Overweight beagle

[brandypup]

I think a gereatrci exams would help. Keep us posted.

When I had Brandy my 60lb mutt I fed evo for a while. I fed 1/4 am and in pm. It seemed like so little but it maintained her weight with a 2 hour walk daily. I switched her to raw after that.

My point is that with grain free you do not need a lot of food. So decreasing it might be the answer. I do not like the low fat/ weight formaul foods. I prefer to feed less of the regualr food. Less fillers, even with hgih quality food.

If you can not increase the excersie then decrease the food.

Also that food may not be right for her. You may want to look around for another food.
DogAware.com: Commercial Dog Foods

[Puddlypoo]

@Brandypup~Just to clarify for this slow mind, do you mean you fed your dog 2/4 cup a day?

I found a really great trail close to my moms place who I visit every weekend and today I took Puddles out for a 5.5 walk-run. He loved it. So I`m thinking I`m gonna try the extra long walk-run on the weekends while at my moms place and about 3 miles a day during the week. Unfortunately over Christmas I left a bag of dog food out which I never do, he found it and helped himself to about 3/4 of a 5lb bag

I`m also gonna wait a bit and see if the extra exercise helps with his weight, if not then I will get him checked out.

[kutyuska]

Ace is 28 pounds, the big problems is he is always hungry, lately he cries for food.
He gets enough exercise, goes to the dog park and has three long walks. He lives in an apartment, since I became disabled I'm not able to walk him a lot, that is why he goes to the dog park every day.
What can I do to stop the crying?

[Puddlypoo]

I sympathize with you kutyuska. Mine is the same way, always acting like he`s hungry and I am also disabled and understand not being able to exercise much. Thankfully, I`ve been able to work it where I can walk him alongside me when I ride my bike so he is able to get more exercise then he would if I only walked him. Sometimes I will give my dog a bit of green beans with a tablespoon of pumpkin (real pumpkin, not pie filling) between meals so he doesn`t feel so hungry. Hope this helps.

[brandypup]

puddle- if that is what it adds to then yep. If you have to switch to a low cal food look at a senior food. it's genneraly a lower calorie food while still keeping the ingredients good. Of course this was some 10 years ago when I was looking at it. I am sure some formulas are new and better within the low cal. Just learn how to read the ingreds.
kutyuska - oh dear prayes allis well. I would try mental games and indoor games. The kong wobblerr loks like a great toy. You could put his am meal in that and just let him work at it. then do the same for pm meal.
I agree with puddle, adding the green beans/pumpkin are good low to no calorie options.

[kutyuska]

He eats

green bean and pumpkin since he was a baby and I híve broccoli, carrot etc.
Wobble kong souns good, i'll try it.

[Puddlypoo]

Well, I took Puddles in to the vet yesterday to get weighed. The vet allowed me to express my concerns regarding his weight and possible thyroid issues w/o an app't. She said she doesn't think he needs to lose too much more, maybe 4-5 lbs because he is a bigger sized (boned) beagle than the average. I read so much about beagles weighing between 25-30lbs that I just assumed he was way overweight. Well, he was at one point. He did gain an extra 2lbs from gorging a half a 5lb bag of dog food over the holidays tho :-/ So, I think I might hold off on the thyroid test for a while.

[Dawna]

How old is your dog? It doesn't sound like he is getting enough food for him to be that much overweight. He could have a thyroid condition or some other health issue.. When I worked at an AIDS hospice in the late 90s we had a Samoyed who was the house dog. He was around 6 years old when I started working there. He had some hip dysplasia and arthritis. The vet gave him steroids for the arthritis and he developed Cushings disease which is a disorder that affects the adrenal glands. His weight at one time ballooned up to 92 pounds! He was an over sized Samoyed to begin with but should have been around 25 pounds slimmer than he was. He had an appetite like a Beagle, and the residents kept feeding him from their plates, even though they were told not to. But the vet said much of the weight gain was caused by the Cushings, which was probably caused by the steroids. So there are a multitude of illnesses that can cause obesity and the older a dog is the more prone they can be to developing them.

[Puddlypoo]

Dawna~Puddles is almost 7. The reason he was so overweight (he's already lost 15lbs) was because for a season, he lived with my brother who thought he was doing him good by free feeding him and giving him a dozen treats a day (exaggerated a bit) When my eyes were finally opened to the fact that he needed to lose weight, he was 49lbs and I then took him back to live with me. At that time I switched the food he was on (another eye opener about the dog food he was on) and began to exercise him more. What I didn't think of was the amount I was feeding this new, higher quality food, and he ended up gaining 8 more lbs Rather than feeding him less, I had continued to feed the same amount I had always fed. So again, for the time, I switched foods again, to a brand with a bit lower fat in it, and continued the exercise. Thus, he has lost 15lbs so far. He was at 42lbs but then just gained 2 more over the holidays after finding his bag of dog food and eating half a 5lb bag in one setting.
I've always thought he was bigger boned then the average beagle but always read about beagles being usually no more than 30-35lbs. So, I took him to the vet the other day and spoke about my concerns of his weight and they confirmed that he is bigger boned than the average beagle and they said he looks good, just needs to lose another 4-5lbs. He does have a waistline, he's just a bit chubbier around the upper part of his body.

[Puddlypoo]

I still plan on getting his thyroid checked seeing he is almost 7, but it's so expensive and I am just unable to afford it right this moment. I was hoping the vet would allow me to make monthly payments but they won't allow it. So, I'm planning for the spring time to get it done, when I get my big fat tax return :-)