overweight yorkie?
 

Thanks for your response? Yes, I saw his parents, neither of them weights over 5 lbs, his older brother is 4 and a half pounds. However, my little Chewy does not look fat by any means.

My yorkie was always 4.4 ... Now she's 5.4 but feels even heavier. She's become less active and just laying around. I see a major difference. I have her on evp weight management. 1/2 cup per day. Will let you know how it works out. She's not a fussy eater.

Made a typo. Evo weight management.

Mine too were a couple pounds overweight...almost 7lbs....I started him on Stella and Chewy raw....and he current weight is 5.2lbs.....he has more energy and his skin and coat has never looked better. I don't give a lot of treats...just one piece of dried food or raw veggies, but only when I put them into their crates for the night or when I go to work. My other two were never overweight...Gus also weighs 5.2 and Zoey, 4.2...just took all three to the store to buy their food and weighed them at the store. Good luck!!

Cassie is 5.4. Weighed today by the vet. He's going to test her for a thyroid problem. The extra pound has definitely slowed her down. She used to jump up on the sofa and now can't do it. She's also panting which she never did. I hope the Evo Weight Mgt dry food will work out. 1/2 cup per day. Will let you know.

Hi everyone,
Skeeter is STILL overweight and now his knees are acting up. With 6 animals eating everymorning we put the food down at 6 am and pick it up at 10am. Everyone has eaten bey then. We feed Healthy Weight by Blue Buffalo. We give bites of Science Diet Dental Care for treats about three times a day. All of them except Gracie need to loose weigh but Skeeter is really obese.
After reading all of this - here is my plan and I would love comments and suggestions:
Food down for 2 hours instead of 4. Feed Skeeter green beans first. (1/2 cup?) Then maybe confine him with a little food for that two hours.

Smash the dental care food so that they get about 1/4 of a piece instead of 3 whole ones. Give Skeeter his piece last so he doesn't get more than one if he steals.

The big problem I with Skeeter is that he is so greedy he steals everyone elses food and if he is hungry enough he will trail around behind someone waiting for them to poop then he snatches it up.

Maybe feed him separately. I would put measured food out for him. I would also not leave the food down that long.

If I'm understanding correctly, you are still essentially 'free feeding' just leaving the bowl down for shorter period of time? IMO, that's just not going to work. If you're trying to get a dog to lose weight, and you have 6 animals, and don't see EXACTLY how much each one is eating... it's just not going to work.

You need to feed them all separately, at once, and pick it right up. In other words, the food gets put down in separate bowls in front of each of them, and then they eat, and then it gets picked up. Do you not want to do wet food? If you put a dab of wet food in there and mix it in, it should make them eat it right away. At my dads house, we have 3 dogs and at dinner time, they all eat right next to each other without messing with the others bowls. It took a few times of standing right next to them and reminding them, but now they're good. They get dry/wet mixed. If you don't want to do wet, believe me... they're learn very quickly that the food gets placed in front of them... give them 30 seconds or so, make it exciting, enticing, and if they don't eat. Pick it up. Try again later. After a day, they'll realize that's all their getting.

Ditch the treats all together for Skeeter, except use something like green beans if he likes them as his treat. I dogsit a Golden Retriever who needed to lose weight and they actually use peas as a treat (like peas in a pod) and she loooovesss them. I'm not sure how many calories each SD treat has? But they're like nugget sized right? I would get Zuke's or something -- pieces are so tiny and like 1 calorie per treat.

Exercise? How much exercise are they getting? VERY important in losing weight obviously.

Like I said skeeters knees are really bad so he is not walking with the others. He never has enjoyed it anyway. I do think that the two hour limit on the food will help as they all eat seperately. They don't eat at the same time. I am going to put Skeeter in a separate room while it is down though.

The biggest issue I think is my dh who feeds them food from his plate but I finally convinced hin that it is doing damage and he has stopped as of two days ago. Skeeter LOVES green beans so that is going to work out really well. I will probably mix them with his food but how much should a dog that should weigh 7lbs eat? He would eat as much as a horse if I let him.

It is difficult to put one on a diet when you are free feeding. You may have to start feeding them in separate rooms. Make sure your chubby one gets as much as he as supposed to have but take your others to another area to feed them.

My girl gained some weight last winter so I had to watch her intake more closely and we stated going for more walks. She loved it but me not so much. I think exercise is really important for these little dogs. They can't eat much to begin with so if we can get the weight off with exercise then they can at least continue to eat normal meals. It's good for their heart and lungs anyway.

Ian also loves fresh string beans!! I'll give him about three or four of them for his afternoon snack/lunch. Also, I make his treats so I know exactly what he is eating, and I don't have to worry about China. The last treats that I made were wheat germ and pure pumpkin. That's it...only two ingredients. I mix them well, and bake until crunchy, about an hour on 320. Turn once after about 40 minutes, and leave in the oven (with the oven off) for another hour. I use a pizza stone to bake his. I also use a cookie press to make different designs/shapes.This treat guarantees a nice poop in the morning!:)

I just have to say that that is such a cool idea with the cookie press!

:)Thank you!!:)

My little girl is definitely fat
 

I am not sure what to do with my Chloé she keep on getting weight I brought her to the vet and he said that she needed to go on a diet and exercise alot. But as she seems so cute with her puppy eyes everyone keeps on giving her food and even treats for no reason and even though I have told my family she needs to go on a diet next thing I know she is more fat than before. Why? Because my mom and siblings keep on giving her food and treats.... I don't know what to do please help

Just like us, humans, dogs that eat more calories than they burn tend to be overweight. I suggest you to put him on a high-protein diet, exercise him more, limit the treats you give him (as tempting as it may be, just limit it). You can find a lot of high-protein recipes that dogs would love.