[Lori]

Hi, I’m new to the forum, but not reading several articles and researching food, which is very confusing with lots of different opinions. I currently have lab and a cocker spaniel. My lab is a service dog and came to me 2 years ago at 67-1/2 lbs at 17 months of age. He is now 3-1/2 years old almost. He got up to 92 pounds over the winter (over treating!), and I went to a dog nutritionist at the Univ of MN in May of this year. He has been on Purina OM (I know, I know, the grains and crap in it), but he has lost abour 14 lbs. My cocker spaniel is going to be 4 this week and I adopted him from Texas a year ago. He came to me at 34 pounds. I’ve been feeding him the same food. So, Chuckles my lab weighs 78 lbs and Teddy, my cocker weighs 25. The nutritionist wants Chuck to weigh 68-70 lbs because he is a service dog and needs to be on the lean side. Teddy should be approximately 23-24.

So, I now want to switch them again to a quality food, keeping in mind both still need to lose some weight. I am disabled so getting sufficient exercise for them is hard, especially in the winter. During the summer, we go to the dog park every day.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[Lori]

I should add that Chuckles was evaluated by the nutritionist, Teddy was not. They have him eating 1-1/2 cups of the OM twice a day (266 cal/cup). I give Teddy 1 cup, which I think may not be enough. They allowed Chuck 20 calories in treats per day (that was a tuffy one for me!).

[Hound Dog Mom]

Weight loss is based on calories in and calories out – your dog has to create an energy deficit in order to lose weight (in other words, the dog needs to burn more calories than it’s consuming). Weight loss can be achieved on any food as long as the portion size is controlled appropriately – although it’s definitely easier on foods that are less calorically-dense. Personally, if I had a dog with weight issues I would definitely avoid kibble. Kibble is very low in moisture and for this reason much more calorically dense than higher moisture foods (raw, canned, dehydrated). To give you an idea – a large can of food (~13 oz.) will contain roughly the same number of calories as an 8 oz. cup of dry kibble. Dehydrated foods contain roughly the same amount of calories per cup as a quality kibble (sometimes slightly more), but they are re-hydrated with – usually – 1 part food to 1.5 parts water which results in about 2 1/2 C. of food for roughly the same amount of calories as 1 C. of kibble. A raw diet formulated with lean meat will be very low in calories – generally only 250 – 300 per cup of food. If you do decide to go with a kibble, my recommendations would be Annamaet Lean, Wellness CORE Reduced Fat or Acana Light & Fit. Be sure to reduce portion sizes accordingly.

• This reply was modified 11 years ago by Hound Dog Mom.

[Lori]

Thank you, Hound Dog Mom! So, if I feed Chuck, for example, 3 cups a day now which is 798 in kibble, how much of canned food would he eat per day? I’m trying to be cost conscious, but this current OM food is $76/bag that lasts about 6-7 weeks (30-pounds). For my Teddy (the Cocker), I definitely could afford to feed him canned exclusively, or can I mix kibble and canned. I plan to have a dog walker for the dogs this winter, as I have mobility issues and cannot walk them or bring them to a dog park. Chuckles does do a treadmill though 🙂

[InkedMarie]

I had great success with Wellness Core reduced fat food.

[Lori]

Thank you InkedMarie

[Hound Dog Mom]

Hi Chuckles –

As a general rule 1 large can of food (usually around 13 oz.) has roughly the same number of calories as 1 C. of kibble. I’d figure out the calorie levels in everything you’re feeding though and portion things out so he gets the same number of calories he was getting with the OM.

[Author]

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