My Yorkie is too fat

[TASEY]

This is my first post here. I have a 6.5 year old Yorkie (blond) named Tasey. He is my husband's dog. His weight is up to 11.9 pounds and we have him on a weight loss diet. He is eating Fromm reduced calorie food twice a day. He gets a quarter cup at a time, with a few teaspoons of canned mixed with it. I have ordered a sample of Honest Kitchen, and if he likes that I will probably switch him. My initial goal for him is 9 pounds, then we will reevaluate.

My German Shepherd died a week ago from cancer. He was only 5 years 10 months old. He has been the center of all of my attention, and unfortunately he wasn't eating much at the end and Tasey was pigging out on the GSD's food.

I am excited about belonging to this forum. Does anyone have any additional tips for weight loss? And any particular foods that have been successful? We are going to weigh him once a week to see if there is any progress.
Thanks!

[Wylie's Mom]

Hi and welcome to YT ! I'm so very sorry for your loss , how tragic - and SO very young too; heartbreaking for you.

As for Tasey -- you said 1/4c + 1 tablespoon of wet food "at a time" (twice a day, I think?) - that's a LOT of food actually, for most yorkies. Unless you have a really large yorkie maybe...? Did your Vet provide you an "ideal weight" for Tasey?

[Lovetodream88]

Has the vet said he is overweight and what weight he should be at?

[TASEY]

Hi Wylie's Mom -
She has not provided one. He plumped up before, and we got him down around 9 pounds. I will post a picture of him soon. I am confident we can maintain his weight loss pretty easily now that he is our one and only.

I don't mean this in a mean way at all, but I have no doubt he is from a backyard breeder. My husband already had him before we met. He might be bigger framed than the average Yorkie. I will have to measure him to see if he is on the tall side.

I am also worried because he has never had his teeth cleaned. Is that something I need to do?

I am going to have to learn more about Yorkies. I am not very familiar with the breed, although I have lived with Tasey for 4.5 years.

[TASEY]

Originally Posted by Lovetodream88

Has the vet said he is overweight and what weight he should be at?

Not explicitly. She seemed pleased when he was 9 pounds before, but I will have to ask her once he gets there if he should still lose a few more.

Now I am wondering if I am still feeding him too much. I have no experience with little dogs. I guess we will weigh him again and see if he's losing.

I have also increased his exercise.

[matese]

Welcome to YT, so very sorry for the loss of your German Shepherd. I have to ask the same question Lovetodream88 has asked, did your vet say what weight Tasey should be. 3 pounds is a lot of weight for a small dog to loose.

[pstinard]

Originally Posted by Wylie's Mom

Hi and welcome to YT ! I'm so very sorry for your loss , how tragic - and SO very young too; heartbreaking for you.

As for Tasey -- you said 1/4c + 1 tablespoon of wet food "at a time" (twice a day, I think?) - that's a LOT of food actually, for most yorkies. Unless you have a really large yorkie maybe...? Did your Vet provide you an "ideal weight" for Tasey?

You have to consider that this is a low calorie food. We feed Bella about 1/2 of regular dog food each day, and she weighs 7 pounds and is a good weight. Here is a link to the feeding guidelines for one of Fromm's weight loss dog foods: https://frommfamily.com/products/dog...commendations/. They recommend even more for a dog that size...

[buddybear]

First I'm so sorry for your loss.
I don't know what your puppy should weight as it all depends on their build etc.
Good treats that Buddybear likes are carrots, red bell pepper, and the small green peas that I use in stirfry.
Welcome to YT.

[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by TASEY

Hi Wylie's Mom -
She has not provided one. He plumped up before, and we got him down around 9 pounds. I will post a picture of him soon. I am confident we can maintain his weight loss pretty easily now that he is our one and only.

I don't mean this in a mean way at all, but I have no doubt he is from a backyard breeder. My husband already had him before we met. He might be bigger framed than the average Yorkie. I will have to measure him to see if he is on the tall side.

I am also worried because he has never had his teeth cleaned. Is that something I need to do?

I am going to have to learn more about Yorkies. I am not very familiar with the breed, although I have lived with Tasey for 4.5 years.

If the vet looks at he teeth and recommends one or he has terrible breath then I would get his teeth cleaned. Bigger frame dosen’t necessarily mean bad breeder, there are very good breeders that have had 20 pound dogs.

[TASEY]

I will have her check his teeth. I checked them last night, and they look very clean. No bad breath that I have noticed.

I ordered the book Yorkies for Dummies. It should be here by Friday.

I have moved him up to share our bedroom. He has always been downstairs, sharing a bedroom with my dog. At first I don't think he was happy to be moved, but he seems better now. He is crated at night. I thought he would be fearful without my big guy to protect him, but he is not fearful at all. He is still out barking at squirrels and guarding the house.

I also worry he might be lonely. He is now home alone during the day while we work. He does have a cat for company, and they are bonding a little. We may eventually add another dog, but we want to wait and not act out of our extreme grief.

[matese]

My now passed girl was pure AKC registered and weighed in at 17 pounds, no fat, she had a beautiful sleek body, just a very big yorkie. My adopted boy weighs 12 pounds, not fat, weight to suit his frame also AKC registered. To me he's tiny after living 17 years with a 17 pound yorkie.

[Britster]

You should be able to feel ribs easily, but not necessarily see them. When looking above from an aerial view you want to see a somewhat "hourglass" figure.

Jackson, at his best, is around 17lbs. He has gained over the winter and probably needs to lose a pound.

You want to feed for your ideal weight, not the dogs current weight. Let's say a dog is overweight at... 10lbs. most people feed the recommended amount on the bag for a 10lb dog even if the dog is supposed to be 7lbs lol.

Jackson, pretty active still and 17lbs eats the amount of your pup. He gets 1/4 cup kibble am, 1/4 cup pm, each meal mixed with a spoonful of wet. He also gets some treats throughout the day and a dental chew of sorts at night.

Here he is at his best ...

[TASEY]

Originally Posted by Britster

You should be able to feel ribs easily, but not necessarily see them. When looking above from an aerial view you want to see a somewhat "hourglass" figure.

Jackson, at his best, is around 17lbs. He has gained over the winter and probably needs to lose a pound.

You want to feed for your ideal weight, not the dogs current weight. Let's say a dog is overweight at... 10lbs. most people feed the recommended amount on the bag for a 10lb dog even if the dog is supposed to be 7lbs lol.

Jackson, pretty active still and 17lbs eats the amount of your pup. He gets 1/4 cup kibble am, 1/4 cup pm, each meal mixed with a spoonful of wet. He also gets some treats throughout the day and a dental chew of sorts at night.

Here he is at his best ...

He is beautiful! He is far thinner than Tasey. Tasey has a very round look him. And I cannot feel his ribs. I will try to download a picture of him, but I am embarrassed at how fat I let him get.

I weighed him today, and he is 11 pounds 6.5 ounces, so down a few ounces. Hopefully I am on the right track, but I may need to reduce his food a bit more.

I am willing to take him to the university hospital near me if his weight doesn't seem like it is coming down. I am sure they have vets who specialize in weight/nutrition issues. I love my vet, but I have also had great luck with the hospital for more in-depth care.

[Gew]

So sorry about your loss. German Shepherd dogs are so bonded to their family.

The PT therapist just told me that our female two year old Yorkie is a little overweight because she doesn’t have a waist. You can easily feel her ribs. She was getting 1/4 cup of grain free kibble, but now she gets broccoli, cauliflower or celery as part of the 1/4 cup. She is 7 pounds 12 ounces and the tallest of my three yorkies. Our goal is a waist. Not sure what weight that will be, but she really doesn’t look fat. So far in two weeks she lost about two ounces ( at least the digital readout was that). She loves the veggies so maybe you could try some. We were warned that kibble still be the majority and to start veggies slowly.

Gew

[chattiesmom]

Originally Posted by Britster

You should be able to feel ribs easily, but not necessarily see them. When looking above from an aerial view you want to see a somewhat "hourglass" figure.

Jackson, at his best, is around 17lbs. He has gained over the winter and probably needs to lose a pound.

You want to feed for your ideal weight, not the dogs current weight. Let's say a dog is overweight at... 10lbs. most people feed the recommended amount on the bag for a 10lb dog even if the dog is supposed to be 7lbs lol.

Jackson, pretty active still and 17lbs eats the amount of your pup. He gets 1/4 cup kibble am, 1/4 cup pm, each meal mixed with a spoonful of wet. He also gets some treats throughout the day and a dental chew of sorts at night.

Here he is at his best ...

The bolded/purple text is exactly what I was going to say. I would like to add that increasing Tasey's physical activity would also be a plus.

My Lollie has pudged out over the last year or so and I am of the opinion that she no longer has ribs 'cause I can't feel them . Lollie and I are on a better eating plan and are adding more exercise to our daily routine so that we can both shed unwanted pounds (in my case) and ounces (in Lollie's case). More walks and more fetchie since Lollie is a fetch-a-holic.