# Help for overweight golden!



## CAROLINA MOM (May 12, 2009)

The AKC Standard for a male Golden is 65-75 lbs.
It's always better to keep Goldens on the leaner side, it's better for their joints, hips, organs, and overall health just like it is for humans to be on the leaner side for the same reasons.

I would increase his exercise, decrease his calorie intake.
I would cut his food back to 1 cup of food at each feeding, for a total of 2 cups of food per day.


If you're feeding any treats throughout the day, you may need to cut his food back even more, you need to consider calories from treats in the overall intake of calories per day.

You can give fresh fruits and veggies as treats, _*cut out any table scraps.*_
If you are giving him any cheese, cheese is very high in calories.

You can also cut his food back by 1/4 to 1/2 cup, then supplement the remaining 1/4-1/2 cup of green beans. You can use fresh, frozen or canned, be sure they are unsalted. The green beans will fill him up.


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

What Carolina Mom said!


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

Also, hopefully this will help you: A New Perspective on Canine Obesity – Truth Bomb Tuesday


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## Dogzrfun (Sep 25, 2019)

Yeah as I wrote we don't really give him any table scraps or treats! I'm kind of puzzled how he's this big! I know it's super unhealthy that's why I'm looking for advice 😁


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## Anon-2130948gsoni (Apr 12, 2014)

Is that a recent photo? Because I’m not seeing a hugely overweight dog there?

Are you sure your vet got his weight right? I took my Golden to the Emergency Vet one Sunday for an diarrhea problem…the very nice vet tech who weighed him in at 32 kg (correct) wrote down 52 kg by mistake. The vet came in, didn’t even look at my dog, and started in about his “morbid obesity.” I said, WHAT??? She said, “he weighs 114 pounds!!!” I looked at her, and said, “THAT DOG weighs 114 pounds ???,” like WTH, did you even look at him? 

So…double check. Can you weigh him at home? Can you feel his ribs? You should be able to feel them but not see them. Vets aren’t infallible and some vets get weird obsessions about certain things. And maybe he just has a bigger frame overall? How tall is he at the withers?


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## BuddyBigDog (Oct 8, 2020)

Sometimes the feeding directions on the dog food bag are shall we say, very generous. If you are feeding per the package, your dog is getting too much food. My old guy hovers around 90 pounds and gets one cup of PPP twice a day. The vet is barely ok with his weight and we have to be careful about treats. Cut back as others have suggested. Good luck getting him back to a healthy weight.


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## Max's Dad (Apr 23, 2012)

Your does not look obese to me. However, you might try this formula. Feed him 10 calories per pound of goal weight per day. So, if you want him to weigh 80 pounds, feed him 800 calories per day. PPP is 396 calories per cup, so that would be two cups per day. Using this formula, our Max lost 23 pounds over the course of about 4 months. We feed our Rocky, who is four years old, 2 cups of PPP per day and he weighs 74 pounds. Rocky is a standard size Golden Retriever. However, some Goldens are bigger than the standard by being taller, or may have a larger bone structure. By the way, even at only 74 pounds, the vet complained that he was overweight. Our Max was a big Golden. Here are pictures of Rocky and Max.


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

I agree that in the pictures you provided your dog does not look "morbidly obese." I don't go by the scale... I go by how he looks and feels, and aim for lean enough to easily feel his ribs when I pet him (without pressing in through any fat), but not so lean that I can easily see his ribs. 

Do you know how tall he is (measure from the floor to the top of his shoulders)?

I would follow the advice already given here... cut kibble back to one cup twice a day. Honestly assess how many "treats" he may be getting. Give him more exercise (he should be getting at least 1/2 hour of hard, running, tongue out exercise every day - fetch, swimming, playing with other dogs, off-leash walks, etc.. Leash walking won't really do it, but if that's the best you can offer aim for at least an hour EVERY day - split up into two 30 minute walks if you can).

Give that a month or so and keep assessing how he looks and feels to you.

If making those changes does not seem to make a difference, it never hurts to get a Golden's thyroid tested...


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## Anon-2130948gsoni (Apr 12, 2014)

As a former LVT, I’d like to add that scales in vet clinics are rarely calibrated and often broken…and if the tech didn’t TARE the scale out before weighing your dog his weight could be way off. Do you have his weights over time to see if it really has increased that much?


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## ArkansasGold (Dec 7, 2017)

Also, can you lift him? If you can, you can weigh yourself on a human scale, then pick him up and weigh yourself again to see how much he really weighs. 

Personally, I do think he looks overweight, but not morbidly obese. I recommend keeping a weight journal for him so you can track if he's actually losing or not. I made a table for my dogs with a column for weight and a column for body condition. I _try_ to weigh them weekly and put their body condition in the next column so I have visual of their progress (or maintenance for my active one). The article I linked above explains how to assess body condition, but please ask questions here if you are having trouble with it. With dogs, body condition is more important than weight alone.


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## Mykidsmama (Feb 28, 2019)

My vet recently told me that my Theo was overweight and he should lose 6 pounds. I don't see that at all in him. I think the scale wasn't quite right. He has a lean hourglass and I can feel his ribs. He is a nervous dog and it's hard to get him to sit still on the scale.


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## Dogzrfun (Sep 25, 2019)

Thanks everyone. We have weighed him at home, he definitely weighs 93 lbs. I'll see if I have a pic where you can see his body better but I agree he doesn't look obese to me


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## Dogzrfun (Sep 25, 2019)

This is him today...


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## pawsnpaca (Nov 11, 2014)

Ok, based on that photo I’d say definitely overweight, but still not obese. You should see an actual waist on him looking down from above. Time for a diet!


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## goldens9 (Apr 7, 2020)

Your Golden is so handsome.
I learned from an Agility Instructor with winning agility champion Golden Retrievers that are only fed raw ground frozen meat, bones, organs and adds greens powder, reds powder and veggies, eggs and chia seeds for fiber. Her agility Goldens were muscular without fat, and super fit. They were able to compete at the very top levels of agility. 

Feed both kibble and raw then gradually go to more raw. Raw has more nutrients, enzymes. Processed kibble is cooked at very high heat and kills all the nutrients, then they add chemical based vitamins, not very healthy. Kibble is very high in wheat, corn, soy, potato, fillers so very high carbs so it makes dogs fat on very low portions. See so many Goldens that are so overweight as they eat just a processed kibble diet with no nutrition. And not just Goldens, many dogs on processed no nutrition kibble are overweight due to the high carbs load, too many carbs for the dogs and cats.

Call the local Livestock feed stores for FROZEN GROUND RAW with meat, organs, bones with NO HPP. Many Livestock Feed Stores and independents are now getting freezers for the raw ground food for cats and dogs. If raw seems too expensive usually because it is sold too expensive at pet stores. Mine is very affordable as the Livestock Feed store sells much cheaper than the pet stores. Buy organic RAW EGGS. Add a raw egg to the kibble to improve the nutrient quality. On top sprinkle CHIA seeds for fiber and firm poop. Chia seeds are the best, always firm poop, as raw may not have much fiber. Many sprinkle CHIA seeds on kibble because their dogs always have soft smelly poop which sticks to the hair especially on Goldens. So firm poop is a life saver and poop is easy to pick up. Another great side effect, lower stink poop then dogs that eat processed kibble. You can buy a pound of KELP greens powder at SwansonVitamins.com for $5. Buy 2 pounds of CHIA seeds at walmart .com and amazonsmile .com for about $8 for 2 pounds and it lasts for many months. Puritan.com has the KelpHelp for pets. For treats, BANANA slices, APPLE slices, dried cranberries, blueberries, etc. For dry treats, buy OnlyNaturalPet.com Raw Nibs, freeze dried meat and veggie treats. 
This diet has been the best. Super healthy, no allergies, no itching, healthy ears, no health issues whatsoever. So many young dogs have so many health problems because the dogs are overvaccinated, and filled with too many pesticides and chemicals and eat a poor diet of overprocessed kibble which is basically a dead food with chemical synthetic vitamins that the body does not recognize and cannot use.. 
Don't spray your yard with any pesticides, as overtime dogs get cancer from the pesticides. Use natural cleaning solutions in the house, like VINEGAR which is 2 gallons for 3 dollars or buy CLEANING VINEGAR for a dollar at a dollar store. Vinegar and Cleaning Vinegar are great for cleaning bathrooms, kitchens, hard floors, windows etc.. Spray pet beds with vinegar to help get rid of bacteria, etc. Goldens are very sensitive to chemicals so natural works much better for health and longevity.

Learn more on why to avoid processed kibble pet food in book Pet Food, Pets Die For by pet food researcher Ann Martin


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