Weight Control Dog Food

[mumtoshelley]

Hi everyone just wandering what brand of weight control dog food would be best for a little chihuahua who is prone to gaining weight. Here is a list of weight control food I can get locally.

Hills science diet

advance

Iams

royal canin

Eukanuba

Also does royal canin have can food at all, I know advance does. I don't really like hills science diet and niether does Rascal.

[Staranais]

Best would be to use a regular good quality food that he does well on, and just feed him less.

If he's gaining weight, you are simply feeding him more than he needs, and you need to feed him less (or exercise him much more) - not feed him the same amount of low calorie "weight loss" food, which is inevitably full of fillers (that's how it works!).

There is really no need to feel mean about feeding him only what he requires.

If you can't help but feel mean feeding him less, then make him work (do a trick) for every single little bit of kibble - dinner will take longer, so he feels fuller.

[Danois]

http://www.dolforums.com.au/topic/105948-chihuahuas-i-know-there-are-a-few-around/page__st__2595__p__5503610#entry5503610

That's one large chi! Back to the comment re 2km of exercise a day its getting - that's a terrific strain on the joints when its that big.

I had a feeling of deja vu - there was lots of advice given several months ago when you were posting about the weight issues the chi and GR were having so maybe read back over that especially the advice re cutting right back and bulking with vegies.

[G.G]

Canidae Platinum all Natural

20% Protein

8% Fat

[Nekhbet]

I find the RC gets the weight off quickly just use less then the packet as they tend to overestimate quite a bit.

If you're one that gives the dog treats etc take the dogs ration for the day out in a bowl and put it on the bench. Dog only gets stuff from the bowl and if you want to give a treat put a massive pinch for each half pinch of treat back into the bag.

[twodoggies2001]

I saw your chi on another thread and he is one big big chi. If you love Rascal, you will slim him down pronto mainly to save his life. The only brand of weight control food is you. I don't believe in these foods. All you need to do is not feed him so much. He's not getting huge from fresh air. It's from what goes into his mouth. Just bulk up the food with raw grated veggies. Carrots and green beans are great for this. If he looks at you with those soulful eyes it's you that needs the self control. You have to be heard hearted Hannah and just ignore him when he wants more food. Please, so not kill him with 'kindness'

[sheree_e4]

I highly reccomend Hills R/D ... I have used it on my 10kg cat... after 8mths he got down to 5.9kg :D

Fat Cat (Link) Before and after Hills

[Ravyk]

Cut what you are feeding him now to at least half. And stop any treats. Chi's are small dogs with small stomachs, they don't need a lot of food.

I look after my MIL dogs who are at least double their ideal weight. They should be around 5kg but generally are 10kg, both are showing early signs of arthritis and joint issues and they're still rather young. When they stay with me they get the following for the day:

1 med or 1.5 small chicken necks in the morning. Mainly to help with their teeth and to stop them bugging the sh?t out of me.

150g-200g of 50/50 lean roo meat and mashed pumpkin for dinner.

No treats.

If they don't eat it, it gets taken away and they get nothing until the next meal. They lost 3kgs each when they were here for 3 weeks last time and that was with minimal exercise on my behalf. Unfortunately the MIL cannot keep it up and they always end up back on they usual bone biscuits, schmackos, at lib kibble and those little meatball things when they go home and their weight balloons back to 10kg.

YOU are the only one who can get your dog to lose the excess weight and you need to stick by it for the sake of your dog's health. You need to ignore those whines and puppy dog eyes trying to tell you he's hungry. And you need to be 100% dedicated to getting him to lose the weight.

I'd be careful if you are exercising him 2ks a day. That is extremely stressful on his already weight stressed joints. My advice would be to swim him instead, less stress on the joints and burns more calories. Pretty sure I saw in your other thread you live in Mildura, so swimming him in the river would be a easy thing for you.

Good luck with his weight loss.

[mumtoshelley]

Thats the problem he isn't getting anything extra at all no treats no extra food well exept his poo and chook poo he eats. His only getting 2 teaspoons of raw mince meat be it beef,lamb,chicken,turkey,pork and veal, Once or twice a week the raw minced meat gets swaped for a small chicken neck or drumlet. Then at night he gets tablespoon of black hawk, He gets plenty of exercise. The vet did mention that she reckons Rascal would be better on a high protein low in fat food. She thinks 14% fat might be too much for him.

Oh also I can't get him to swim unless I get into the water and carry him in as he doe2sn't really like to swim.

Edited September 23, 2011 by mumtoshelley

[poodlefan]

Thats the problem he isn't getting anything extra at all no treats no extra food well exept his poo and chook poo he eats. His only getting 2 teaspoons of raw mince meat be it beef,lamb,chicken,turkey,pork and veal, Once or twice a week the raw minced meat gets swaped for a small chicken neck or drumlet. Then at night he gets tablespoon of black hawk, He gets plenty of exercise. The vet did mention that she reckons Rascal would be better on a high protein low in fat food. She thinks 14% fat might be too much for him.

Oh also I can't get him to swim unless I get into the water and carry him in as he doe2sn't really like to swim.

If he is significantly overweight, I agree with your vet.

Switch to a diet or lite food. Even Supercoat (which a friend of mine feeds and swears by) Lite is only 8% fat.

You really need to do something to get this weight off. You're shortening his life otherwise.

Is anyone else in the house feeding him treats... I'd not be in the slightest bit surprised if someone was sneak feeding him out of "pity"

If every dog in your house is overweight, there's a systemic issue somewhere - with you or another family member or both.

Edited September 23, 2011 by poodlefan

[mumtoshelley]

Your right there poodlefan lol my mum finds it diffcult to look past those begging eyes I catch her often throwing them food which I tell her off for.

[poodlefan]

Your right there poodlefan lol my mum finds it diffcult to look past those begging eyes I catch her often throwing them food which I tell her off for.

If you cannot convince your mother to stop doing it then cut the food back further.

Thats the problem he isn't getting anything extra at all no treats

You might want to rethink that notion for a start. If he's being fed extra and "often" then either you or your mother need to cut back.. and I know which one I think will have more success. Your mother is sabotaging your efforts and killing your dogs with kindness. Time for an intervention before poor Rascal blows a ligament or develops diabetes and/or your mother turns your next dog into a porker.

Edited September 23, 2011 by poodlefan

[sheena]

I would be making sure he is not getting food from elsewhere & trying to stop him eating chicken poo, which, I think, is quite high in protein. He may have got his tummy upset from the chicken poo in the form of coccidiodosis, which is common to chooks & appears as blood in the poos of other animals. A shame he is not a swimmer as this is a great non load bearing exercise. Who ever is sneaking treats to your dog is killing him. Not sure if they make muzzels small enough, but if they did that might be a help to stop him eating outside of mealtimes.

[Danois]

As your other dogs are overweight too I think you need to look at the bigger picture about what is going on in the home. If it was just one dog then you should perhaps investigate underlying medical issues but when its all of them - its fair to say they are a product of their environment.

In those circumstances the best weight control food is you. You need to stand up to your mother and make her stop feeding treats - she is killing the dogs with kindness as PF said. If she continues then stop feeding the dog their meals otherwise leave a bowl on the bench of her daily food ration and make your mum only feed her from that bowl and no more. If the chi is that big and gets 2k of exercise a day then he's getting a massive amount of extra food on the sly.

Research the costs of managing a dog with diabetes, repairing ruptured CLs, treating pancreatitis - not cheap!

[mumtoshelley]

As your other dogs are overweight too I think you need to look at the bigger picture about what is going on in the home. If it was just one dog then you should perhaps investigate underlying medical issues but when its all of them - its fair to say they are a product of their environment.

In those circumstances the best weight control food is you. You need to stand up to your mother and make her stop feeding treats - she is killing the dogs with kindness as PF said. If she continues then stop feeding the dog their meals otherwise leave a bowl on the bench of her daily food ration and make your mum only feed her from that bowl and no more. If the chi is that big and gets 2k of exercise a day then he's getting a massive amount of extra food on the sly.

Research the costs of managing a dog with diabetes, repairing ruptured CLs, treating pancreatitis - not cheap!

Shelley is doing pretty good weight wise now I can actually feel every bump of the back bone so I don't think she needs to lose weight anymore. Since Rascal has been eatting this hills prescrition w/d diet I have noticed that he has lost a bit of weight already, He has more energy he is also shedding less the only problem is he acts hungry all the time. I'll fix that by giving him mashed pumpkin to fill him up.

The vets said If I don't get his weight down he will probably get diabetes very soon. The last time Rascal got a bit overweight I tryed cutting back on his normal food eg I was onlying giving him 2 half teaspoons of food a day. He still didn't manage to lose weight,The only thing that made him lose weight was weightloss food. I got him down to 2.5kgs so I then switched him back to normal food and he now has packed the weight back on. This is why the vet mentioned it might be best if his on high protein low in fat food. This is why I asked which premium food is high in protein low in fat and is better.