Is She Fat ?

[Gaynor]

Hiya


I took Amber for her booster yesterday , and all was well till she weighed her ..... shes 15.85 kg ........

I dont think she looks overweight , she has a handfull of dried food in the morning and 1 (150g) tray of food at night .....

The vet has told me to cut it down , what do you think ??

She was spayed last December , shes 15 mths old

Thanks for your advise

Love gaynor & 'Fatty' XXXXXXXXX

[Gaynor]

Forgot to say that she has at LEAST 1hrs walk ( off the lead ) every day !

Thanks XX

[suki1964]

Im no expert but I remember the vet getting concerned when my last boy hit that weight. I know at the time the preference was between 13-15kg and keeping him below 15kg was a struggle (he was a scavenger and begged) I used to keep in under control by switching to a "light" variety of complete during the winter months when his exercise was less (he wasnt one for rain) and there were rich pickings to be had (christmas dinners - yummy)

[Kim]

I hate this weight thing, for dogs as well as people  
Has your girl got a waist & can you feel her ribs easily ?
 

[Pipers Mummy]

Piper was put on an emergency diet when she reached 16.20KG (or something like that)    

Unfortunately, she loves her food and it has been a real battle but she is now down to 15KG.

I am 'mean' with her food and never give her titbits (think that hubby might though on occasion )

She has recently been speyed and the vet advised that after speying for some reason they only utilise 75% of the food that they eat (not sure about the technicalities ) but it means that we should only feed them 75% of what they were fed pre-speying.

I have followed this advice and cut her food down accordingly and we are maintaining 15KG with a view to getting her weight down further still.

At 15KG to be honest, she has plenty of flesh on her but I wouldn't say she was overweight for her height etc.

Good luck.

[Katina]

It's hard to say without seeing your girl weather she is fat or not. But 15.85kgs does sound an awfull lot to me for a bitch.
Can you feel her ribs ?
Mine weigh between 10-14kgs and the one that weighs 14 is a really big and muscular girl.

What do you mean by the food tray of 150gr she gets at night? If it's dried food, it's probably too much, depending on the type of dried food of course.  

[Jane S]

I'm with Kim on this one You can't tell by a dog's weight if they are fat - there is no weight limit which all Cockers should fall into regardless of their size & build. If Amber is a tall bitch with heavy bone, then she's going to weigh more than a small, fine bitch of the same age - it doesn't mean she's fat. If you can feel her ribs easily & she has a waist, then she's not overweight.

Jane

[scoobie]

Gaynor I never weigh scoobie but then I don't weigh myself either..
I feed him raw so don't measure food I judge by looking at him and feeling his ribs like Kim said  
scoobie is in good shape and I don't worry at all about his weight if he looks as if he's having a chubby day I cut out the treats I feel the same about myself if I feel I'm having a fat day I cut out the biccies and have more exercise .... I used to measure his food when I fed him Burns but their is no way I can do that now which has made me relax about it
I don't measure my food out I eat accordingly
sorry that I can't help you specifically
Edith  

[Mary]

It doesn't sound like you're overfeeding her to me but that doesn't mean to say that she maybe overweight (but I'm no expert) .  Lottie has more than a handful of dried food once a day and half a tray of Naturediet (195g) once a day.  She weighs 14.2kg.  One vet told us that we need to watch her weight but I do not think she is overweight comparing her to all the cockers I've seen at shows.

Being spayed it may mean you have to cut down as suggested though



 

[Gaynor]

Hi


THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLIES !!!

I can feel her ribs , and too be honest shes quite a 'big' dog shes the same size( i mean height ) as my friends male cocker if not just a little bit taller .......

My friend also had a little girl , but she was very petit compared to Amber ..... i guess we all come in different shapes & sizes.........


Will keep a close eye on her though

Thanks

Love gaynXXXXXXXXXX  

[Gaynor]

It's hard to say without seeing your girl weather she is fat or not. But 15.85kgs does sound an awfull lot to me for a bitch.
Can you feel her ribs ?
Mine weigh between 10-14kgs and the one that weighs 14 is a really big and muscular girl.

What do you mean by the food tray of 150gr she gets at night? If it's dried food, it's probably too much, depending on the type of dried food of course.

She has ONE 150g tray of Butchers at tea time and a handful of complete dried food at breakfast !

 

[Sharon]

I took all 4 of my dogs for their boosters on Monday, they are all different shapes and sizes, only one was slightly overweight and that was the one that lost her litter in the summer.  She asked what I fed them, I told her Burns complete, they recommend 10grm per kg of bodyweight per day..........my vet told me not to give as much as they state because they always tell you to give more than they actually need.

So now I've cut back and hopefully my little chubby cocker will get some weight off before next month when we have to go back for a weigh in.......lol.

[Rhona]

I had Sam at the vet yesterday.  He is only 7 months and he weights 13kg.  I thought that was quite heavy for his age too although he is quite tall and quite a broad dog (and he has got a tail too so that obviously adds a few pounds!!!! - think that sounds like I am making excuses for him, not fat just big boned!!!).  

I have been feeding him pedigree puppy food. three times a day of about a tin and a half a day and now I am not that sure if that is enough as he falls between ages and weights for the directions on the tin.  Any comments on this are welcome!   Suppose he is not suffering from malnutrition so am possibly okay with this or slightly more.  Might even not be helped by the fact that he will eat anything in sight does not even actually need to be edible, sticks, stones, rocks, soft toys, toilet roll tubes, newspapers etc, etc.

I keep looking at complete feed and am a bit confused with what is best to give him.

[bluegirl]

On the weight chart at the vets an adult cocker bitch should be between 12- 15 kgs, male weighing slightly heavier. However like all scales, this is in theory, I'm with everyone else, if you can feel her ribs without too much difficulty, but you can't see them or her spine!, then whatever her actual weight, she will be right.

From Karen    

[PennyB]

I took all 4 of my dogs for their boosters on Monday, they are all different shapes and sizes, only one was slightly overweight and that was the one that lost her litter in the summer.  She asked what I fed them, I told her Burns complete, they recommend 10grm per kg of bodyweight per day..........my vet told me not to give as much as they state because they always tell you to give more than they actually need.

So now I've cut back and hopefully my little chubby cocker will get some weight off before next month when we have to go back for a weigh in.......lol.

Personally Burns keeps them slim anyway and I feed Ruby the amount you just said and she lost weight after she was spayed so I wouldn't. I'm just about to change Wilf over to their canine extra as he's so thin (neutered as well) and have been feeding more than the required amount of Burns