# An obese goldie! help!!



## damla (Dec 1, 2009)

Hi,

I adopted 22 months old golden retriever(male) last weekend. However he has a weight problem because his owners before me never took him out to exercise and gave him whatever they ate themselves! So now he really is overweight! We give him only dry and light food now, (almost no treats) and a lot of exercise. however he doesn't really like the dry food since he is used to eat like we do. I also wanna be able to give him some treats at least! 

Soo is there anything you can suggest that is not fattening? or another way that i dont know to make him lose weight?

he is my first dog ever and im not really experienced so i just want to make sure im doing my best to help my dog lose weight!


thanks in advance


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## Jo Ellen (Feb 25, 2007)

I would start paying attention to calories. You can try the 10 calories per pound you want your dog to weigh. So if you want your dog to weigh 70 lbs, feed 750 calories a day. I do this and it's easier to go with the reduced calorie formulas so my dog actually gets a decent amount daily (2 cups).

If your dog is used to human food, try mixing up his kibble a little bit. Add some warm broccoli, a sardine, maybe even a dribble of sardine juice to perk things up. Or throw in some warm green beans. Get creative but watch the calories! 

An occasional bully stick, raw marrow bone or some type of high-value chew treat is really important for dogs that are dieting, so don't forget these 

Good luck!

Oh, how much does your dog weigh now?


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## mdoats (Jun 7, 2007)

Congratulations on your new dog! We'd love to see some pictures of him. And you're doing a great thing by getting him healthy. 

Stick with the kibble... he'll get used to it eventually. You can add some green beans (unsalted) to his food if he seems hungry. For low calorie treats you can give him apple, carrots, green beans, etc. You can also use some non-food treats like a tennis ball or stuffed animal. Rookie loves to play tug of war so I use that sometimes as a treat.


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## goldencontriever3 (Nov 7, 2008)

Congratulations on your new pup!! We adopted a golden that needed to lose weight. She has lost 30 pounds. We used the 10 calories per pound method as JoEllen suggested. We also replaced some of her kibble with no salt green beans for less calories and to fill her up. We even put green beans in her kong.

Good luck and thank you for adopting.


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## LuckyPup (Sep 9, 2009)

My dog was (is) overwight for adopting him. Same story. We went through the same problems. 

We cut back a little on his meals so we could give him treats (he is not hurting trust me). We give him apples, carrots, green beans, cheese, Zuke's mini treats, Charlie Bears (I think only 3 calories) and a few other low calorie treats (forgot names). We also break up the Charlie Bears and Zukes. 

I hope this helps! I am sure the weight will drop right off of him!

Congrats on the dog and welcome!


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

Congratulations on your dog! Congratulations to you for recognizing he needs to have his weight reduced. 

I have a lab who at one point weighed 117#. She is now 85#. It was a lot of work but we have kept the weight off for about 3 years now. She looks BEAUTIFUL!!!! 

We started at the vet, made sure there was not a physical reason for the weight (thyroid etc) and switched to a higher end kibble so we could feed less and she would get good nutrition. I agree use carrots and green beans (no salt) for treats. 

Swimming if you can is great weight reducing exercise. Much less impact on the joints while they are overweight. Once you can get the weight off, long walks and runs, will keep it off, but be careful doing some of that when he is overweight. I live in MI so swimming for us is seasonal, but my dogs swim when they can, go for a minimum of 4 mile walks, bike runs, frisbee games at the park, and we do agility. What's funny when my lab was overweight she would not even try to catch a frisbee, now she dares it to touch the ground. 

Good luck keep us posted and post before and after pics! We took my lab with us the spring after she lost her weight, all my friends did not recognize her. She looked like a different dog.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Dogs won't starve themselves unless they have another health condition that interferes with appetite. Put an appropriate amount of kibble down twice a day for 15 minutes. It doesn't matter if it's "light" so long as the amount is appropriate. He'll eat what he needs to eat.

Keep an eye on weight. He might lose the first five pounds really fast, but after that, keep it under a pound a week of weight loss. Increase or decrease amounts as necessary.

Swimming is great exercise for obese dogs because it burns tons of calories but doesn't put their joints at risk.


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## damla (Dec 1, 2009)

Thanks verrryyy much everyone for your quick and helpful replies! I put up 2 pictures of him on my profile so you can see my chubby doggy! 

I actually dont know how much he weights but we estimated bit more than 40 kgs however we cant really weigh him since we have a tiny scale and i cant lift him up im 45kgs myself! i'll find out it exactly in few days at the vet! and update you here!

thanks a lot again


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

He is a beautiful dog! It must be the angle of the camera, because he doesn't look obese to me, maybe a little chunky.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

Congratulations on adopting! He is precious, love his pictures. Be sure to have your vet run a full thyroid panel, if his reading is in the Low Normal range, he should start on thyroid medication because Low Normal for Goldens is actually low.


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## Shadowboxer (Aug 21, 2009)

fostermom said:


> He is a beautiful dog! It must be the angle of the camera, because he doesn't look obese to me, maybe a little chunky.


That's exactly what I thought when I saw those pictures.

He's very handsome, even if he is a little on the 'thick' side.


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## MycrazyGoldengang (Jan 15, 2008)

We wanted to trim Bella down, so she gets half the meat she used to have but topped up with boiled veg.

Carrots peas everything. So now she is getting a good healthy meal and losing weight and has extra energy :doh:


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## Debles (Sep 6, 2007)

At 22 months, I'd think lots of exercise would do the trick! He is beautiful!

My Gunner loves to retrieve and is not overweight at all.


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