Overweight dog

[scally]

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I am not a dog owner, and only know a little about them; but I am very concerned for a friends dog which seems to be quite overweight.

It is an 8 year old, neutered, King Charles Spaniel, and my friend insists she does not overfeed him; (but I think she's in denial, because she also denies he is overweight, but says he is just stocky!) The dog is 12kg and I understand he should be - at most - 10 kg. In fact, I feel this is a SMALL dog and he should be even less than this.

I know he has 2 meals a day, consisting of a small amount (about 1/4 - 1/3 of a tin) of wet meat-type food, of chicken or turkey; and also a handful, (or maybe two) of dry food such as Baxters or similar; also chicken or turkey. He also gets a gravy biscuit occasionally during the day - maybe 2 or 3 times, and also a dentu type stick to chew.

We spoke to the dogs groom today who said the dry food often contains a lot of protein, about 25%, which is far too much for a small dog of this age, but when we went to look at the different makes of food - the lowest the protein we could find was 21%. BUT, surely - fat content also plays a part???

My friend is an older lady and although she walks to the shops everyday, and takes the dog with her, this is only 1/4 - 1/2 mile, and the pace is very slow (for a dog). She doesn't do computers or anything like this so I thought I would try to help.

So - I just wonder if anyone can advise me, so I can help to reduce the weight of what could be a lovely dog, who is obviously most uncomfortable with all this extra weight he is carrying.

 

[hanneroon]

ouch! 12kg does seem a lot for a king charles, poor thing, bless him, thats some stocky bones he's got for sure! Erm i think protein is good for a dog, carbs are more likely to cause problems, and (surprisingly) some of those dentistick things can have a lot of sugars in, so check out the calories in her brands rather than protein. It probably is down to excercise too, they are/were a working toy breed, and do need it, BUT also i understand that king charles's all suffer from a heart disorder, so that could be slowing him up a bit. Maybe you could encourage her gently, to look at his diet, or speak to his vet, maybe you could offer to take him round the block every so often if her vet agree's?

i mean her speak to his vet not you if that wasn't clear

 

[lurcherman]

It is only 4poundish which isnt normally that much but it is small dog, on the protein issue its far to much for a dog.not getting much exersize and of that age, i have two lurchers that are nearly 11 and apart from puppy stage there protein not higher than 24 and now 21. Old.people with pets at times lose the plot and feed lots of titbits

 

[eingana]

I think you should try to get your friend to take him to the vet where they will weigh him, tell her what they think his weight should actually be, and take her through the diet options for a dog. Vets these days are used to dealing with overweight pets and have lots of information for owners on how to help their pets diet without feeling that you're depriving them or leaving them hungry all of the time.

The really important thing is that for dogs in particular, weight loss should be slow and gradual as if they lose weight too quickly that can be terribly bad for heart, liver and kidneys. To lose maybe 2 or 3kg may take a year for it to be lost in a healthy way for a small middle aged dog so all changes need to be small but consistent to just tip his weight from gaining to slowly losing rather than a crash diet. Especially if he's got a loving owner and he does get to have some exercise (the number of small dogs that get no formal exercise at all is really quite stunning) then a small change in eating combined with a small change in exercise and he should be on the way to getting down a much more comfortable weight.

As well as helping her to get advice from the vet, agreeing to take him out for some more exercise on a regular basis would be one of the most productive things you could do for both your friend and the dog. To start with it will be a very small walk at low pace (and it's really important that the vet has listened to his heart because as hanneroon has said, KC spaniels are very prone to heart problems and you need to check this before exercise) but it will build up as his fitness improves and the weight starts to shift.

These days diet foods for dogs are a whole lot better than they used to be too. There may be a 'light' version of the food that he's currently on which would make the switch really easy, so that's worth enquiring with the vet about. How they work is by filling the dog up with more fibre so they feel as full but there's 20-30% less calories in the same volume of food, so if it's weighed out properly for his daily meals he should just gently lose weight without even really noticing that he's on a diet.

Good luck- and thank you for caring enough to try to do this for your friend and her furry family member

 

[TTT]

Is your friend 'stocky' too? People often transposition their own 'issues' onto their pets.

 

[eingana]

Sorry, but that one doesn't always apply. I'm overweight and all of my animals are just fine on weight.

 

[lurcherman]

Agree eingana. It is unfair to lable all owners as in size or any way of life to how there dog will resemble or act... Most of my posts will say exersize the dog and you have a happy dog, but over the 30 yrs having dogs and at times carrying some weight myself it didnot detract me for caring! Wanting! And knowing what a dog needed.

 

[Shamrock]

I'd cut out the dentastix and gravy biscuits, if feeding tinned meat choose a good quality one, something like natures Menu,

 

[TTT]

Sorry, but that one doesn't always apply. I'm overweight and all of my animals are just fine on weight.

hahaha........me too, but in my experience a lot of pet owners are in denial about how much they exercise and how little feed their dogs.....that's why there are so many fats ones around....

 

[lurcherman]

Your out of order pal. Lets see a pic of you so i can have a dig at you.

 

[eingana]

My weight is no issue in me being able to exercise my dog. My disabilities present plenty of issue, but then the disabilities are pretty much the cause of my weight issues too. I have a working breed that loves nothing more than a frisbee or ball fetching session, which means that when I've got a working shoulder (sadly at the moment I've got an injury in the one working shoulder I normally have) I can take her to a really good throwing slope and play fetch with her when I'm not able to do a proper walk.

At the moment I'm not even able to do that, but that's what partners are for

 

[lurcherman]

You have a working dog!! That's healthy and fit. You not need to explain. E....

 

[TTT]

Your out of order pal. Lets see a pic of you so i can have a dig at you.

Never mind digging at me..............it is a fact..........many deny but it is a fact. Being overweight is good for neither man nor beast.
Here's a bit of inspiration for both.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getfitwithfido

Your out of order pal. Lets see a pic of you so i can have a dig at you.

Never mind digging at me..............it is a fact..........many deny but it is a fact. Being overweight is good for neither man nor beast.
Here's a bit of inspiration for both.

http://www.thekennelclub.org.uk/getfitwithfido

 

[lurcherman]

Do you believe everything you read? Anyway whatever.bet your a blast on a nightout, i can hear you now Its a fact its a fact lol

 

[Rosie33]

I'm new here so hope nobody minds me posting on this.

By Baxters, do you mean Bakers Complete? If so, it has about a 28% sugar, (sugar beet), content, which can't be good for any dog.

Could you persuade your friend to either put her dog on a good quality complete kibble, or a good quality wet food, but not both?

He does seem heavy for his breed and that won't improve as he ages.

Susan x

 

[TTT]

Do you believe everything you read? Anyway whatever.bet your a blast on a nightout, i can hear you now Its a fact its a fact lol

You know NOTHING about me......however, fat dogs and fat folks are "the way to go..." yeeeeee.... haaaaa!"

 

[scally]

Thank you all for your interesting and illuminating responses and advice. I am currently helping by taking the dog for a walk with me. ( I try to run nearly every day, but slow down when I am with the dog.) So I hope this will help. But even as we returned the other day - my friend gave him two gravy biscuits. Is this too much? or is this acceptable? She has however, decided the wet, tinned food has less problematic ingredients, and if giving him more of this and less of the other dried food. What is Kibble? I hear it mentioned often; and should he have this with the wet tinned meat? And should he have 2 meals or will one suffice?

 

[hanneroon]

hiya! You definitey started something eh!!!

Kibble is that complete biscuit food, the little dry brown nuggets. Some people say you should choose to feed either wet or dry food, but i don't believe this to be the case; i mix and match my dogs food so he's doesn't get bored or become intolerant of one. You get food for elderly or overweight dogs so perhaps she could choose one of these. I think two small meals is probably best, but she should really take the best advice from her vet. Beware they will try and sell her a bag of the kibble stuff they have in their waiting room, which will be super expensive!

Actually weighing his food according to the advice on the bag and his ideal rather than actual weight should give you some idea. If this works out less than he is getting at the mo then problem solved. It depends on activity levels though, so she may just have to weigh the amount she gives at the mo, and then reduce it by a small amount. She probably loves to give him a treat or two, and who can blame her, if she cuts his meals a bit she can continue to give him the odd one, why not eh?

Definitely convince her to go to the vet though as it would be good to get his ticker checked over, good luck! Do let us know how you all get on

 

[hanneroon]

also you're friend is right in that kibble often has lots of grains and carbohydrates and other waste vegetable matter, as a cheap filler. Better a good quality meat type food, than a duff bag of biscuits! Beware the calories are less in tinned food because of the water content tho, its a minefield eh? I would just get her to cut back a bit on whatever he is on at the mo, dogs don't really know any better and will eat however much you put down. He won't be sad cos it looked more the day before.

 

[Rosie33]

Very true, he would be better on a tinned meat than cheap kibble, as most tinned meats are 78% water!

Some of the good quality kibbles with a high meat content are horribly expensive, but you can buy one called Harringtons, which is less than £3 for a good sized bag, (one bag lasts our Staffy two weeks). There is absolutely nothing bad in Harringtons, no rubbish at all, and you can buy it at Asda or Tesco. It is a complete diet too.

Try to persuade your friend to maybe give one biscuit, if she has to, instead of two.

The extra walks with you will certainly help a lot. x