Dog getting too fat?

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  • Bekahmardis
    Bekahmardis Posts: 602 Member
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    We feed the raw diet and when we need to cut back intake we feed him green beans or broccoli frozen to fill his belly. Its not only healthy but good for their teeth.
    Exactly! I do the same thing. Think about what *you* do to control your intake and do the same thing for your dog. Keep in mind what is or isn't healthy for your dog (onions, grapes, chocolate, etc.), but weigh everything, DO NOT FREE FEED!!! - feed two or three times a day, and just plain old keep track of what your dog is eating. Green beans are an excellent way to fill up the belly without adding many calories.

    And take your dog for a walk, play in the park, run 'em ragged chasing a laser pointer! Cardio, man! :)
  • spirytwynd
    spirytwynd Posts: 141 Member
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    There are several good dog foods out there. I use Call of the Wild for mine. She has a healthy body weight, lots of energy and isn't plump. There is good stuff out there, you just have to look for it. You won't find much in the grocery store, you will likely have to go to a specialty shop. It is a bit more expensive, however, since it is higher in protien, you shouldn't have to feed your dog quite as much. Good luck.
  • steph25723
    steph25723 Posts: 10
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    My grandpa's dog was fed people food. One day she jumped up to answer the door, and dropped dead. We were all so sad.
    Love your dog by giving her only dog food. You won't regret it.
  • stealthq
    stealthq Posts: 4,298 Member
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    Great opportunity to exercise together! Walk, walk, walk and keep her off the people food. I'm sure you know this.

    But all my dog eats is people food!!

    I want her to be healthy and happy. I've looked at dog food and it lists a bunch of chemicals and things like 'ash' get put into it.

    Yes, your dog is fat. An ideal body structure for a lab is to be able to see the last rib or two. There should be a defined waist when you look down on the dog from above and a good tuck-up behind the ribcage looking at the dog in profile. Don't go by what you see around town, if you're in the USA, dogs have an obesity epidemic just as bad as we humans.

    As far as food, the problem with feeding essentially table scraps is that you don't know if your dog is getting a balanced diet. Plus, if you're not careful you can do a lot of damage - plenty of things we eat are toxic to dogs (baker's chocolate, raisins, garlic, etc). If you don't want to feed kibble or canned food, look into either buying pre-prepared raw food (expensive) or look up how to feed your dog raw yourself. You can start by googling Barf diet and go from there.
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
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    I have a fat dog too. Unfortunately he's pretty big and hates dogs (bit one once and it cost us $500 in vet bills), so walks are pretty much limited as there are a lot of dogs in the neighborhood. He runs in the yard quite a bit at least (squirrels...). We feed EVO, he gets one cup a day and that's it (although unfortunately he often steals the kids food).

    In your case, find a high quality dog food and go on a lot of walks!

    I've always had chubby cats too, except my current one who's always been very thin for some unknown reason, but she goes outside too.
  • evileen99
    evileen99 Posts: 1,564 Member
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    I haven't read all the other threads, so I apologize if what I say is a rehash of someone else's post.

    Talk to your vet about what your dog's caloric intake/deficit should be for weight loss. As others have said, there are plenty of high-quality dog foods out there. I use Natural Balance Limited Ingredient (grain free). It doesn't contain all the crap that the dog foods you can buy at the grocery store or Walmart.

    If you must give people food as treats, it should be fruit and vegetables only. My dog will knock you down to get to a carrot; it's our main treat. She also loves apples.

    You need to go for a nice, long walk at least once a day.

    If you keep feeding her like you have been, she'll probably die a few years earlier than she normally would. Is that what you want?
  • bgelliott
    bgelliott Posts: 610 Member
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    My black labs world is ruled by his stomach so we have to be careful!!!!! He gets fatter in the summer because with the heat here we spend much more time indoors. I only allow him a total of 2 cups of weight control formula each day and I split it into 2 meals. He will get 2 cookies a day and sometimes I will switch a regular meal with either raw ground beef or cooked chicken breast. He will occasionally get an apple as s treat.

    If I don't watch what he eats, he will get very fat because he is not as active as most labs. 2 years ago I was able to get him to drop about 10lbs just by portion control with his meals.

    Good Luck!

    Thank you! My dog gets about an hour to two hours a day of walking/ running. She just got spayed so her activity is down a bit.

    What kind of cookies do you give your dog? I've heard chocolate is bad for them so I tend to give Peggy peanut butter or oatmeal raisin.

    Sorry, we call them cookies but they are just plain ol doggy biscuits.
    Charlie loves PB with apples but I don't give that too often because it makes him super gassy...LOL

    He's a big boy...weighs about 90-95lbs right now. He should be at 80-85lbs. He has a bad knee though so his exercise is limited.

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