Overweight?

Che is somewhere 19-20" and 37lbs. He is thick boned, very active and muscular, his ribs are bony and he has good tuck so if anything he is slightly underweight... I find that raw fed food is easy to keep weight off the pup. Che gets 3 chicken necks in the morning and 1 meat/veggie patty in the evening, he also gets 1/2 cup of kibble for training and occasional chewy- total under 1000 cal a day.
Che also goes to pooch park twice a day for an hour each and has 2 walks for another 1 hr total, add to it classes 3 days a week and training at home - he is one busy boy.
 
Dry food is full of fillers (like junk food, makes you fat) and lacks the moisture needed for their vital organs and skin. Try canned or check out The Honest Kitchen and Dr. Harveys. I feed both, both GREAT dehydrated food. Dr. Harveys you have to add the meat and oil, hot water. Honest Kitchen only hot water but you can add other ingred. if you wish. Good luck!
 
For a dog that has an easy time gaining weight the recommendation is light diet feed or something with a larger amount of carbohydrates. Since a higher protein diet needs to be followed by fat, the dog gets more energy and nourishment through a small amount of food. Food with carbohydrates have less fat and therefore the dog can eat a larger amount without a larger nourishment intake.

Also mixing your current dogfood with empty calories, such as shredded carrot and some canned dogfood, can help. Your dog will then be able to eat the amount of nourishment required to keep a healthy weight without having to starve because of a reduced food intake.
This should be accompanied by exercise to reduce current fat levels. High pace long promenades are really good for losing weight. Running around in the woods, having to lift his/her feet over rocks and logs, climbing etc. are really good activities as well. As long as you gradually introduce him/her to it so that the dog doesn't over-strain and other health problems occurs.

Furthermore, you can see if your dog is overweight by touching his sides and see if you can feel the ribs. They're not supposed to be prominent but you're not supposed to have to dig around for them, instead just run your hand along his side and feel them lightly.
You dog is also supposed to have a hour-glass shape on his waste, behind his ribcage the body should become thinner down to the waste and then become thick again, following the rump. If your dog is like a sausage and you can't feel the hour-glass shape easily then he is, indeed, overweight.
 
My Dad has a sheltie who is 17 inches tall and he weighs 35 lbs. He is not at all over weight, and he is at a great size. He's not too fat and not too thin. Though if you see that yours is very round, I would substitute some of the food with green beans. You may also want to consider feeding 1/2 portions 2 times daily with plenty of excersize.

My Rose was very heavy when I moved to my current home a year and a half ago. After being a year on the diet (eating 1/4 cup rather than the usual 1/2 a day) I had set her on, she is at a very maintainable weight.
 
Smudge is 17 and 1/4 inches and he's around 30 pounds. I think he's a little on the light side. I swear no matter how hard I try I cannot keep weight on this dog! :rolleyes2:
 
Smudge said:
Smudge is 17 and 1/4 inches and he's around 30 pounds. I think he's a little on the light side. I swear no matter how hard I try I cannot keep weight on this dog! :rolleyes2:
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Dusty is the same way! Actually he is the same size as Smudge :smile2: I can get him to eat 2 cups of food, but he refuses to eat more than that.
 
You're certainly feeding the right amount, David. I agree, you can't feed Boo less. My dogs who weigh just over 20 lbs get 1/4 cup twice a day. And 6 percent fat is really low. One of our early Shelties was about the same size, 18 inches and 35 pounds was his optimum weight. I agree with Dawn...do some further checking with your vet.

If you do switch foods, look for one with good ingredients, enough protein (low 20s), and meat as the first ingredient. Interestingly enough, I've found that wet food has much less fat content than dry kibble does and when my dogs really need a diet, I mix a bit of low-fat kibble for texture to some canned food. I've also had success with mixing in some frozen green beans -- mine love them and they don't even need to be thawed.

The important thing is that Boo gets the nutrition he needs. He probably doesn't need to lose too much, maybe just a few pounds. Good luck ~ there's nothing worse than starving a Sheltie!
 
BOO'S-DAD said:
My sheltie "BOO" is (by my measurements ) 18 inches tall and weighs 35 lbs. The vet says he is way over weight. I feed him only 1/2 cup of dry food a day. I can't starve him, so I can't feed less. Can anyone help me with suggestions?
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How is it going with Boo's weight?

Sorry I missed this thread but in August I had a lot of family stuff going on as well as Sadie's rehab for spinal stroke.

Its so hard to judge with just weight and height alone because different shelties can have different builds. Sadie is approx. the same height as Boo but weighs 23 lbs. I've been told that this is her ideal weight. Sadie gets 1 Cup a day of Wellness Super5Mix Kibble.

It does seem odd that Boo would be over weight when he's only getting a 1/2 cup a day of low fat kibble. If tests were run for other problems and they came back normal, I would ask another expert or two about his weight, to see if they also think he is over weight.

Ginny is my little butterball. I spent the summer being so worried about Sadie that I didn't even notice that Ginny had put on 2-3 lbs. She is 14" tall and weighs approx. 15.5lbs. I was told that the little butter ball needs to lose between 2-3 lbs. Not just fur this time, she really is that round. :lol:

Let us know how Boo is doing! :smile2:
 
My bitch has so easy to put on weight. And she eats everything! But my guess is that it is the grains that makes her fat...

At the moment she gets:
In the morning - about 70 gram of raw meat, some vegetables and "boneflour".
For dinner - just under ½ dl (one cup is 2.4 dl, so... 1/4 cup) of dogfood (Pro Plan salmon and rice)

Before she ate only Pro Plan, but I decided to try to give her more meat and less carbs. I think that she has "tighten up" a bit.

She is 36 cm (14,2 inches) high and weighs about 6 kg (13.2 pounds)
 
I am changing vets next week. I've just lost confidence in this one. I'm starting to feel as if this one has more interest in the money than in the animals. So I'll check next week with the new one and see what they say. More updates later on the fat boy>:biggrin2:
 
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