Putting a puppy on a diet

[Macha]

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I got a 6 mo old collie who was a little pudgy but I've been feeding her fairly generously (mixture of adult and junior dry foods) as I want her to grow in height and also because she spends much of the daytime outside in the cold. She is over 9 mos old now and has just come out of her first season and I think she needs to reduce the weight a bit sooner rather than later. She isnt obese but I can feel more fat over her ribs than I'd like. I'm still hoping she'll get a bit taller. Any advice about how much I should reduce her food by (20%, 33% ?) , whether I should continue to give her the rich junior food, or even whether I should leave the dieting until she is a year old? I'm afraid that if she is overweight then, it will always be difficult to keep her weight down.

By the way, I've already read the advice on dog forum about bulking up a dog's food with green beans so that they feel satisfied while eating less calories.

 

[lurcherman]

i thought it was food all the way until 12months then if you have too then control.

 

[lurcherman]

also i dont think it be hard to keep the weight down, a collie when old enough will burn it off, and its all down to sensible feeding, ive been able to lose 5 or 6 pounds on my black dog by just reducing a small amount per day and all be it slowly over a 8 month period so it can done.

 

[eingana]

I wouldn't be changing her food ahead of 12 months either. Keep her on the puppy food until then and then gradually change her to adult food and that will drop her calorie intake a little. That in itself, combined with the fact that you can introduce more exercise at 12 months, may sort her weight out within a few months with no other changes from you.

If it doesn't then first of all make sure that she's eating her meals at proper meal times rather than grazing through the day, as that will mean that she does get to feel properly full when you feed her, even if you do reduce the amount that she has to eat at each meal. Then weigh out her food properly so that her treats can come from her daily food allowance and just gently restrict how much she has to eat, bulking up if you need to with lower calorie food like green beans.

When she reaches 18 months you can start doing other things with her which will burn loads of calories, like flyball, scenting or agility, which should give her loads of stimulation and keep her running longer than she would do naturally.

Good luck on getting her to the right weight.

 

[TheNaturalDogFoodCompany]

Hello there,

Here at The Natural Dog Food Company we have developed a range of food for mature and younger dogs that are prone to weight gain. Natural Dog Food Company Senior and Weight control caters perfectly for this.

Calorie content is kept low to help ensure a healthy weight is maintained whilst a marginally increased protein level helps to prevent the muscle wastage often seen in dieting dogs.

You should be feeding a puppy approximately 1.5% of their body weight. For example if you had a puppy weighing 15kg the ideal amount to feed per day would be 225g.

Feel free to pop over to our website to learn more about our products available. http://naturaldogfoodcompany.com/

 

[Raven oaktree]

Over feeding a puppy wont make them grow, it will just make them fat as you have found out. Get a good quality puppy food, weigh your dog and only feed that amount..limit treats and encourage the dog to play..it really is that simple !

 

[excuseme]

The Natural Dog food company kibble is just absolutely full of grains and rice fillers.

There is NOTHING NATURAL in grain being fed to our dogs all year round, it is a very seasonal product.

Potatos and beet are more natural if you really need fillers in your kibble, at least root products live and can be found in the ground for a much longer time.

I would most certainly not feed this product to any of my dogs !

ARE YOU ALLOWED TO ADVERTISE/PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCTS ON THIS SITE ? !!!!

 

[Chatterdog]

The Natural Dog food company kibble is just absolutely full of grains and rice fillers.

There is NOTHING NATURAL in grain being fed to our dogs all year round, it is a very seasonal product.

Potatos and beet are more natural if you really need fillers in your kibble, at least root products live and can be found in the ground for a much longer time.

I would most certainly not feed this product to any of my dogs !

ARE YOU ALLOWED TO ADVERTISE/PROMOTE YOUR PRODUCTS ON THIS SITE ? !!!!

There are no fillers in their food, you should read the ingredients and lit before you slate like that.

And as for grains that's your opinion. Wheat is bad for dogs but I don't beileve all grains are, they use whole brown rice, oats and barley which are good.

Also I find it interesting how it's one rule for one, one rule for another. If they aren't allowed why is 'NaturalDogz' allowed to promote their site??