# Do you know any Low Cal treats for a chubby puppy?



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

So I took my Tucker to the vet and we found out that he was a bit overweight! He has always REALLY fluctuated in weight but he was never this big before. I was shocked to discover he is almost 10 lbs overweight:doh: The vet was surprised to find out how little we actually feed him. (my best guess is he was suckering my family or neighbors into feeding him extra treats with his sad puppy dog eyes... ) He has been switched to baby carrots as his only treats but does anyone know anything else i can use. He seems to be getting tired of the carrots... Since he is on doggy weight watchers I don't know what else I can give him without spoiling his diet. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


----------



## Carraig (Jan 4, 2008)

A lot of people use steamed green beans. They are lower calorie than carrots which have natural sugar in them. How much of what kind of food is he getting? It might be time to replace a portion of his chow with green beans at mealtime to pare some pounds off.


----------



## Penny & Maggie's Mom (Oct 4, 2007)

Check the calorie content of his food. My girls are eating the Wellness Core Reduced fat at 350 cal/cup and they each get 1 1/2 c per day, plus a little canned pumpkin ( NOT pie filling, the 100% pumpkin). A coupl etimes a week they get 1/4 can of the Trippetts tripe..... their major love !!! LOL. Many kibbles have a calorie content way above 400 cal/ cup so even though you're not feeding much, there is a significant amount of calories being consumed. Good luck.


----------



## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

How old is Tucker? And how much exercises does he get? 10 pounds overweight is a lot for a puppy! (Or is he really a dog but still a puppy in your heart?!) In addition to low cal treats, it sounds like the best thing you can do to control his weight is to talk to your family and neighbors!! 

Here's what works for me. Rookie loves getting ice cubes as an occasional treat, also small bits of apple. One thing I do is keep Rookie's treats VERY small. Just tiny little tastes. I use Zuke's Mini Bits and I also use boiled chicken. Again very, very small treats. If I give him any kind of biscuit, I break them into pieces first. A couple of times a month he gets an occasional high calorie treat like a marrow bone, stuffed kong, or a bully stick, but he's very active so it doesn't affect his weight.

One other thing you can give him is his own kibble. Just take a little bit out of his regular daily portion and put it aside for use as treats. You could also get a couple of sample bags from the pet store of other kinds of kibble to use as treats.

Good luck!


----------



## Dalton's mom (Apr 5, 2008)

How old? How tall at the shoulder? How much does he weigh? I am just curious, because my Dalton is kind of big, but his vet does not say overweight. Dalton is 9 months, about 23" at the shoulder and 68.8 lbs.

Dalton likes carrots, apples & bananas (only a few pieces, not the whole fruit or veg.) I break treats up too& I do use his food sometimes as someone else suggested.


----------



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

Thanks for all the advice...
Tucker will be two in May and I am sure I will always refer to him as my Puppy ... Believe me the first thing we did when we got home was talk to the Family and the Neighbors forbidding treats. :no: He is 89lbs and the vet told us he should be 80lbs. He is a big boy! I do not know his height. 
For his exercise... He normally gets at least a 45 min walk a day. Then some play time with his sis.. (a 1year 4month old doberman) at least a little fetch time. I feed him Royal Canin large breed and will have to check on the cal. when i get home. I thought he was a little overweight but I was expecting no more than 5 lbs. He has been on a diet for about a week and seems a bit more slim but I still think he has a ways to go. 
He LOVES ICE CUBES and gets them for a treat.... I also feel bad a dinner time. Now he is done in about two seconds since we were told to cut back on his food. Should I switch him to a lite dog food instead?


----------



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

Oh and he gets about 1 1/2 c per day


----------



## BeauShel (May 20, 2007)

I would switch him over to the Wellness Core weight loss food. It is a good quality food and use no salt green beans for a filler. Also if you feed him twice a day that will help. I feed Beau in the morning and evening 3/4 dry with green beans and 1 cup in the evening w/green beans. That will help to speed his metobolism up. Maybe a short walk in the morning will also help. Good luck in getting the weight off. It is the hardest thing to do. Also make sure nobody sneaks him little treats, my hubby is always doing that and I had to stop him several times. Those dog eyes can look so pathetic.


----------



## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I have a thread on here on how we helped our Tucker to lose nearly 20 pounds. 

The most low calorie treat I know of is one where you deduct some of his kibble from his food, staying within his daily total intake.

Tucker was one and came to us at this weight. He weighed nearly 90 pounds.

This is Tucker before and after. I hope we have added some years to his precious life... Attached Images


----------



## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

Kimm, I still marvel at those photos. He barely looks like the same dog.


----------



## Celeigh (Nov 29, 2007)

Mine get little nibbles for treats throughout the day of either ice cubes, a couple of blueberries, an almond, Charlee Bear treats, a spoonful of pumpkin or yogurt, or a piece of carrot. It's funny, it doesn't really have to be a big thing, they are just happy to get a small reward here or there.


----------



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

The strange thing is he does not get much of anything..maybe a baby carrot before bedtime... To me he does not look like the before picture of the other Tucker ... (he is not as lean as the after picture either) Maybe I am one of those people in denial that he is really large cause he does not look grossly overweight to me.. When I get home out comes the camera and I am going to post a picture for an unbiased assessment.


----------



## Cam's Mom (Apr 13, 2007)

Have you had his thyroid checked? Overweight but young and active would send up a red flag to me. Doesn't sound like he's getting too much food. Even if I see no clinical signs I get all the dogs coming to me checked if they're 12 months or more, for a baseline if nothing else. If the thyroid levels are wrong you won't get the weight off even if you starve him.

Lots of vets seem reluctant to test without clinical signs, but it's a relatively inexpensive blood test and can solve a lot of problems before they begin.

Margaret


----------



## marshab1 (Aug 28, 2006)

I think it feels more like a treat if it is something different than regular food. So green beans and fresh veggies are always great treats. Also Charlee Bear treats come in a couple of flavors and are only 3 calories each. Treats don't have to be big to make them happy. Old Mother Hubbard makes some very small treats called "bitz" and "meaties". the meaties are a little higher in calories but he Bitz are veggie flavored and when I called them I think they said they were only like 4 calories each. I also saw some other new treats at my local petstore that were only like 7 calories and they were a bit bigger. Just look for the calorie count. If it doesn't have one call the company before you buy.


----------



## Ash (Sep 11, 2007)

I would use green bean, cheerios, and carrots. Or no treats works as well.


----------



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

Ok i am not sure if this will work but I will.. Everyone meet Tucker!


----------



## TuckerPupp (Apr 10, 2008)

ok so i know it is not a great picture ... but he is REALLY cute in person. He did not want to pose tonight. But does he look really over weight to you?


----------



## Thalie (Jan 20, 2008)

Hi, Tucker. You look like a happy boy !

It is pretty hard to say from that picture and it is really hard to take pictures that would show it well. A few weeks ago, I tried to take topline and sideline pics of mine for just that purpose and did not get much that was useful. I ended up resorting to the "feel" method. If you cannot feel at least the first rib easily (without having to use a lot of pressure to cut thru the layer of fat) when he is standing up, he could loose a few pounds. Both of mine did not pass that test and have been on a "diet" since.

To go back to your question about low cal treats, I use cooked green beans (frozen, cooked in the microwave). I am lucky in that mine will eat anything from my hand and consider it a treat. Silly girls ! If Tucker does not like plain green beans, you can add a teaspoon of low sodium broth to the cooking water and it will give them a taste without too much sodium added.


----------



## beth44 (Apr 24, 2008)

*Low Cal treats for chubby puppy*

We had the same problem that was cause by feeding that terrible Iams dry food. Finally, someone really helped us, said to feed real food, either natural can chicken, beef, etc, (no meat byproducts which is dead dogs & dead cats), natural dog food or human food. Only real meat, veggies & fruit. We did that, and the weight dropped off. Dogs cannot matabolize wheat or corn very well, so it makes them really fat fast, and produces a lot of smelly dog poop, lot of smelly gas. Within a week, no more gas, no more diarrhea, she started to loose weight. Less dog poop and dog poop didn't stink very much like it did before. What a relief. We had to switch vets, because the first one was clueless. Then the next vet, said read this book, you need to educate yourself. Pet Food, Pets Die For by Ann Martin. 
For treats, unsalted chicken jerky, unsalted beef jerky, cut up an apple into tiny bites, real liver treats, real lamb treats, cut up turkey, chicken, beef into bites, whatever human leftovers that is meat, fruits & veggies. 

I would get tired of eating carrots all the time too. They don't get fat from eating real meat treats, real fruit or real veggie treats. 

Its the wheat & corn that makes them so fat. Once off that, and feeding real food, keeping the fat off is pretty easy. 

Of course, daily exerise, dog walks daily, off leash running & playing every day for over an hour or more a day, is fun & helpful and burns off that excess energy, so there easy to get along with.

No onions, no grapes, no raisins - those are toxic.


----------



## MaddieMagoo (Aug 14, 2007)

This is kinda late...but I'd reccomend NO TREATS...if you want your dog to lose weight...cut the treats out. So MANY people think that's where the nutrition comes in ...but not really. Unless you have a certain treat that has Glucosamine (for example) one a day is fine...I have those and I'm careful of how I use them...I train for competitive agility and obedience. My dog will soon be getting supplements...but the treats are ONLY for training...and that's period, the end. 

I also use green beans with my dog. She had some chubbiness, 1 cup of green beans, and I feed a 3/4 cup to a cup of food with the green beans. I normally feed the kibble by itself...with a 1 and 1/4 cup of just plain dry dog food when we don't have green beans in sight.

I hope this helps...


----------



## GoldenJoyx'stwo (Feb 25, 2007)

I have used freeze dried liver treats in the past. My two don't get treats very often. Shadow has issues with Chicken, Turkey, Milk Products, Corn and he's borderline sensitive to Duck and Rabbit. 

After Tucker needing to lose all that weight, I count every calorie he consumes, including supplements.

Your Tucker is beautiful!


----------

