How much wet food is too much?

L

Lisadale

Forums Regular
Lily has always been food-driven, but that has been multiplied by her seizure medications. In an effort to reduce her weight, her regular doctor recommended Hills Prescription Diet. I'm not thrilled with this, but she definitely needs to lose weight. My problem is how do I determine how much wet food to give her in a day? The doctor said 1 1/2 cans which seems quite a lot.

If anyone can explain the calorie content on the food label, I'd really appreciate it. The label reads Calorie Content (calculated): 733kcalME/kg; 257 kcal ME/can

Does that mean that there are 257 calories in each can of food? Help!
 
I've always struggled with this too when I need to feed canned food to my dogs. The calorie content depends on the food as each brand of canned is different. I'm not sure how to interpret your label, but if it helps at all, I feed my 20-pound Shelties 1/4 can of food twice a day when I use canned.

I agree with you that 1 1/2 cans would be way too much for a Sheltie. If you're trying to reduce her weight, I'd buy some frozen green beans (I like the french cut) and add them to each feeding. I do this for mine when they're on diets and they love them. I use them right out of the bag frozen, which is why I like the cut variety. The beans make them feel full without adding any calories. Mix it all with some warm water too. The Hills prescription foods are usually pretty dry.
 
Yep, 257 calories per can. How much does your dog weigh now, and what is her ideal weight? Also, how active is she?
 
Lily weighs 39 pounds. She's 16 inches at her shoulders and was the largest in her litter.

Ideally, I'd like to get her weight to at least 30 pounds. Ideally, I know she would be closer to 24 pounds, but if she can get back to 30 that would be a positive start.

She's very active in spurts, but her meds do sedate her a bit.
 
Hmmmm, actually, I don't think 1 1/2 cans is too much at all for a weight loss formula. Everything I see online recommends about 30 calories per pound of ideal weight per day to maintain weight, so I would think that reducing by, say, 20% would produce weight loss. If this was a puppy formula that had a lot of fat, then the 1 1/2 cans would definitely be too much, but this is a low fat formulation.
 
Wet food is a great way to reduce calorie intake and yet satisfy your dogs food desires and palatability.

Generally, wet food will be lower in calorie than kibble because so much of the content is water based.

39 pounds is a lot for a Sheltie your dogs size. Mind you, my 17 inch sheltie got himself to 38 pounds. I now have him to 30 lbs. How?

I cut his kibble to 1 cup per day and added two tablespoons of Wet food (Weruva) and the weight just fell off off him. I still think he needs to loose a couple more pounds. He gets two treats per day. A small beef lung treat (no bigger than a quarter), and a Whimzees dental chew for his teeth. I used to feed him Salmon oil supplements and that's when he turned porker....along with a cold winter with not enough walkies.

It is a constant struggle to balance their weight. But I just don't treat them a lot!

That's it.
 
Thanks to everyone for the good advice. Lily does enjoy the wet food, and I think it has been filling her up at meal times. Since I haven't been giving her the full 1 1/2 cans, she's been scavenging the kitchen for available food. Now that I know that amount is appropriate, I hope we'll have positive results. I'll mix in a bit of her low-fat kibble and manage her treats more closely, too.

Happy New Year to all and thanks again.
 
*Shudder* Hill's is about the worst thing you can feed a dog. If you have to have something prescription low-fat, see if you can find the Purina foods. At least they have some nutritional content. And Hill's is a bit expensive (I'd even say rip-off) for the ingredients. You can get much better quality foods for way cheaper.

The low-fat for weight loss thing is a people thing, not an appropriate dog thing. Get rid of the wet, and simply feed her less dry. My 16" dogs get 1 cup per day of grain free food. The smaller dog gets a bit less, the larger dog gets a bit more. This has worked for them from a year old to 12 years old. I feed one time per day, and no treats unless they are training. And this is regardless of what food I feed them (I rotate brands every bag).

You can wet down the dry food (I float mine) and add one spoonful of wet if you want to make it more interesting.

The scavenging will happen on any low fat foods, because dogs get their energy from fat. So it makes sense they are seeking it out. That's why I'd rather have a controlled diet of good quality food than a diet of grain and sawdust.
 
Lily has some complications that make finding the right food challenging.

She has cluster seizures, at least monthly. Both of her meds exacerbate her hunger. She was always food driven-the meds only multiply the problem.

I avoid all products with chicken and turkey and Rosemary extract because they are identified as potential triggers for seizures.

Lily's triglycerides are also high which means I can't give her foods like Taste of the Wild because of its high fat content.

Science Diet/Prescription Diet is not my first, second, or tenth choice of foods for Lily, but I have to get her weight down and her neurologist approved of the food.

I do appreciate everyone's advice and concern. :hugs
 
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