weight and food

[dog2]

Hi there,not posted before but want to pick some brains!We have a 5-6 year old rescue cocker spaniel who is a larger and longer legged throwback!He weighed in at almost 5 stone when we rescued him 2 years ago and we have managed to get him down to 23.85 kgms with diet and exercise.The vet sold us some food that cost an absolute packet and we cant afford to keep that up so we have just fed him with a dried complete and lowered the amount to give him.He had a large fat lump near his armpit and the vet wont remove it til he has lost a further 10lbs.He had put on a kilogram when he was weighed this week over the past 6 months and we were sure he would have lost some more.Does anyone know of a good dried complete that is the right blend of protein and fibre,oil etc that would suit an overweight non-working cocker spaniel?I have looked around and just cant afford to buy the stuff thats around as its all £20-£40 a bag.I dont want to keep lowering his amount of ordinary food as he will be hungry all the time.Better to give him a lite food that he can feel full up with.Also what do you think of if i do have to lower his amount more,adding bran to it?Thanks in advance                    

[Silver Surfer (indiesnan)]

We feed our lab Nell on Burns complete.
 Its about £33 pound a 15 kg bag. She's been on it since 14 feb, and we still have over a third of the bag left. We give her two small teacups cups a day,
 i think it would be less than that for your boy.

So i reckon this bag  going to last about three months, if thats worked out weekly i think its very good value.  

We were also given very expensive diet food by the vet,  :?     which didnt work anyway. Nell has lot quite a bit of weight on Burns. And she loves it!                      

[shonajoy]

My cocker pup Indie is on Burns too, and it works out really really cheaply, 27p a day or something. I got free delivery from their website too.                    

[Katina]

I have three cockergirls and they all weigh between 10-13kgs. I feed them whatever I happen to buy, but mostly it is Nutro or Nutra Nuggets Performance (I don't advice you to feed this if you happen to have it in uk, as it is a very high energy food for sporting dogs ). I live in Finland, so of course we have different prices, but the 18kg bag of Nutra Nuggets Performance costs around 30 euros (whatever that makes in pounds, something like 20(?) I think ). The 18 kg bag lasts for around two months with my 3 dogs.
My dogs are quite active and I have never had any problems with them getting too fat (quite the opposite with my Emma, as she absolutely hates eating   ). I don't know about UK, but in finland we have quite a large variety of diet foods in the pet store, every brand seems to have one, so maybe you could try one of the cheaper ones of these , if you have them over there ?

The vets in finland always try to sell you Hill's which is one of the most expensive foods on the market, and I don't think it's very high quality food anyway   ( Mine have eaten one 15 kg bag won from a show, and they were scratching and itching mad, and practically climbing the walls whilst eating it).

( 23 kg still sounds and awfull lot to me by the way  :shock: )                    

[Dessie]

Hi dog2

I have a Big Cocker Boy (nearly 17" and big boned) he was weighing in at 42lbs but I've managed to get the weight off him now.  I've changed over all my Boys to James Wellbeloved and whilst it is more expensive it is a better quality food and seems to last much longer than the Bakers I used to fee them on.  I also add Rice Cakes to his meals which are very low in calories and fill him up, and whats more he loves them.                    

[dog2]

thanks for all your replies.Do you think that any dog food calling itself lite will be allright?I think from what you all say that i have been feeding Benj too much.A day he has 2 meals one at approx 7-8 am and one at 4 in the afternoon.No treats except a bonio when he has been for his walk.I feed him about 5 ozs at a time so thats 10ozs a day.And sometimes i feel sorry for him and he will get an extra half as much again.Help I dont know exactly how much to feed.At the moment he is having 10-15 ozs of Chappie a day but that doesnt seem to be doing the trick.                    

[Jane S]

Is that 10-15 ozs of Chappie complete food or tinned food? If it's the dry food, then that's probably a bit too much, specially if you feed sorry for your dog so give him extra sometimes. We have two spayed bitches prone to putting on weight & they are on Nutro Light - it may seem expensive but it goes a long way so I find it pretty economical (I also give rice cakes and carrots as treats rather than commercial doggy biscuits like Bonios). I know some owners of overweight Cockers who have had great success feeding Naturediet Light (www.naturediet.co.uk) so maybe this is another one for you to consider.                    

[dog2]

yes thats 10-15oz of dried chappie.Split into 2 meals.Also the same amount of chudleys which is what he usually has.Poor boy i feel sorry for him as he wolfs down anything in a split second and not being him i wouldnt know if he was hungry or not.The rice cakes,are they the ones from the supermarket for human consumption?                    

[Jane S]

How tall is your boy? The amount you're giving him seems a lot for a Cocker, even a bigger than average one. You can't really take his appetite as a guide to how hungry he is - some Cockers are naturally greedy & always wolf food down as if they haven't eaten for a month! Our Lily is like this & she would be the size of a small tank if I let her eat as much as she wanted

Yes the rice cakes are the supermarket ones you buy for humans - you can get mini ones which are very handy to give to dogs                    

[dog2]

He is 19" from the floor to his shoulder.He is a long boy too,from where his tail joins his back to where his back joins his head(not very well described I know!)he is about 21".The lady who clips him says he will never look like a proper cocker spaniel but the vet says he will if he loses the weight.What I give him has always looked a very small amount to me and i do feel sorry for him and hes constantly begging.So to be giving him a small cupfull twice a day is going to be hard.When you get the bags of food they always tell you to give a certain amount but how do you know its the right amount for your particular dog?The vet told me that they always tell you to feed too much on the pack.I am very confused about the whole thing but obviously want to do the right thing by Benj.It would be lovely for him to look like a proper cocker.His heart is o.k as he has it checked but he does dip with his right leg sometimes when he pulls and i think thats maybe due to the excess weight he has to carry.                    

[Dessie]

The rice cakes,are they the ones from the supermarket for human consumption?

I get mine from the local health food shop and they are only 49p a packet and what is even nicer is that they are organic.  We don't have the choice of supermarkets over here unfortunately and Safeway doesn't have much choice in the way of rice cakes.                    

[Jane S]

He is 19" from the floor to his shoulder.He is a long boy too,from where his tail joins his back to where his back joins his head(not very well described I know!)he is about 21".The lady who clips him says he will never look like a proper cocker

He certainly is a very big boy isn't he? Maybe the amount you're feeding him isn't too far from the mark although it would be much better if it was a Light/low calorie food. The guidelines printed on the bags of dog food shouldn't be taken too literally - they are just rough guides as some dogs need more than the recommended amounts (very active dogs) and many need considerably less (particularly neutered dogs). You could try adding some vegetables to the diet to help fill your dog up without increasing his calorie intake. It might also be an idea to have your boy's thyroid function tested - dogs with underactive thyroids are often prone to being very overweight & no diet will help with this without the necessary thyroid medication.                    

[dog2]

He is a very large boy.The vet says theres no need to check his thyroid as i have asked about that before.He says that he will lose the weight but  that he needs his food cutting down a bit more and so thats what i,m doing.But wanted to know how to feed him less but keep him satisfied.Money is very short atm so was hoping to find somewhere where i could get a bit of a bargain,havnt the money to lay out on an expensive food even if it will last longer.Have been told in Manchester they sell Autarky lite for £9.99 15kg.But its in Costcos and we dont have shops like that here in surrey. Their website said i will have to pay £14.50 + £5 postage for the same weight bag.I will get him the rice cakes tomorrow from the health food shop and give him some veg.Yesterday when i gave him a small cupfull at each meal he wasnt happy at all and spent the day being hyper and looking for food anywhere and everywhere,more than he usually does.I dont want him to be hungry.                    

[suzieq]

just wanted to say that i feed both my boys on Burns complete, they do make a special one for dogs who need to loose weight, i find its quite economical and buy it off the website with free delivery.have you tried feeding out a kong so that your boy can't wolf it down so quickly, you could fill the end with mashed vegetables or some rice if he's really hungry.