food for chubby dogs

Discussion dedicated to promoting the well-being of your dog through diet, exercise and general health tips.

Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost

Post Reply
robing
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:33 am

food for chubby dogs

Post by robing »

Hi everyone. we're in need of help!!

Megan my Border Collie has been over weight for some time, she has a thyroid problem. She is on medication for this but the weight isnt coming down again.

At the moment we are feeding her a turkey and veg, which isn't working she is still gaining weight.

If anyone knows of a great diet we can put her on, info or books ( i have fat dog slim)?? anything would be helpful!!
emmabeth
Posts: 8894
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
Location: West Midlands
Contact:

Post by emmabeth »

I often find turkey quite fatty adn rich - my dogs certainly do, it makes them fart!

Less meat, more veg, more exercise.

If you can, take her swimming as this is a great exercise with no risk to her joints.

How much exercise is she getting daily?

Em
robing
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:33 am

Post by robing »

She gets an hour and a half of exercise daily.

we have cut her meat right down already. What sort of amount would you recommend.
Boxacrazy
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2006 3:06 am
Location: South Oxon/Berks borders

Post by Boxacrazy »

One of my girls who is hypothyroid is fed tinned Chappie the chicken and rice version as she doesn't like the 'original' flavour.
(I know that alot of people don't like this food as it's tinned and cereal based, artificial colours etc - I wasn't particularly happy myself - but it really does work for my girl - and surprisingly the vets advised to feed her it instead of the expensive prescription diets they could have pushed)
This has helped to control & reduce her high cholesterol (side effect of the hypothyroidism) and she's not too bad - bit podgy for show weight but as I had to have her spayed due to the hypo-t & we are really fighting an uphill battle to keep her in tip top show weight. (which is leaner than the average dog - although mine aren't sticks hate to see them too ribby)
The vet thinks she's fine, she would be if she wasn't shown :wink:
She isn't fed as much as they suggest on the tin, she gets 1/4 of a 800gr tin with a few biscuits (laughing dog - total nutrition) sprinkled on to help with her teeth and gums in good condition.

Still if you are really struggling to keep her weight off it might also be because her medication dosage is incorrect. Normally once under control you only have blood tests every 6 months to check thyroid levels. But it might be worth having her checked via blood testing again to see how she is. I can tell when my girls' dosage needs adjusting as she loses skin condition and goes very scurfy.
robing
Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Jan 30, 2007 7:33 am

Post by robing »

Cheers thats really helpful. We stopped feeding her the original Chappie as we throught it wasn't good for her so its very interesting to here you say that.

we will deffently give it a go.

thanks to all!!!
Post Reply