WARNING! <FAT> <DOG> WARNING! <FAT> <DOG> ?

Question

i have a fat dog.

it is my fault for spoiling her, and rewarding her begging with treats

she is an Aussie blue cattle dog X border collie, is 7 years old and weighing in at 28.8kg in the blue corner Buuuuuuuffffffyyyy Doooogggg!

sorry, she loves that:) anyway she is officially starting a diet since i just took her to the vet for bum problems (glands) and the vet said she is overweight,

sew, How should i approach this, i don't think going from glutton to an athlete diet will do her any good and may do damage, so should i just gradually get her off the junk foods first and then start to work my way down to just one meal a day?...one meal a day, seems a bit mean, is that all a dog needs?

and Buffy says "woof!"

Answer 1

Less food, less treats, less human food and lots more exercise will help her lose some weight.  You can still feed her twice a day, just smaller amounts.  If you normally feed her two cups at each meal, make it one cup.  No human food at all, and only a minimal amount of treats.  Take her for several walks a day, or take her to the dog park where she can run and play with other dogs.  Play fetch with her or some other game.  Swimming if you have a creek or lake nearby is also good exercise and easy on the limbs.

Answer 2

Less food, more walks.

Im in the same situation. My Jack Russel is supposed to weigh 10 pounds and weighs about 19-20. She&#039;s a fatty too. We&#039;re working on it. =]

Answer 3

Make sure she gets lots of exercise give her a little less food to make up for the scraps she might get during the day. you can give her even less food and mix it with green beans or something. Make sure you don&#039;t make them excited about food don&#039;t put on your high voice and say come on lets get some food!! blah blah blah. Make sure she disciplined when shes eating and that shes calm laying down staying out of the room when until you put the floor on the ground and say come. That can help them be less obsessive about the food. Hope this helps!!    

Answer 4

Cut down on the food, get light treats or use carrot sticks, and start taking her for walks.  Just like with people, a dog needs to exercise and diet to lose weight.  

Answer 5

you can start by regulating her meals to 2 x a day. and there are healthy snacks you can give her. dogs love carrots.

another thing you can do, cut her food down, but add a can of low sodium green beans (NO!! i&#039;m NOT kidding). works wonders. fills the dog so they don&#039;t feel hungry and there&#039;s no fat.

Answer 6

2 meals a day, 0 to 1 treats a day

Instead of treats, give her vocal praise and baby talk.  

Answer 7

You have to gradually change her diet. Also start taking her for a walk everday. At first don&#039;t walk too far, maybe go further each week. Changing your route for your walk is more likely to keep her entertained so she will enjoy walks more. Take her to the beach and stuff like that for exercise. You should end up feeding her two meals a day, morning and night. Give her low fat foods, weight-loss food from the vet is great however it can be very expensive. Slowly decrease the amount of food you are giving her and reduce the treats to a minimum. Hope this helps =)  

Answer 8

You are not the first person to succumb to the temptation to reward begging.  Obviously you will need to change your habits in order to help your dog.  You can give her carrot sticks as treats, etc but the main objective is to reduce her food without her starving.

I like to use canned pure pumpkin.  NOT pumpkin pie filling!  I give 1/2 the amount of kibble they normally get, and add a dollop of pumpkin to give some bulk and provide them with more food to eat.

It is also helpful if the brand of food you are feeding has a low-fat version available.  That combined with pumpkin should help slim her down.

It&#039;s important that she be fed a high-quality dog food during this process.  Most grocery store type dog foods are primarily grains, which the dog does not process well.  It&#039;s just filler--comes out undigested.  A good quality dog food will be utilized better by your dog&#039;s digestive system, and build lean muscle instead of flabby fat.

Good luck and don&#039;t give in.  You are not doing your dog any favors by allowing her to be fat.

Answer 9

You need to go buy some Nike doggie gym shoes and buy a treadmill for the dog. Make sure the outfit the dog is wearing matches the shoes because dogs are very vain especially the older ones.  

Answer 10

Actually its better to just stop the glutton diet cold turkey.  No more treats and goodies!

Get a high quality dog food.  Read the feeding guidelines on the bag.. she should be getting slightly LESS than the reccommended daily amount for her size.  If you dont like the idea of a meal a day, just split up the reccommended amount..  for example if you figure she should be getting 1 cup a day.. then feed her half a cup in the morning, and half a cup in the evening.  Its not a matter of how many meals.. what matters is the serving sizes!

For treats you can use healthy things like green beans, cucumbers and carrot sticks.

Do slowly increase the amount of exercize tho.. let her build up her tolerance.

Answer 11

First, consult your vet for advice. THEN you can try the following (if your vet agrees):

Prepare the entire day&#039;s food all at once (portions set to the vet&#039;s advice - it&#039;ll be less than you expected). Divide it in two, and feed morning and evening. Take some food out and set aside to serve as treats and rewards for following commands.

Done this way, she&#039;ll get only as much each day as she needs, and you can still treat her and reward her without breaking her diet.

Start taking her on walks - Maybe even if only around the backyard. If she&#039;s out of shape, make them *short* walks, but do more of them. The idea is to raise her physical activity; muscle burns more calories than fat, so by making her stronger, not only are you increasing her cardiovascular health, you&#039;re enlisting her own body in helping her weight loss.

Answer 12

Hi Kelly,

I would still feed her 2 meals a day.. Breakfast and dinner. Let her have her milk bone 1 at breakfast and 1 at dinner. Start doing this right away and take her on walks everyday if you can.She will start losing weight little at a time like she should.

  I have 3 dogs and this is what i do and my little Happy is 8 now and it is a little harder for him to lose weight but at least we are trying.

Your Friend,

poppy1

Answer 13

if the you took her to the vet, the vet should have told you exactly how much to feed her and how often.  i have an overweight dog, in the process of losing weight, and the vet told me exactly what i need to do. so either re ask your vet what you should do or take the dog to a better vet that will tell you what you need to do.