find both heels chewed off Not too sure who the culprit was but I have my suspicions it was a joint effort :D AND just when I thought we had finally moved on from that stage I am just paranoid about weight gain and stress on elbows/hips esp as they are both excercising alot more now.... I also love to swim them in warm weather ( their absolute favourite ) but due to the cold weather I have been walking them more instead. I like the idea of incorporating jumping too... Oakway - very intersting about your thories on kibble... hadn't thought of that but is does make sense... You only have to watch them after they had their dinner ( particularly as puppies) and the zoomies that resulted as a result of all that ingested energy...and then having to try and clam them down until everything had been digested... Many thanks for your replies and I will be keeping a very close eye on her this weekend to see how she goes..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSoSwift Posted May 20, 2011 Share Posted May 20, 2011 If she is getting the chicken necks and the kibble I would say she is getting enough. I would keep an eye on her and if she is the same in a week or there abouts I would be concerned. She may also be coming down with a virus. Hopefully she is back to normal soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now