HELP! 50% of my dogs are FAT!!!!!

[Lou]

I have to confess as much as it pains me:

Skeeter is a little round basketball and the athlete and princess Adie is starting to get a belly!

In all we have

Cassie a 12-year old shih tzu who has trouble keeping on weight
Gracie - a 6-year old rescue that has finally gained the right weight
Skeeter - a 3-year old small and FAT piggy
Adie - a 5-year old just now getting a belly.

We put down a bowl of Blue Buffalo for small breeds every morning then pick it up in the early evening. (That was when Skeeter was eating the most)


What should I do? Skeeter is really bad about stealing food from the other dogs and has started becoming very protective of anything he is chewing on.

Is there any type of food we can free feed all four of them? Or should I free feet some type of diet food and give Cassie supplemental feedings due to her lack of appetite and age?

I also have to share with you that I have had a miserable time getting my dh to stop giving them snacks. I finally have a promise from him that he will give them only one bite of meat from his plate at dinner time. Sigh I know I know but I can't tie him up or kick him out of the house LOL.

Oh yes, I walk Adie and Skeeter twice a day and the other two once a day. So I think they are getting plenty of exercise. Gracie has a leg problem and Cassie likes her walks but tires quickly.

[Ellie May]

Because they all have different needs and some are overeating, they need to be separated and have scheduled feedings. Free feeding doesn't work for all pups.

They should be fed twice a day (maybe three times a day for Cassie depending on how much she needs to gain and how much she eats each time). They should be fed in separate areas/rooms.

I'd cut down what Skeeter is eating by at least 1/4. If he is more than a couple pounds overweight or has already started having medical issues because of the extra weight, then it's time to consider an rx weight management food. Don't give in and it's okay to let him be hungry. The bigger he is, the more likely that his organs and joints will suffer for it.

Have you talked to your vet about this yet? Metabolic and hormonal issues ruled out (that would make him overeat and/or overweight)?

[megansmomma]

Lou I would agree with Elle Mae. If I free fed my three dog would be a bag of bones, Doodlebug would be battling Pebbles and the Princess Pebbles would be a 50 pound basketball.

You really need to just put their food out twice a day. For Cassie and Gracie you could give them about 1/4 cup. The other two you really need to cut back on the amount you give them until they drop the weight. I would not give any treat until they are all at their ideal weight.

Dave needs to understand that feeding them from his plate could cause a medical crisis. Tom would also love to slip these three a scrap from his plate but I insist that this could cause them harm. Occassionally, if I am cooking pasta they might get a couple of pieces and I will give them veggies and fruits but NOT while I was trying to lower Bogey's weight.

When Bogey was on his diet I literally counted the pieces that I would give him in his bowl for each meal. You should also take a look at the fat content in the BB. I had tried feeding Natural Balance Reduced Calorie food but then just decided that reducing the amount was a better choice for us.

I'm not sure what variety you feed but here is the Small Breed Chicken and Brown Rice

Crude Protein 26.0% min
Crude Fat 15.0% min
Crude Fiber 4.0% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Calcium 1.0% min
Phosphorus 0.9% min
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.25% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 3.5% min
Glucosamine* 400 mg/kg min

Here is NB Brown Rice and Lamb

Crude Protein 21.0% minimum
Crude Fat 12.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 4.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Calcium 1.2% minimum
Phosphorus 1.0% minimum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.3% minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids 1.7% minimum

Does BB have a reduced calorie food?

Here is the NB Reduced Calorie

Crude Protein 18.0% minimum
Crude Fat 8.0% minimum
Crude Fiber 8.0% maximum
Moisture 10.0% maximum
Omega-3 Fatty Acids 0.3% minimum
Omega-6 Fatty Acids 1.7% minimum

Since I'm not an expert by any means I looked at the fat content in the food and decided for us that instead of feeding the same amount of the reduced calorie food I would just cut back on the amount. But maybe a reduced calorie food would be better for you since the example that I am showing is the fat content if about HALF from the BB to the NB "diet"

My other thought on your situation is that you would need to buy 2 different types of food if you were to go the low cal route vs cutting back on the amount of food. I also was not able to feed the Low Cal food since the reason I am using NB is that it's has the Limited Ingredients which I used because of Pebbles allergies.

If this were me and I was worried about weight issues I would

1. Stop free feeding
2. Switch to a food with lower fat content as well as cut back the amount
3. Cut out all treats and scraps
4. Threaten the husband and insist that he needs to stop giving table scraps

Wait!! I just found a BB food that has lower fat content:
Blue Longevity Formula

Crude Protein 22.0% min
Crude Fat 8.0% min
Crude Fiber 6.5% max
Moisture 10.0% max
Calcium 1.0% min
Phosphorus 0.90% min
L-Carnitine* 100mg/kg min
Glucosamine* 400mg/kg min
Omega 3 Fatty Acids* 0.50% min
Omega 6 Fatty Acids* 1.50% min
Beta-Carotene* 5.0mg/kg min

Like I said earlier, I am not an expert of nutrition but this is what worked for me to help Bogey drop the weight and keep the other two at a healthy weight.

[Nancy1999]

Good for you for wanting to do something about this, it's more important than almost anything we can do for our dogs. Obesity has been shown to be the leading cause of many illnesses or at least a prime contributing factor. When I babysit my boys’ dogs I make them sit before placing food down, and they are not allowed to get into other dogs bowls. I have to supervise the whole thing because Joey would eat all the food if he could. If treats are a problem you could stop buying them, we just use Joey’s regular food for training and treats, so much of what we do for our dogs is really a human need to share love rather than what a dog really needs. A little piece of lean meat seems to be okay, and convince your husband that a dog is happy with a really tiny piece. They don’t enjoy a tablespoon any more than a tiny bit, they gulp it down so fast. Trainers use very small pieces to train for this reason. Good luck!

[Lou]

Wow! Seek and ye shall find. Thanks.
And thanks Jodi for doing all that research.

I'll work on this problem.

I also think I am going to get official weights and start a weight loss chart. Maybe if I involve dh he will cooperate. sigh

I'm going food shopping after work.

Honestly, I am embarrassed for letting poor little Skeeter get to that weight. I am most concerned about him. I though I was on the right track for a while but I keep getting sabotaged by dh. I'm not free from guilt either but all four dogs know it is useless to beg from me. I try to get dh to see that but he doesn't pay any attention to me. I do have to laugh at him when the cat grabs his hand with her little claw or jumps in to his plate because he started feeding her too. We had agreed he wouldn't do that.

Does anyone have a pancreatitis story I can show him?

[Nancy1999]

Britster's got a story about Jackson right now. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ling-well.html. Jackson is a very fit dog and very a athletic. Not sure exactly what caused the pancreatitis, but she knows family members gave Jackson food that wasn't suitable for Yorkies. The scary thing about pancreatitis is a onetime food can cause a life changing disease.

[gemy]

Lou I too support individual and set times for feeding. No more free feeding. Now in this hot hot weather Cassie who tires easily on the walk, get a kiddie pool and play with her in it. If she chases balls you two can have a blast with some water toys. Even if you spend 10 minutes walking her back and forth in the kiddie pool, it increases calories burnt by anywhere from 10-30% dependent on speed of walk and how far up the water comes on her. Most resistance is to put water to a depth that is an inch or two below chest height

Water work is also great for the dog with a leg problem.

I've had to have my cat lose weight recently, everyone was feeding him!. So now only me. That has helped immensely. I measure the food, and his food is free fed, sits ontop of our freezer.

[TresCutePiggies]

If you think the treats are the biggest problem, I suggest you give your DH a little bowl of green beans and cut them up into tiny bite size pieces and tell him that he can feed them from that bowl only. I know I had to explain to my fiance (especially since our dog before my girls was 135 lb garbage disposal in a bullmastiff's body) that they don't appreciate a tiny bite any less than a big chunk. I said look at your pinky nail, now half it. That's an appropriate size for a treat. I think the visuals help. I know he just loves to feed them. Before he puts dressing on his salad, I'll see him pull out some carrot chunks for the girls and set it do the side of his plate, LOL!

I've never been a free feeder, and I know at least one of my girls would eat and eat and eat if allowed to. Also, you don't necessarily need to feed the amount recommended on the bag. After awhile, you will figure out the appropriate amount to feed to the body condition you want. I know I feed my girls substantially less and they maintain their weights. They are a very lean 10 and 12 lbs, mainly due to all their activity, but I also know if I were to feed them the recommended 1+ cups of food total a day they'd be huge. I'm actually a fan of the raw diets and they do very well on that, but when I do feed them kibble they only get 1/4 cup in the morning and 1/4 cup in the evening mixed with supplements and salmon oil in the am and coconut oil in the pm per the vet (point being I know the oils add some calories). They do get treats throughout the day too. I feed a higher protein kibble, which typically does require less food than some of the lower protein kibbles, but nonetheless you may be feeding them too much of their regular food as well. How can you tell who eats what when you free freed? Or can you really tell?

Is doggie daycare an option? Do you think they'd be more likely to get up and get moving around other dogs? When I was working full-time and they went to daycare everyday, Rory couldn't keep weight on her and got so boney but with muscles since she probably never stopped chasing those tennis balls, so I did up her meals slightly (and they were already eating a "lunch" at daycare too) after a clean bill of health with the don't let her lose any more weight warning from the vet.

My beasts can easily walk 4 miles with us (when it isn't hot out like it is now), so maybe you could increase the length of your walks too, weather permitting. They also do a nightly game of intense fetch for 25 minutes straight.

[Deuce]

I'm having this issue with my cat, he is very much overweight and apparently I've really only helped him loose 1lb over the last 1.5 years I've had him No more free feeding, and trust me when I say it's really hard with a cat. He lets me know when his food dish is empty and he wont leave me alone until there is more food in there. I'm trying to figure out a way to feed him his daily intake in 5 or more meals a day so he can chill out about not having food in his dish.
Good luck with trying to get your pups to their healthy weights. It would be good to see a vet to see where they should be, and they could give some tips on how to get there.

[Jennxling]

I think exercise and schedule feeding really does help. Our babies are in good shape, but we try really hard to keep them in shape. Carmel has bad kness so it's important that he does not get overweight. We also feed low fat treat and don't give too much treat. They never get human food, except apples, baby carrot, etc.

[megansmomma]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

Britster's got a story about Jackson right now. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ling-well.html. Jackson is a very fit dog and very a athletic. Not sure exactly what caused the pancreatitis, but she knows family members gave Jackson food that wasn't suitable for Yorkies. The scary thing about pancreatitis is a onetime food can cause a life changing disease.

It's very frightening to me and just to drive it home with the hubby I read him the story.

[chachi]

Honestly I would stop the free feeding and go to scheduled feedings. We were free feeding also and I just found out Chachis 3 lbs overweight. Some of that is also because My Husband against my warnings of what could happen gives him table scraps too but I dont think the free feeding helps either

[107barney]

I am going to agree with the suggestion to stop free feeding. I also think switching to a lower fat kibble might be a better fit. And your husband needs to stop the table scraps.

[Britster]

Originally Posted by Nancy1999

Britster's got a story about Jackson right now. http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/sic...ling-well.html. Jackson is a very fit dog and very a athletic. Not sure exactly what caused the pancreatitis, but she knows family members gave Jackson food that wasn't suitable for Yorkies. The scary thing about pancreatitis is a onetime food can cause a life changing disease.

Yup, I'm pretty much the perfect example.

I was very "Oh, our family dogs have always eaten people food all their lives. No big deal." I didn't THINK he getting a lot of people food, but between myself and my family, he was getting more than his body could handle. Keep in mind, he's even a healthy, active, 16lb'er who was in great shape. I *think* from what I've read (but I still have a lot to learn) that obese, or overweight, not as active dogs can have a harder time fighting things like this.

I had to learn my lesson the hard way (and over $1200 later).... I now have. My family is all on board with this and my dad says he is even now going to stop feeding his dogs. My dad was one of the worst. They have an overweight long haired Dachshund mix and my step-mom has been trying to get the weight off but my dad keeps giving them treats.

I do think it's easy to forget how small their little stomachs truly are. So just ask your hubby if he wants to end up with a sick dog in the hospital and spend over $1000 (from what I understand, this can put dogs in the hospital for multiple days, even weeks, and that adds up)... then keep feeding them people food

[chachi]

Originally Posted by Britster

Yup, I'm pretty much the perfect example.

I was very "Oh, our family dogs have always eaten people food all their lives. No big deal." I didn't THINK he getting a lot of people food, but between myself and my family, he was getting more than his body could handle. Keep in mind, he's even a healthy, active, 16lb'er who was in great shape. I *think* from what I've read (but I still have a lot to learn) that obese, or overweight, not as active dogs can have a harder time fighting things like this.

I had to learn my lesson the hard way (and over $1200 later).... I now have. My family is all on board with this and my dad says he is even now going to stop feeding his dogs. My dad was one of the worst. They have an overweight long haired Dachshund mix and my step-mom has been trying to get the weight off but my dad keeps giving them treats.

I do think it's easy to forget how small their little stomachs truly are. So just ask your hubby if he wants to end up with a sick dog in the hospital and spend over $1000 (from what I understand, this can put dogs in the hospital for multiple days, even weeks, and that adds up)... then keep feeding them people food

Brit I have told my Husband and he is a stuborn man and is not going to come to the reality of it untill one of them is in the hospital and hes paying that huge vet bill. Then he will realize. In fact the vet just told him Chachi is 3 lbs overweight and shouldnt get any bigger but hes still giving him table scraps