What puts weight on?

[White Bryony]

Maddie was a fussy eater and we always used to let her graze her dry food but when we had to put Woofie on diet it meant she had to eat at set mealtimes.  I suppose I gave in too easily at taking the food away when she didn't eat it and leaving her till her next meal because I got worried about her losing weight - she was only 7.5kg.

Anyway I will get to the point - she is on 1 pack of naturediet a day (and nothing else) but she has gone up to 9.5kg - she is not overweight but could possibly do with losing a kilo so we are buying a few diet 'Naturediet' packs now.

[Joelf]

... according to the website for a 12 kg dog they should have 1.4 packs each per day ..seems a lot 

Wow, Sue...I agree; that seems an awful lot!! According to that rate Spike would need 3 1/2 packs per day!!! He'd be huge & I'd be broke!! (Of course NatureDiet want to sell their product so they recommend large amounts )

[Luvly]

 

[Jan/Billy]

I dont get it Jan replacing the Butchers with Nature diet what is that achiving ? is the nature diet less calorific ?

Yes, the nature diet "diet" will be

[Luvly]

how

[leisl]

What is it that puts weight on dogs?

Ah, weight on dogs?  I thought you meant us and I was going to say absolutely everything!    Muppet is on high oats and gets 70g per day.  35g in the morning with a weetabix and skimmed milk and 35g in the evening with veggies or left overs and a bonio before I go to bed.  she lost a lot a weight on this and is now maintaining a healthy shape.  she does about 12 miles a week exercise and is a nice shape.  I on the other hand.......

[Jan/Billy]

how much difference is there between them calorie wise? just interested and couldent find that info anywhere 
su You know how I feed at least you can physicaly see whats going in then 

Don't know, I presume there must be a difference.

When I first put billy on his diet I used nature diet & burns & he lost weight. It was only later than I restricted it to just burns.

I can only presume the nature diet diet has less energy than nature diet.

[Sheryl]

I have no idea what my two are supposed to have weight wise in food.  I give them a small cup of dry food twice a day.  If they start putting weight on I put less in the cup and if they start losing I put more in

[Cob-Web]

Is there any way you can alter the type of exercise they get, Sue?
 
I discovered by accident when doing the charity walks with Molo that lead walking is much better for dog fitness than off lead exercise.  Molo became very muscly and defined in the couple of months in which I hiked with him on-lead, even though we had been walking the same distances in the previous few months, with him off-lead.

I have since found out that a lot of show dogs are walked a lot on lead in order to get into shape........

[Katina]

^ My showdogs get their daily excercise running up and down a hill (extremely good for building up muscles) fetching tennisballs  and they also go swimming a lot (good especially for the muscles in their back leading into a good firm topline in the showring). I would never be able to walk so much (it would require like 8 hours per day  ) that they would get their daily excersise. Besides my dogs think lead-walking is boring (so do I), they just walk behind me and sulk  .

What comes to loosing weight:  less food more excercise  . I would drop the rice, it is just empty calories without any nutritious value. Maybe give some veggies instead?

[Danni n Betty]

Betty is really prone to weight gain, esp' since shes been spayed 
I found just cutting down the food amounts didnt help, as she would then start to try and nick food, raid bins etc.
So her weight is now maintained with JWB Senior/ Light and Nature Diet Lite 
She gets about 100g of JWB for brekki, and for tea, half a tray of Nature Diet Lite, with about 30g of JWB, for a bit of crunch.
I did weigh it out at first, bit now just figure it out in smalll handfuls.
It costs me £10 for a tray of Nature Diet, and £5 for a bag of JWB, both of which last just over a month, so not expensive at all 
As for treats, I will some times use her JWB for if we're just out on a walk, but for training, I need something tastier, so to make up for it I just cut her tea down a little.
Oh and loads of ball throwing and swimming helps 

[White Bryony]

how much difference is there between them calorie wise? just interested and couldent find that info anywhere 
su You know how I feed at least you can physicaly see whats going in then 

Don't know, I presume there must be a difference.

When I first put billy on his diet I used nature diet & burns & he lost weight. It was only later than I restricted it to just burns.

I can only presume the nature diet diet has less energy than nature diet.

It would be simpler if the dog foods had calories on them!

The Naturediet - lite has the following analysis
Protein 7%, Oil 4.5%, Fibre 2% Ash 1.5% and Moisture 77%
Ingredients - chicken, lamp, tripe and rice min 15%, Veg min 15%, Natural Ground bone, Kelp, Vitamins and Minerals

The Original naturediet -
Protein 10%, Oil 7%, Fibre 1.3% Ash 2% and Moisture 75%
Ingredients - chicken, lamp, tripe and rice min 15%, Carrots min 8%, Natural Ground bone, Kelp, Vitamins and Minerals

[suzysu]

Its a bit tricky with exercise Rachael  ..because of Daisy's foot I can only really exercise her on soft ground and she gets very tired easily and is mainly on a lead ..she wouldnt go out for a walk at all  if I didnt encourage her  We go out each day for about an hour.  Georgie is always off lead and runs around a lot ..I think she really needs more exercise..but unfortunately I didnt take them out seperately when Daisy was young and it I leave her to take Georgie she howls the place down being on her own    ..thats my fault  and something to learn next time I get a pup    I do lots of play indoors with Georgie running after her bone and balls etc but Daisy is not a player.

I really dont feel they have a lot of food at dinner time ..as the Butchers is very small and just enough to moisten the Burns ...think I may stop the rice, as Katina suggested.    I give them veg as treats during the day, so cant give them it at dinner time or it upsets Daisy's tum.

The only other thing I can think of is that they have hide chews and probably have three small cigar ones a week ..dont know if they are fattening  ..the trouble is as Daisy is not a player with toys or anything the only thing she really enjoys is chewing and I feel its her only pleasure 

[Jan/Billy]

The only other thing I can think of is that they have hide chews and probably have three small cigar ones a week ..dont know if they are fattening 

No they should be fine.


Sorry, I didn't realsie you were feeding rice, It hought you were only thinking about feeding rice. In which case I definately agree that it needs to stop. Rice is quite high in calories 

[suzysu]

I reduced the amount of Burns I was feeding and substituted with some rice thinking that was better Jan  ..but maybe I'll just stop the rice and just give them the reduced Burns and see if that works better

I appreciate your help