[Julie M]

Five months ago my vet suggested I put my overweight spayed Cocker Spaniel bitch on a Raw Meat diet to try and lose weight. She should be about 11Kg and was 12.5Kg Having read lots of info I started her off on 220g per day,divided into two feeds a day, primarily chicken drumsticks & wings, with offal once a week and tinned salmon, tuna or pilchards once a week. She also had about 50g part-cooked green veg (peas, beans, asparagus, cauliflower etc) to help fill her up as she is always hungry. Unfortunately she kept gaining weight. So on further advise I cut down the meat to 150g and increased the veg to 100g per day. But she is still gaining weight and today she has been weighed at 13.7Kg! I love her being on the diet as she actually has to chew & crunch food rather than hoovering it up in a matter of seconds. So the question now is what way to go…reduce the meat further and keep giving veg to fill her up or remove the veg and feed purely meat (as per the Atkins diet)? What would people recommend?

[Susan]

Hi, Walks 2x30min walks a day, I walk my boy 1/2 hour after eating breakfast & dinner & lunch the bugger sits near the door whinging for his walks, I live in a flat/villa no yard only the communal yard..Walking at a good pace will heap with the weight also I read u feed beans, peas, califlower etc try some pumpkin or sweet potato or potato instead of the peas & beans they wouldnt fill her up much…buy those rice cake biscuits & use as treats when hungry, I just break 1 in half & give Patch little pieces you could add some banana crushed on 1 if she doesnt like them with nothing on them…

[Julie M]

Thanks for your reply. She already gets walked twice a day for 30-60 minutes. And unfortunately the vet specifically said do not feed root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, swede etc) as they are high in sugar or carbohydrates such as pasta, rice or potatoes. Therefore I feel my only choice is between meat and green veg.

[losul]

Julie, I think the total weight of the diet you are giving ( about 9, 10 ounces or so) should be pretty much in line for reducing weight for a dog that should weigh about 24 lbs., barring some sort of metabolism issue and I don’t think the problem is from a few low-carb veggies. I would suspect your dogs diet is disproportionally very high in fat (skin) and bone (bone marrow also has high fat content), especially the chicken wings, which are mostly skin and bone. I would feed more lean meats (skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs) with any other visible fat removed) and less bone. Some lean red meat instead of only chicken would also balance the fats better.

• This reply was modified 10 years, 3 months ago by losul.

[Julie M]

Thanks for this. I was simply trying to find small portion sizes and did not think about fat in the skin! I will do as you say and try her on leaner meat for a few weeks and see if we are heading in the right direction.

[Shasta220]

Agreed about leaner meats. Try boneless skinless meats. Exercise is good, keep it up! The walks though, are they just sort of pleasure strolls, or do you try to get your heart rate up and do some speed walking? Because just strolling really won’t do too much to get her going.

Try to get some running in there. Either run some on your walks, or try to find a sport to get her into like agility, flyball, fetch, etc.

And definitely keep track of portion control. There are many dogs out there that will convince you that they’re starving, even though they just stole a whole loaf of bread from the pantry! My dogs are perfect examples – I went to feed them their daily amount, and they all gobbled up like they were starving. Then, right as they finish the last bite, dad told me “oh. I fed them all a whole scoop already.” Eeeeeesh! (At least my dogs don’t have to worry about their weight for now lol)

[Shasta220]

Also, be sure to minimize treats and other scraps. I know a dog who is very very overweight (he is probably about 120-130lb, and a healthy weight on him would be closer to 80-100lb). He has a fairly good diet, and he is given only a tiny bit more kibble than my 70lb girl. How is he so huge? Table scraps and treats, of course! He gets them alllllll the time…

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