Weight loss advice please

[yankydoodle]

Hi folks,
Our 4 year old is pretty overweight, and i need some advice on how i can help her lose weight.

Here's the situation:

She is on Derm Defense for her food, which helps with skin issues.

Now, i usually take her and our other pup for a walk each day, which would normally be fine. But the last two months, our weather has changed so dramatically. Where i live it is quite windy, but now since two months ago, it is 10x worse.

I really cannot walk them, because the wind will be terrible for their eyes.
The wind is just absolutely terrible, and i am very frustrated about this.

Any advice would be greatly appreciate it.

 

[2BullyMama]

I did this for my girl, she was 70 pounds Nd our vet told us to get her down to 60. We cut back her food by half and added that amount in frozen green beans as a filler... she lost the weight in a few weeks and once gone, we kept it off by switching to raw.

 

[helsonwheels]

Definitely switch food as you’re feeding her grains n flavours. Soybean oil..not good, egg products..what’s the product, lots of grains, flavor usually means some sort of mixed chemicals to give the flavor....and made from Science Hill. Science Hill just recently removed some of their products off the market cause of over dose Vit D. Dogs were/are sick and/or dying . Not sure what part of Africa you’re at but probably South? Here’s a link below you can buy Acana in Africa. Like Christine mentioned cut the food portions. To resolve skin issues is simply feed a balanced raw diet. You’ll avoid so many health issues n your dog will lose weight. Dogs needs protein from meat n not grains. Why your dog is over weight. What do you give farm animals to fatten them up? Grains. Why you need to stay away from any grain kibbles. Especially Science Hill, Royal Canin or Purina. Just stay away from them brands. Full of fillers n chemicals. Also what is needed for skin issues is probiotics. The gut’s flora needs to be balanced n working so the immune system functions to fight health issues. Why raw has is top for any health issues. Or add little pieces of raw liver, heart etc organs as a topper on the kibble when feeding

I don’t know what kibble brand they sell in Africa but Acana which is a top quality kibble. Let use know what you have as option so we can tell you what to buy.

https://www.petheaven.co.za/acana-pacifica-dog.html


This is what your ingredients are...

Brewers Rice, Chicken Meal, Whole Grain Sorghum, Cracked Pearled Barley, Pea Protein, Egg Product, Soybean Oil, Flaxseed, Chicken Liver Flavor, Whole Grain Oats, Dried Beet Pulp, Fish Oil, Pork Liver Flavor, Lactic Acid, Chicken Fat, Potassium Chloride, Lipoic Acid, Choline Chloride, Iodized Salt, vitamins (Vitamin E ...

 

[ChaosAndMayhem]

Do you own a car? If so, for exercise maybe you could load the pups into the car and drive somewhere less windy for exercise. Where I am, our street/neighbourhood is a terrible wind tunnel, however if I drive 15 minutes away it’s perfect walking. We also have dog parks where we are that help even more than walks as it’s dogs being active with eachother (so they tend to go longer.). Swimming (with a lifejacket of course) is another option.

 

[ChaosAndMayhem]

Another option is, if you have a treadmill, to train them to walk on the treadmill. I know many dog owners who do this with their pups for exercise during our particularly bad Canadian winters.

 

[yankydoodle]

Thank you to all for your advice. It means a lot.

Another option is, if you have a treadmill, to train them to walk on the treadmill. I know many dog owners who do this with their pups for exercise during our particularly bad Canadian winters.

We are now getting a treadmill. And the great thing is, everyone in our house can also use it.

 

[helsonwheels]

Thank you to all for your advice. It means a lot. We are now getting a treadmill. And the great thing is, everyone in our house can also use it.

Just be careful with treadmills n EB. EB are not meant to jog or run short or long distance. They can only walk or maybe trot on n off very short distance like a power walk and that’s about it.

 

[yankydoodle]

Just be careful with treadmills n EB. EB are not meant to jog or run short or long distance. They can only walk or maybe trot on n off very short distance like a power walk and that’s about it.

Thank you. I always intended for them to only walk on it. Never run. The setting on the treadmill will always be low. I will monitor it closely.

 

[Maife]

We had a very similar issue with Ulysses. He began having knee and arthrosis issues a few years ago, and the first thing that the vet said was "the weigh has to go, at least 5 kilos". At the time I thought it would be impossible (he was around 31kg which is about 70lb and he wanted him at around 55lb)... so since exercise is not really an option (with the usual bully skepticism to walking "too much" and the pre-existing knee issues) we decided that a diet was the way to go. So after a few experiments we landed on half portions of Acana or Orijen (I like to switch between them from time to time and Uly seems to enjoy the variety) combined with half a portion of mixed veggies (Uly enjoys pumpkin, zucchini, carrots, peas...). So basically we reduced his food by half and replaced the rest with vegetables. Since then he has lost all the extra weight, which has been great for his joints

 

[nubonics]

I just posted this picture on a thread I started but it's relevant here. (Note first pic was taken after curly rolled in dirt. I'm fairly sure it was right after I gave him a bath)

We were able to bring Curly down 20lbs/9kgs in a year by switching to homemade cooked food. The problem with kibble is that each kibble is a condensed calorie. With homemade food, we were able to feed Curly more but the calorie intake was less.

The ingredients we used were all the same ingredients that are the back of a good quality kibble.

If I had the proper resources I would have gone raw but cooking works out better for us.

I should add, Curly cannot do long walks due to arthritis in his elbow, so this weight loss is attributed to diet alone.

Good luck with the weight loss! Please keep us posted

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[helsonwheels]

I just posted this picture on a thread I started but it's relevant here. (Note first pic was taken after curly rolled in dirt. I'm fairly sure it was right after I gave him a bath)

We were able to bring Curly down 20lbs/9kgs in a year by switching to homemade cooked food. The problem with kibble is that each kibble is a condensed calorie. With homemade food, we were able to feed Curly more but the calorie intake was less.

The ingredients we used were all the same ingredients that are the back of a good quality kibble.

If I had the proper resources I would have gone raw but cooking works out better for us.

I should add, Curly cannot do long walks due to arthritis in his elbow, so this weight loss is attributed to diet alone.

Good luck with the weight loss! Please keep us posted

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Wow good job!!!! Definitely going to help on the arthritis. Very true, to lose weight is raw or home cooked meals like you did.


[MENTION=16586]yankydoodle[/MENTION] I truly hope you’re NOT feeding your dog Derm Defense. Hills themselves REMOVED it from the market. Probably still some lingering around or some are shipping it to other countries. Definitely get rid of it.

https://www.hillspet.ca/en-ca/productlist

 

[Mmaker]

We have a lot of ice where we live. But we have a pool is setup for dogs in town. So Elsie swims and we reduced her food.


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[Dollys Owner]

I did this for my girl, she was 70 pounds Nd our vet told us to get her down to 60. We cut back her food by half and added that amount in frozen green beans as a filler... she lost the weight in a few weeks and once gone, we kept it off by switching to raw.

I just read that green beans are high in oxalates, so if your dog has ever had oxalate stones you should avoid green beans ( as well as nuts, rhubarb, beets and spinach ). Oxalate stones are more common nowadays now that dog foods have been formulated to produce acidic urine.