Greyhound too Porky?

[Bella2012]

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Hello There everyone, apologies if this has been posted in the wrong section.

I am looking for advice from any other Greyhound Owners as to whether My 5 year old Female Greyhound Bella may be a bit porky and whether i need to get her to lose a few pounds, any help would be most appreciated, she rarely has treats and is feed twice a day approx 280g per meal, and is walked twice a day morning and evening. i have a attached a couple of pics.

Thanks

Andrew

 

[Andrea s]

What food do you feed ? lots of commercial foods over exaggerate the feeding guidelines so need to be taken with a pinch of salt, it should also be taken into account how much exercise to relation of food, you said she has two walks a day but is that off lead romping and running about or is it a lead walk round the block?

560gms of food seems a lot unless its a poor quality food, the better the quality of food usually requires less quantity so buying cheaper brands is often a false economy.

She doeas look a bit porky ( your words not mine lol ) , a good rule of thumb regardless of what breed guidelines say is if you stand over her and can see a visible waist and you can feel her ribs but not see them at rest then she should be spot on, i can't see any visible waist on her and i can see she has a good covering of flesh over her rib cage, she also doesn't have a good tuck to her side profile from her ribcage to her groin area.

I know Greyhounds can differ in height as with most breeds, body structure can play a part in how they carry weight, i have 4 Labs breed standard by the food manufacturers recommend a bitch to be 28 kilo's and a dog 30- 32 kilo's, if my dogs were that heavy they would be fat, as it stands i have a little Lab girl ( admittedly with Irritable bowl disease ) who only weighs 22 k another at 23k another at 25k and our boy is 27 k all have good body mass good muscle tone and are healthy looking dogs, I feed RAW diet and go by how they look instead of weighing and measuring.

She looks happy though so im sure loosing a bit of timber will make her even happier .

 

[Bella2012]

Thank you for that response, it has been most helpful, its not a generic dog food, its a specific feed for greyhounds, her walks are all on the lead but are a good hour each morning and evening, im going to cut her food down slightly and see if that makes a difference over a couple of weeks, standing above her, her ribs can be felt and are slightly visible she is most defenatly a happy hound lol.

 

[murphyrules]

I could be wrong here but I think specific greyhound foods are designed for racing greyhounds who in training and racing will burn off far more energy/calories than your pet greyhound does on lead walks. I'd cut her food down to maybe 200g twice daily for a few weeks and see how she looks then, maybe pop in to your vets and weigh her now and again in a month to see the difference. She looks a lovely dog and is lucky to have an owner who obviously cares so much about her, My oldest dog is prone to getting a little chubby over winter so I weigh mine every month and adjust his food intake accordingly.

 

[lurcherman]

to be. honest going by the photo your dog is defo overweight and id address the problem asap. cut food slowly it dosnt take long, mine lost 4 or 5 pound over a 8 month period, mine put a bit on over winter but not that much.

 

[Bella2012]

ok thanks every one , steps have been put into place, i appreciate all the advice.

 

[banana]

Ahhh, she is lovely though

Welcome to Dog Forum

 

[lurcherman]

bella come back with more pics in a few months and let us know how things are going ok :thumbsup:

 

[hanneroon]

aaaw, poor bella, what a sweet face! Imagine being photo'd and stuck on the internet for people to check out your porkiness! Obviously you are doing this for her own good, and so good on you, but in the spirit of letting them who are without sin cast the first stone and all that: I just checked my badself out, at rest, (this means lying on a sofa yes?) and saw neither ribs nor waist. Ribs were found with a bit of poking, but by my own words, i can't comment...

Other than to say

lovely bella, you cover your ears to their mean words!

Also looking forward to more photos, whenever you like

 

[chelynnah]

Something you can do while cutting her food down to still help her feel full (and we have used this method ourselves with success) is to put frozen green beans (frozen rather than tinned as tinned have salt) in to replace the food you have taken out. When we need to cut one of our girls back they usually act like they're starving (and I'm sure they feel they are as they are getting less than they're used to). If we replace the missing amount with frozen green beans (we give them frozen) they love the beans and will dig through the food for them, they still feel full, and the beans add no calories.

 

[lurcherman]

i dont think anybodys being mean ere, we being honest about the welfare of the dog, its not hard to keep a dog in good fit health, food intake and out and about is the key, unles the dog has a health problem,

 

[hanneroon]

oops sorry lurcherman, didn't mean that people were actually being horrible, she is a dog after all, doesn't know she's become an internet story.

All jokes...

 

[murphyrules]

I may stick a photo of my fat ass up here and see if I get good weight loss tips too LOL!!

 

[banana]

Lol!!!

 

[lurcherman]

aye come on then lets see some ass :*

 

[murphyrules]

o

 

[Dizzyjenni]

Awwww, she is lovely

Let us know how you get on with the weight loss!

 

[Macha]

I wouldnt think she would need much more than 300 gm a day (it does depend on the type of food and how tall she is - which would give an idea of ideal weight). But of course you have to cut it down gradually. It sounds like she gets enough exercise, though it would be nice if she can get a bit of free running if there is somewhere safe to do it.Hydrotherapy can be used for weight loss. She looks pregnant to me! She really should lose some weight. In greyhounds you can often actually see some ribs, though they shouldnt stick out, and 2-3 vertebrae on the back often show in a healthy (not underweight) dog.

Is Bella ready to pose for another photograph yet? How is she progressing?