[Toby & Lucky]

I have had Toby on a diet for a little over a month now and he sure doesn't seem to be losing anything. I have him eating 1/2 kibble/1/2 green beans mix. He is only getting 1/4 cup of kibble at each of his two feedings. I can't imagine going any less. Do I need to switch to diet kibble?? He is not obese, but does need to lose 3-5 lbs.

Also, should I avoid giving Toby raw hides if he is on a diet? He doesn't get a lot of them, but when Lucky is in a chewing mood I can't give one a rawhide and not the other!

Also, we walk, but with the heat index consistenly over 100 degrees, more exercise really isn't an option right now.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Do you have a treadmill? That way Toby can exercise indoors...

 

[Murphys Dad]

The diet kibble has a high fiber, low fat content -- is the kibble you are feeding have a high fat percentage? One problem with the diet kibble is that it supposedly has no flavor -- when Maggie was overweight (hard to believe that she was!), she wouldn't touch the stuff. I wouldn't cut back on the food any more -- you want to make certain Toby is getting enough nutrients. I think probably exercising more is the key -- if not a treadmill, maybe come up with some inside chase-type games.

 

[Brisen]

When one of my previous dogs (German Shepherd mix) needed to lose weight, my vet told me to buy Nutro Natural Lite. At that point, she was old and very arthritic, so adding exercise wasn't an option. But by switching to the Lite food, she was able to lose 15 lbs...which helped take some of the weight off of her arthritic joints and she was eventually able to walk better.

I'd definitely check with your vet before switching Toby to lite/diet food though. That way he can tell you what type to buy and how much to feed, as the feeding recommendations on the bag are not exact or specific to each individual dog.

 

[Toby & Lucky]

I wish I did have a treadmill! For Toby and for me!!!

I am trying to encourage zoomies! They usually have a pretty good case of them in the morning! Now, if I can just get them to play chase more often.

The current kibble is regular Innova. It's the same thing Lucky eats. I may buy the lite and mix it with the regular and see if that helps before going all diet.

Does anyone know about rawhides? I don't know if I should not be letting Toby have them at all or if those are low calorie and o.k.

Thanks for the help!

 

[Jennifer]

I wish I could help but I'm having the same problem with Rosa.

I switched her food to lite plus cut out the rawhide treats almost 1 month ago and she hasn't lost a single pound.

 

[Toby & Lucky]

I stopped in at my local pet health store (the one that sells top quality foods) to pick up the boys food and got to talking to the store owner about Toby's diet. She said that she didn't feel diet food was right for him, which I thought was big of her since she clearly could have made more $$ off of me! She said to stick with what I was doing. She said that it takes a long while for a 29 lb. dog to lose 3 lbs. and that I shouldn't expect results too quickly. Of course, she encouraged more exercise and few/no treats, but she did say that rawhides were fine to give him. I guess we will stick with it. She said not to be suprised if it takes a year to lose that weight.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Wow.... a year!
That's a place that I would visit, seems like they are genuinly concerned about the dogs and not only profit. Nice lady.

 

[jassy]

I started Maggie on the Wellness Core grain free food a few weeks ago. I use the weight reduction amount. In the morning she is getting some green beans with it and in the evening she gets her Kong with vegetables and pumpkin frozen and sometimes some chicken for variety. The regular Wellness food made her sick but this one she really seems to like. She only needs to lose a pound or two and then I can increase the amount a little. I can already see a little difference.

 

[Genie]

I can really sympathize--seems like we've been battling The Battle of the Beagle Bulge most of Shiloh's life! I occasionally win a minor skirmish, but nowhere close to winning the war!
I feed Miss Chubo--er, I mean Shiloh

-- Beneful Healthy Weight formula. I've tried Fit and Trim, which is more of a weight loss food, according to my vet. She hated it.

I've tried mixing green beans into her food, but she just eats around them!

I've cut down on the amount of treats I give her, and begun buying Iams Lite treats that are suppossed to be low calorie. (Actually, I suspect that they are called low calorie because they're really small!

) Sorry, I don't know about whether rawhides are fattening. I'm pretty sure pig ears are, and I've heard horror stories about them (pig ears, not rawhides). So even though Shiloh loves them, the only pig ears around our house are the ones attached to her head!!

Really, the best luck we've had getting any weight off is increasing her exercise. Before he moved to California, my son used to take her on long hikes, and she did lose a few pounds.

(And it didn't take a year!) But I don't have his will power, though goodness knows I could use some for Shi and me. We've just come off the first heat wave of the season here, with really high humidity and heat index,

so I know what you mean about exercising Toby in the heat! Maybe you could take him out hiking around a lake or pond, someplace shady, or early in the morning? Good luck!