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Originally Posted by momofreese  Reese unfortunately basically refuses to walk. Like I said I try daily to walk holding her away from my home and then she will walk back.. as fast as possible or will drag herself, and I have to pick her up (since I do not want to choke her) go a few feet and then place her back down in hopes she will "rewalk". I do not mind doing this since I know how important the exercise is for her. She usually doesn't make it for much more than 15 minutes a day. She will shake and make a mad rush for my door. I cannot take her off the home route and try to continue on, since she smells HOME immediately. She wears a harnass since she also has a sensitive tracea (not collapsed) but will honk all the way down the roads, like the geese on the road.
I have also tried the jacuzzi with my daughter in it, since we do not have a pool for exercise and she nearly scratched my daughters skin off. I know I am making Reese sound like a pickyune, but she is really a wonderful little girl.
I dont know if she is malnurished.. never heard that.. because she has always been overweight and fighting her excess pounds alongside me. She just has always required tons of food, at least in her mind. We always say that if she was left a 50 pound bag of food, she would eat until she died. Gd forbid. I can never free feed since there is no such thing in her life. Once the food, of any kind, over her nine years we have been through tons of brands, prescription RD and WD, and the same results for all.. a starving yorkie girl.
I have thought that part of her problem is out and out boredom and have always taken her with me to as many dog friendly places as possible. She is NOT a big fan of other dogs.. not bad, just doesn't think they are as "great" as she might think she is, and sees herself as a little human girl vs a dog.. or so we think.
When she goes to the beach or parks.. she isn't the least bit interested in dogs and only wants to watch the children on swings or monkey bars and interact with them.
As you can tell, I am smiling when I type this and certainly am going off track. My vet doesn't seem to be too interested in the food I choose, which is very upsetting. He didn't think she need a prescription "diet" food any longer but was reluctant to name a healthy brand or type. Hopefully my husband will do better with him, today, but I tend to doubt it.
I hopefully will get a call from my vet friend and at least go for another opinion with copies of the blood panel and urinanalysis that was done three weeks ago.
thanks to all again and again for your posts. |
It's a misconception that overweight people aren't malnourished; most of them are, because in many cases, the weight came on from eating the wrong foods. Like I said before, the foods you’re feeding her aren’t so bad for a humans, but they aren’t complete for a dog, a dog has different needs. Anytime snacks consume 20% of calorie needs, those snacks must be balanced,or a supplement is needed. I agree with your vet on the food, your dog doesn't need a prescription food, just find a food you’re comfortable with and your dog can digest well. There are so many good choices on the market. Some of the weight control formulas have ingredients that are "fillers" and can be hard for some dogs to digest. You said the weight was good, so I think you need to address some of the other problems. When Joey gained too much weight after a trick training class, the vet said to reduce his food by 1/3 and add about 5 green beans to his meal to help fill him up. This allowed Joey to lose about 1 ounce a week. We give him Merrick Bully sticks, and they are more of a chewing stick then a snack like so many other bully sticks. Because it has a low moisture content, it takes him over a whole week to eat one, and I believe it helps satisfy his hunger, along with keeping his teeth and gums healthy. If your dog is eating a bully stick in one day, the moisture content of it is too high. One last thing, since your dog doesn’t like to be active you might look for one of those interactive toys for feeding. There are several on the market, you place the kibble in the toy and she has to work for her dinner. We also played fetch with Joey during mealtime, so he’d have to run and fetch a toy to retrieve a piece of kibble. By the way, I'm not sure if the Jacuzzi was heated, but dogs cannot tolerate the high heat that humans can.