# Weight Loss



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

Welcome to the forum. 

Did your Vet check your girl's thyroid, if not I would have it checked. 

I brush my guy several times a week regularly and I also use a rake to get the undercoat. He's currently shedding, normally I get very little hair off of him. 

What brand of food are you feeding your girl, what is the protein and how much are you feeding her each day?

I feed my guy a total of 2 cups of food per day, he has a sensitive stomach and I feed a sensitive stomach formula that is salmon. I also only give him salmon treats. 

If your girl needs to lose weight, you can reduce the amount of food you are feeding at each meal by 1/4 or 1/2 cup, supplement the other portion (1/4-1/2) with green beans-fresh, frozen, or canned as long as they do not contain any salt, to equal 1 cup of food per feeding. 

Your dog shouldn't need anymore than 1 cup of food per feeding. If you are counting calorie intake per day, include the calories from treats too. 

We're in fall here in the US, during the summer months, I walk my guy either early in the a.m. hours or later in the evening. Since the days are longer during the summer, sometimes I don't walk my boy until 7:30 or 8 at night when it's cooler and the pavement has cooled down. 

I have a small beach at the end of my street where I have always taken my guys to swim several times a week in the Inter Coastal Waterway. Swimming is the best form of exercise for them, it doesn't put any stress on their joints or hips. The water is saltwater, I normally rinse him off afterwards and towel dry him off then stay outside with him while he air dries. 

You can dry your girl off with a hair dryer made for dogs too.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

You may want to consider switching her to a higher protein, less carbohydrate content dog food. If you are simply feeding too much (consider whether you are actually measuring or 'guessing' how much you are putting in her bowl,(we tend to under estimate)), then slowly cutting back will help, but we need to be mindful that when we are cutting back we are not only reducing calories, but also nutrients our dogs need to thrive, so we don't want to 'cut back' too much. We need also to consider any treats they may be getting. 
When the formula for my dogs' food changed to a low carbohydrate content, below 25% and higher protein content, they all lost that bit of extra padding they were carrying. To figure out approximately how many calories are coming from carbohydrates in the food, (it is not generally listed in the analysis) subtract the protein, fat, moisture and ash content listed from 100% (if ash content is not listed then 6% is about average) - that will leave you with an estimate of calories from carbs - lower is better for most dogs, as excess simple carbs are stored as fat in the body (theirs and ours).

If outdoor/physical exercise opportunities are limited there are some things that you can do inside that will help to burn calories both physically and mentally. Teaching and playing 'find it', playing 'hide and seek', fetch a toy or a ball, playing tug, rehearsing known skills or teaching new ones, or 'brain games' - food puzzle toys, stuffing part of their meal into Kongs so they need to 'work' to eat, teaching tricks.


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## cwag (Apr 25, 2017)

I agree that a thyroid check is a good idea if it hasn't been done. I also agree increasing exercise and cutting back on the current food could help. You can add some vegetables instead of kibble to help fill her up. Rukie likes carrots, zucchini, green beans, cucumbers. He gets small pieces of apple as training treats and loves tangerines and bananas.


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

Don't worry about buying a special weight-loss food - just feed her less of the food she currently eats. 

And she does have to move. Whether it's warm or not. She'll be okay. And it will make both of you feel better. Start out with a 15 minute walk and build up. Go early in the morning or late in the evening if it's super hot, and bring water for you both.


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## mike898 (Oct 27, 2018)

Hi thank you very much for the reply everything you mentioned was of note. I took Lilley to the vet to day as a follow up and mentioned the thyroid and he seemed a little take aback but recovered to say that the measures we are taking should be good but if we see no loss of weight then a Thyroid test would be worthwhile. I started feeding her Optima dry food from Costco but they do not always restock with the same brands and I have been giving her the Costco home brand which seemed to read similarly as to contents. I have now purchased Hills Metabolic and will try that for as long as I can afford it. We used to walk most days but family circumstances have curtailed that but we try to get out as often as possible. I try to brush her a couple of times a week and bath her once a week as well. I used to let her swim but became concerned that the water may have caused the rash as it's very difficult to dry her completely. Thank you once again for your assistance.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

The costco food is made by diamond foods. Read the labels but sure you can find same food under a different name at Tractor Supply... and cost should be close, they have Diamond food label and 4 health which are all made by the same company.

Basic weight loss formula... eat less, do more


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## mmtasi7 (Nov 21, 2018)

Hi, i can sympathize with you because I have a 6.5 year old Golden named Honey who weighed 114 when I adopted her and is now down to 92 lbs. I found out she loves to swim and we go all the time. I highly recommend swimming if yours loves to do it. Also lots of unleashed walks in dog parks where she can run free and have fun. I truly believe some of the key to weight loss is bringing joy into the process for her. Walking around on a leash for miles got us no where. We also use Hills prescription weight loss dry food and green beans, and carrots for occasional snacks.


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## dianamo65 (Nov 20, 2018)

Has anyone out there tried Dr. Tim's Weight Management food?


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