Doggy Diet

[Laurelin]

Mia's kind of tubby right now. I was wondering how much do you guys cut down on food when you notice they're getting a little on the fat side? She already only eats 1/4 a cup a day.

[AdrianneIsabel]

I start breaking meals up, they metabolize better, IMO. I also do work to eat and train to eat which burns more calories as well.

I hate lessening amounts per meal so sometimes I skip meals instead of lessening and instead we do stuffed kongs or marrow (which is high in calorie but again is exercise to eat).

[Laurelin]

I've been feeding her in toys most meals. I do rotational diet with a little bit of raw/kibble/canned/whatever. I've been thinking about doing jsut raw until she slims down.

She is such a tub though! I don't get it at all. She is SO active and Summer is so lazy and yet Mia gets fat and Summer is always bordering too skinny.

[Saeleofu]

Logan gets 2 3/4 cups a day, and if I notice him getting chubby I back off to 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 cups a day for a couple weeks and he's back where he should be. Usually Logan gains from treats or eating AJs food when my mom is "watching" him So it's easy enough to get the weight off.

Gavroche hasn't gained any extra since he started thyroid meds. If anything I occasionally need to up his food for a few weeks to get some weight on him.

[JacksonsMom]

I thought Jackson was getting a bit pudgier for him lately. He wasn't fat by any means, but a bit 'pudgy' for my liking. He WAS getting 2/3 cup a day (but he's also chewing bully sticks a lot, stuffed Kongs, training treats, some canned food, etc, due to being inside a lot and being bored) and we honestly just haven't been doing as much exercise stuff as usual. It's been so cold for me, and I just got lazy. So I cut him back to 1/2 cup per day and I've noticed a small difference in the last week. It's something nobody else probably would notice but I do. And he's not acting starving or anything.

Maybe cut back on the canned food? 1/4 cup kibble does seem like so little. Mia is what, like, 6-ish lbs? I don't know if I'd wanna reduce kibble (if that's her 'main' meal) anymore.

[DenoLo]

We're pretty much in the same exact boat, Lo is always bordering on chubby but she eats next to nothing. She gets 1/4 cup a day as well. I have been substituting frozen green beans for her Kong treat, and any other treats during the day. The winter's not helping either, Hard to get much exercise when it's either 0 degrees or there's a couple feet of snow on the ground.

[Saeleofu]

What about switching to a lower calorie formula?

If they've always eaten the same amount, and you haven't changed to a higher calorie kibble or decreased activity, it might be worth checking a T4. The biggest tip-off on Gavroche's thyroid was that I was dropping his food (down to 3/4 cup a day for a 60+ lb dog) and he was STILL gaining weight. I didn't realize the other problems he had until they started to improve.

[Laurelin]

I'm pretty sure nosework and agility treats are the culprit. It's hard to give so many treats to such a tiny dog and still give them a balanced diet and not have them only eating treats. I've decided to use kibble for a lot of Summer's nosework.

And I think I'm going to try freeze dried raw for training treats. I need to find a 'treat' for agility that can be their balanced meal of the day instead of giving them lunch meat, cheese, and hotdogs.

I need something soft and not crunchy/falling apart for agility class. any ideas?

[sassafras]

I use the Stella and Chewy's dehydrated raw for training treats a lot. It's got a bit of a crumbly texture but you can break it up into small pieces.

[JacksonsMom]

Originally Posted by Laurelin

I'm pretty sure nosework and agility treats are the culprit. It's hard to give so many treats to such a tiny dog and still give them a balanced diet and not have them only eating treats. I've decided to use kibble for a lot of Summer's nosework.

And I think I'm going to try freeze dried raw for training treats. I need to find a 'treat' for agility that can be their balanced meal of the day instead of giving them lunch meat, cheese, and hotdogs.

I need something soft and not crunchy/falling apart for agility class. any ideas?

I use the Bravo Bites. The turkey ones are low in fat, they're super tiny already (no need to break in half really, but you can), freeze-dried (but they don't break apart) and he LOVES them. I use them typically only for agility so he's really motivated. I'll put bits of string cheese in our treat bag, along with the turkey bites from Bravo, so he never knows which he's going to get, but I feed more of the turkey than cheese.