My Yorkie is too fat
 

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!

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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 :eek:. 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.

Don't be embarrassed - it's super easy to let happen! (I can't speak - my dog is in way better shape than me, lol)

Sounds like you are on the right track! Even 15 mins extra of activity a day and you will likely begin to see the difference.

My dads dogs are both overweight but they don't even try to help them so they're a lost cause lol

He is looking better already. He really liked his Honest Kitchen samples. I am going to try to switch him over to it. I would have fed both dogs that, but it is just too expensive for a German Shepherd.

Do you guys do monthly heartworm, and what do you use? I have been getting my boys the injection, but now I have read some scary things about it so I will probably be switching once Tasey is due again. I put flea and tick prevention on him during about 6 months of the year, although our vet has had me use it a bit longer the last few years because the weather in Michigan stays warmer longer now.

And Tasey and the cat are really warming up to each other. The cat hated our German Shepherd (he adored her), and now that he is gone she comes downstairs all the time. I was worried about him alone all day, but I think they keep each other company somewhat.

Thanks for all of your help! I am really enjoying Tasey.

Yes, I do heartworm all year round here in AZ. I've used either Ivermectin, Heartguard or Heartguard+. I've never used the injectible bc of the concerns you mention above. :)

Chewie also was in a position where we were told she HAS to lose very recently. She was so thin and not eating at one point so we've kept an eye on her. She's been losing, slowly. I joke we cut out the icecream at night and it's working. We simply carefully measure her portions now and cut back on treats. I've taken to giving her fresh veggies and giving her a quarter of her usual treats, and much less of them. Also cut off my daughter from the trick training they were doing because of how liberal she was with the treats. It's worked, she lost almost half of a pound in a month. I understand that your little guy might not be physically up for exercise so this is what is working for us. She's now back down to an ideal weight but we'd like her back to her 5.9 pounds which was where she was at a 3/5 instead of her 4/5 (as vet stressed 4.5/5)just at the end of December. I never thought a pound would DO that, but with these guys they can. Even though she was almost down in her weight by the time she got hurt, I still believe that had a helping hand in it. Her waist is back to dipping in and her gait is corrected- she was starting to waddle. I hope you can get him down!!! OH- P.S. Chewie IS on wet fromms. We gave up, and the vet also was fine with her on wet food. Yes, I know. Kibble is best. But she would NOT EAT ANYTHING FOR MORE THAN A MONTH before this, and we simply got tired of having her have to go back on a boiled diet which wasn't healthy at all. That also had a hand in her weight gain being so rapid, and it's why we are so very careful now. She eats like a champ, she's healthy (with some issues, but it could be so much worse) and that's what matters. She's also sitting still for her teeth brushing- which was my reason for giving in to husband's request that we just count our blessings. Wet food would equal teeth decay, and I wasn't having that.

Heh, Ann, my husband and I got into a massive fight about this. He won. She's on the injectable and I get sick every time she has it. All 3 times. Literally, sick. I didn't want to bother any one about it, but since it was mentioned.. Sorry for the thread hijack, OP! I hope this works out!

Wet food is actually better for dogs then dry. It is a myth that dry food helps with teeth. That would be lick me eating coco puffs and not brushing my teeth because it’s a hard food. Food really has no effect persay on teeth.

I think me and you talked about how dangerous the injectable is. I would never ever give it. It had been pulled off the market once before. It has killed dogs and made them extremely sick. It is just as dangerous as trifexis! Both should be pulled and never brought back.

Here is a story of many dogs deaths from the injection https://keepthetailwagging.com/the-v...-dog-deaths-2/

I've seen that, and I've spoken with the vet, and also the owner of the clinic who owns yorkies. they've told me all the "pros" and I still don't agree. I know that this is mainly with labs. I don't give a crap and I have to say that I'm not arguing. If I sound upset, it's because I'm very upset about this shot, and just thinking about it makes me want to hurl. I brought it up two days ago and he put it off about a "later" discussion. He says we forget t he pills sometimes. Yep, that's nice. I don't think I'll allow it the next time, even with a drag out yelling match. I get the eye rolls from our vet when I express concerns about vaccines, so I gotta say, it's good to see people who actually understand it's not a good shot.

It's her history with her breeding line. I know that even though I'm human, I have a very small mouth and easily can get cavities. I like to think of it like that- especially with a ding on the guy's record with one aged 10 months from her line. Missing teeth and some that were badly off. I don't like that it's sticky and can get caught in small and hard to reach places.

Heart guard has an app you can get on your phone to remind you or there are many other apps you could get to remind you as well. I personally would not risk it with the shot. But luckily I’m the only owner of my pups so my decisions stand but even if I wasn’t I would risk a break up or divorce then do something that would hurt my pups they are my babies and come first which is probably why I’m not married lol

Dry food pieces get stuck too really anything can. I have found many things stuck between puppies teeth. Right now Penny thinks she can floss her self by getting strings from toys in between her teeth ugh lol

:thumbup:
If I could afford to feed my big boy solely wet food, I probably would!

JennaPenny - Tasey has had the shot probably 4 times, with no problems as far as I could see.

Does anyone use Revolution? I am not doing the injection again (he just had it at the end of February so he won't be due until until end of August). I used to use Revolution for my lab for heart worm, fleas, ear mites etc.

His Honest Kitchen came, and he ate it great last night and this morning. I am trying 1/4 cup twice a day, then I will have to weigh him to see if that is enough/too much.

I would also like to feed him Freshpet Select sometimes. I don't want to complicate his diet too much, but I like him to have a little variety.

We are in the process of deciding if we want to add another dog once we have Tasey straightened out in his weight. It would be another small dog, probably a rescue Yorkie. I would like to get one around the same age as Tasey. I love German Shepherds, but our home/lifestyle seems more suited to a small dog. Plus my husband really disliked all of the shedding. I worry so much that Tasey is lonely, although he seems to be bonding with the cat.

I use the alarm on my cell phone. I set it for times I have to take a pill and if Cody needs meds I put his time in also, but, my cell is always on me or near me. Just a thought I wanted to share :)