imy Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 My boys are fatties. I have been feeding purina dry food and some pet mince, chicken necks and veggies (occasionally egg, rice, pasta, bones, fish etc...minimal treats) BUT my problem is, they are getting fat...well, for greyhounds anyway! I noticed that the purina stuff has a 'lite' variety. My question is... should I switch to it or do a mix of the low fat stuff and normal??? Their racing weights were 30kg and 33kg and they are now 34kg (not too bad, and this is the one who does minimal exercise) and the other weighs 40kg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShesaLikeableBiBear Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Perhaps just feed them a light/lite dry kibble and cut out the pasta and rice, have a look at the ingredients list of what you feed, I think you will find it already has sufficient carbohydrate in it. You may also need to cut out the pet mince, depending on what it is it probably has a very high fat content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 I won't feed them only dry food and veg. The pet mince stays (my greyhounds can't have tinned dog food) I don't mind cutting out the rice and pasta as they only have ONE of those two options once a week anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peibe Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Cut down the pet mince by 1/2 replace that amount with veges and light dry food I have been trying for 11 months to get the weight off my fatty, and using the above is working Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 Hmm... might do that. I was worried about putting them right onto lite food, being greyhounds, they don't need to lose a GREAT deal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Cut down on the amount of food. Increase the ratio of veges to meat, and consider changing over to a lean beef mince or even roo. Cut down on the dry food. Your 40kg dog is dangerously overweight. You want to be able to see three vertebrae, two ribs, and be able to see the pin bones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 They are always hungry... I don't want to cut down the amount they eat, just start them on a low fat version. Someone suggested Swapping the kibble for boiled cabbage but I think that'd make them farty! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paula- Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I had a porky grey here (not Radar ) - He had a lite kibble and I cut down on the size of his meals, and if he was still hungry he got a carrot to chew. He wasnot a healthy weight and he lost the weight he needed to in a hurry. If you want to keep his meals the same, try grating the carrot (a fair bit of it if necessary) and mixing it into everything else. They're pigs and will always eat more if you offer it, gotta stay strong imy!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytmate Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 They are always hungry... I don't want to cut down the amount they eat, just start them on a low fat version. At that weight, it is highly unlikely that they are hungry, and more likely that they have learned that acting a certain way will bring rewards. When there are two dogs living together they will often eat quickly even if they are not hungry, just so that the other has no chance to get the food. Feeding a dog because it appears hungry is a cause of obesity in dogs. It is often beneficial to reduce the amount of food given to a dog so that its stomach gets used to smaller portions, although this could be done very gradually. It would be better to give the dogs what they need for good health rather than give them what they seem to want. They cannot be expected to monitor and adjust their own nutritional intake. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 (edited) I think you've been offered some great advice yet you don't want to use any of it? Cutting back the amount may be the only way that they will lose their excess weight. I'd be cutting back on the dry and pet mince and adding more vegies until you see some results then balance it out... Edited October 20, 2006 by AZIAH Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 Its not that I don't want to use any of the advice... I just want to find the right one for us. I KNOW my dogs are fatties, OBVIOUSLY I'm doing something wrong at the moment, I'm just trying to find out how I can get over it with the least emotional scarring to my boys (and me! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I'm sure they aren't going to be emotionally scarred by you cutting back their meals... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SallyDog Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Imy, I don't have grey's but recently adopted a kelpie X that was slightly overweight (weighed 21kg instead of around 18kg) . So I put her on a diet in the following way. I first worked out the food and excercise balance that the dog needed on ususal food (This was where the dog did not put on weight and did not lose weight) using meat and dry food combination. I then substituted the normal dry food (I use Hills) for the lite variety (Dog was getting about 1.5 cup of dry food and 350gm meat and vegetable mix a day). There was some minor change in weight over 4 weeks but it was very minor. (The other food my dog gets is a piece of cheese when my other dog gets her tablet and a slice of wholemeal bread nothing on it, these are considered her treats) To get weight loss I then started to reduce gradually over a 4 week period the dry kibble back to only a cup a day and the meat vege mix went from a 80:20 mix to about a 60:40 mix. The dog over 6 weeks has lost 1.25kg (they cant lose a 1kg a week like humans). If the dog has done extra exercise that is not usual then she gets a treat of some dried liver pieces otherwise she gets carrot sticks. When we first got her she was constantly begging for food with those beautiful eyes of hers, but she wasn't really hungry I think it was just habit, she still begs for food but nowhere near as much as she realises that we don't eat outside our normal meals (I wish I could say the same for myself ) Give it a try, your dogs will be better for it and in the long run so will your wallet, as overfeeding them just costs you money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 Here are their before and after shots: This is what they looked like when I got them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 And now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 (edited) They don't need to lose a HUGE amount because they are big boys and I like to have them one or two kg over racing weight anyway. Here's the daily diet (this amount each): Breakfast: 1 cup of dry food OR 2 chicken necks Dinner: 1 cup dry food, 1cup veg, 500g pet mince. Twice a week I substitute the veg in dinner for either 1 egg, 1 cup cooked pasta, 1 cup cooked rice I am working on recall so they get about 5 small cbit (1cm sized) liver treat per day. Edited October 20, 2006 by imy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 I'm sure they aren't going to be emotionally scarred by you cutting back their meals... Yeah, but what about me??? :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aziah Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 Try 3/4 of a cup of dry at meal times to start with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lozzie Posted October 20, 2006 Share Posted October 20, 2006 I don't know if this will help you, but your brekkie sounds fine- the dinner is much too much. Ziggy gets about 500gm meat/veg mix all up for dinner and he is still a pup. If it was me I'd cut the rice and pasta altogether, plus cut dry at dinner time and use it only for brekkie. I have read somewhere that to reduce weight without cutting volume you can substitute pureed pumpkin for half their meal? Not 100% sure I haven't tried it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imy Posted October 20, 2006 Author Share Posted October 20, 2006 I'll give it a go... The weird thing is, Gingko (the white one) is almost right, he has a couple of vertebrae and some ribs, all he does is a little walk and sleeps all day... Radar is the chubby-bubby and he is the one who runs and runs like a loon! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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