Can Anyone Give Me Some Weight Loss Advice?

Leo needs to lose weight! He got weighed today at the vets and was 99.5lbs.

He has a history of joint problems and had TTA surgery for a torn cruciate ligament in November of 2010 and recently tore the ligament on the opposite leg and is going in for the same surgery this Monday. He also has arthritis which is to be expected in dogs with ACL injuries; however I know his weight contributes a lot pressure on his joints.

Right now he gets feed twice a day. One can of canned dog food in the morning and 2 cups of kibbles at night. For kibble I usually buy Merrick or Wellness…. The vets I’ve talked to have recommended specialty low-calorie diets (ie: Science Diet) but I am reluctant to try them as they are of such poor quality.

What would be a good way to get Leo to lose weight? Also, how much weight should he lose (I can get pictures if needed)? It is very hard to exercise him as he can’t walk very far without getting sore and in the next 2 months he will be on "bed-rest" in his play pen as he recovers from surgery. Right now he already eats a bit less than what is said on the bag… my vet also mentioned he most likely has a low metabolism, which I know is not an excuse, but another factor that may make it harder for him to lose weight.

I always cut back on food first if one of the dogs gets kind of chubby. With Leo being down for recovery, he'll need even less. The boarded surgeon around here usually suggests cutting the food back by 20% until they're active again.

If you need to, you can add green beans to the food when you decrease the amount to help keep him full, but I've never had to do this with my dogs. It seems to me to be more of a make the owner feel better thing than make the dog feel better.

Of course when he's allowed to, getting him more exercise is very important.

Gavroche was 67 pounds a bit over a year ago and eating less than 1 cup of Taste of the Wild a day, and still gaining. He ended up having hypothyroidism - he now eats almost 2 cups a day and maintains himself at a healthy 53 pounds. Logan is 75ish pounds and eats just over 2 cups a day. Every dog has a different metabolism, and it does change as they age. Logan used to eat 5 cups a day and was still pretty skinny, but he was a growing puppy (1-2 years old). Remember to feed for the GOAL weight, and not the current weight! If he needs to be 60 pounds, feed for 60 pounds, not 100 pounds.

If you could post pictures, that would help us give a better idea of how overweight he is. Most labs I see ought to be in the 40-60 pound range, but they do come bigger and smaller. A good side/profile shot and an overhead shot would be great!

First off, well wishes galore for Leo's surgery on Monday! I hope for a speedy and uneventful recovery.

As for losing weight, have you tried cutting his food back yet? In order to maintain my 43lb dog's weight, I feed him less than a cup of food a day. The bag tells me he needs 2 and a half cups a day and if I followed that advice, I'd be the proud owner of a furry whale.

I suggest posting photos. Someone might be able to ballpark how much weight he needs to lose, but that's a very difficult thing to do without being able to touch the dog. My vet tells me, as a general guideline, that you should be able to easily feel a dog's ribcage (you should be able to count the ribs) and feel the hip bones without digging through a big layer of fat.

I'd try cutting back his food, first of all. Chloe (lean weight is 45 pounds) has become inactive due to no longer getting walks and she put on quite a few pounds. She had been eating two cups a day and I bumped it down to a cup and a quarter. That didn't seem to make a difference, so I lowered it to a cup a day and stopped giving her treats. That also didn't seem to make much of a difference, so I switched her food to a low calorie/fat diet (4Health's Salmon and Potato formula). She's finally lost a few pounds (I hope), or at the very least she feels better under my hands. Now that she's no longer getting into the cat food helps, too, I think.

Also, if you have access to water (swimming), that is a great way to exercise a dog while they're recovering from joint injury.

I would switch his kibble, honestly. Merrick and Wellness are good foods but they're high on fillers. I would put him on a super premium kibble, my favorite is Nature's Variety Instinct, and I've tried EVERY food! My Corgi mix puts on weight sooo easily & Instinct is the only kibble that can keep him lean. Rabbit is my fave formula. He weighs 40 lbs, and I feed him LESS than 1 cup a day. Usually 1/2 cup per day split into two meals, with fresh food mixed in. Add as much fresh food as possible to his kibble!!! Kibble is very calorie dense, so cut it out as much as possible and replace the rest with healthy "real" food that isn't high in calories but is still nutritious and filling. Replace half the meal with plain cooked meat, light plain yogurt, cottage cheese, veggie puree, steamed veggies, etc. I would cut his entire daily intake into 2 meals per day, 1/2 cup each meal, with 1/2 cup of fresh food in each meal.

DEFINITELY cut out the canned food - it's expensive and caloric! If you want him to have a "special" meal, I recommend giving him a nice raw meaty bone like a turkey neck/wing, a chicken back with the fat taken off, or if you aren't comfortable with that, a frozen chunk of pre-made raw (Stella & Chewys, Nature's Variety or Primal are all good). The only time that Fozzie is in great shape is when he's on raw. I really recommend switching a dog with weight issues to a raw diet, it detoxes their body and helps kick-start the weight loss.

With a dog facing so many health issues, I'd get him SUPER lean. Like, able to distinctly feel the ribs. It's also important to build great muscle tone, and the best way to do that is with low impact exercise, like swimming and natural jogging/walking off-leash or on a long leash on soft surfaces (sand, grass, etc).

I agree with this!

My retriever mix Tucker used to eat just under a cup per meal, twice a day. The bag recommended something like 1.5 or 2 cups per meal for a dog his size, but had I fed him that much he would have been huge. A full can and two cups of kibble a day sounds like a lot. I would definitely begin cutting back on the amount of food you are feeding him, and possibly by quite a bit depending on how overweight he is (pictures showing his waist would be super helpful).

It seems like the suggestions on bags are always grossly overestimated lol. Also, if you do switch him to a higher quality food (which I think would be a great idea), remember to feed him even less than you would of the lower quality brands because more of that food will be bioavailable to him. Basically, he is getting more out of it and pooping less, so therefore will need less kibble per serving

ETA: Good for you for working on getting his weight to a healthy level. Obesity in pets is becoming a huge problem (and resulting in so many more health problems ) so I think it's super awesome you are trying to reduce his weight and make him as healthy as possible. I am sure he would thank you for it if he could :hail:

Thanks for the help and recommendations! I will be sure to cut back on giving him so much canned food and will cut back a bit on the kibble as well.

I know it’s hard to fully judge body condition based on photos, but hopefully these will help. If he looks scruffy it’s because he just had a bath. I'm guessing he needs to lose at least 15lbs, probably more...?

Agree on just lowering the food amount. Also, you can give green beans to fill them up and they're basically zero calories!

Are you willing/able to switch him to a raw diet? He looks chunky but feeding raw and recreational bones is a great way for them to get a little bit of exercise in their jaw/neck/shoulders and still get a good amount of protein in a fresh, low-calorie meal.

I would find a grain free kibble, feed less, and give him lots of things to chew on if he acts hungry. I agree with Ihartgonzo about the canned food, it's pretty calorie-dense and really expensive!

While he's recovering, put the reduced rations into treat dispensing toys - it'll make it last longer, provide some light physical exercise, and will keep him mentally challenged!

Toys to check out:
- Tricky Treat Ball
- Treatstik
- Buster Cube
- Kibble Nibble
- Kong
- Squirrel Dude
- Kong Genius
- Linkables
- Tug-A-Jug (supervised use only - some dogs gnaw thru the rope)
- Kong Wobbler

If he's nearly a hundred pounds now, realistically, I'd try to get him down twenty pounds. I do keep my dogs really lean though. Enzo is a chocolate lab, and if I let her eat all she wanted she could probably weigh around eighty pounds. She's not built to carry that much weight, and she's currently fighting fit (figuratively lol) at fifty pounds. She IS on the small side of the standard at just over 22 or 23 inches tall. She's also solid muscle though. She does a lot of hiking, high impact stuff that she couldn't do if she was overweight either. She swims regularly, we do a looot of long distance recalls (across football fields) where she sprints back and forth (I walk haha) so that's one way to build solid muscle when he's lost weight. I can't recommend swimming highly enough either.

I'd say probably 20-30 pounds, possibly more. It's hard to tell unless you can actually get your hands on the dog. Gavroche lost almost 15 pounds and I didn't even realize he was that much overweight before - he didn't look fat, he was just thicker than I'd like. So on a 100 pound dog, 20 pounds probably won't look like much. Once you start getting weight off, you can readjust the goals as needed. After getting 10 pounds or so off you can probably make a MUCH better guess.

I have labs also...Java tore both cruciates when she was 13 months old, at the same time. She weighed 76 lbs at the time of her first surgery. Her ortho stressed how important it was to get weight off of her (she was NOT overweight0she's a bench lab, short and stocky).He wanted her very lean...almost to the point of being too skinny. She also has ED, DJD & OCD.

She weighed 76 lbs at the time of her first surgery. I cut her food back from 2.5 cups a day to 1.5 cups a day. 3/4 cup at each meal, along with a can of no salt green beans as a filler. She also got a tablespoon of canned food (EVO or Wellness 95% meat). All the food I feed her is grain free, which made a big difference for her.
When she went in for her second surgery, 10 weeks after the first she weighed 72 lbs.

By the time Java reached 6 weeks post op from surgery #2 she weighed 63 lbs. Now she weighs in at 60 lbs....and is very lean and muscular.

I'd switch Leo's food to a better quality, possibly grain free and cut back to about 2 cups a day, adding in no salt canned green beans to his meals as fillers.

Even with having TTA, after the first couple of weeks, he will be allowed to start walking....so I'd make sure that he follows the recovery guidelines, but isn't completely bedridden for the entire recovery time. They are encouraged to walk...so walking, combined with redeuced food and a food change will work wonders.

BTW-I also went through the same thing with my other girl Moka. She broke both bones in her back leg when she was 4 months old, needed 2 surgeries and had to be crated 24/7 (other than 3 5 minute potty breaks) for 4 months. She was FAT when she came out...because she was allowed NO activity at all. Strict crate rest for 4 months.

I changed her to grain free, cut back her food, added green beans and started walking and the weight melted off pretty quickly. She is now a lean, healthy 50 lbs (she's very small-17" tall).

As far as how much weight he needs to lose-don't go by a number, go by how he feels and looks. I rarely weigh my girls...if I think they look like they need to drop a lb or 2 I cut back on things. If I can't feel their ribs anymore, I cut back. Leo should have a nice, defined waist and you should be able to feel his ribs putting little or no pressure on him. Don't worry about the specific number-go by how he looks and feels.

Good luck with both the surgery and the weight loss!!

Here is Moka just after she came off all restrictions for her broken leg (look how big her butt it!!!)



Here is Moka now-nice and lean at 50.4 lbs:





Java now:

I don't have much to add that hasn't already been said except I have a Lab named Leo too Well technically, he's a cross.

I agree that he is getting way too much food. My Leo has also had knee surgery and he only get's 1 1/2 cups of Orijen a day, split between two meals, plus lots of exercise.

Keep in mind that he's a Lab, he will act like you are starving him to death , but you have to learn to ignore it.

LOVE this advice! Especially the part about switching the canned food to raw. I'd add, too, to check into some of the grain free kibbles specifically. No corn, wheat or rice.