weight loss

[Simba13]

I need some advice on helping Simba loose weight. He is 12.5kg at the moment and the vet recommended 12kg but his breeder and our agility instructor both recommended closer to 11kg. He is fed 1/4 cup of dry food in the evening and 1/2 a cup in the morning and a tablespoon of wet food mixed in. It looks like the tiniest amount of food in the bowl and I am afraid if I cut back anymore he will start to go hungry. He is on a prescription diet and can't handle any other food. My other dogs are on raw but Simbas stomach can't handle that. He gets treats the days we train. Probably 1 sausage at agility and 1.5 at obedience or some liver. He is walked once a day. That consists of on lead walking and off lead. He will chase the ball for a little while but he quickly looses interest in that. He goes to agility once or twice a week which he really loves

I know some people will say that 11kg (22 pounds) is still heavy for a sheltie. I have been told that online before. But Simba is a big sheltie (16.5 inches) and he does not have a soft dainty build.

 

[Justicemom]

Um 11kg seems quite light for a sheltie of that height unless he is really light boned. Birch is the same size 16.5" and very moderate bone. He usually runs around the same weight 12-12.5 kg(26-27lbs). I have had him lighter and heavier and under 26lbs , he loses muscle and over 28 he is too heavy. I could never get Birch to 22lbs without him looking like a sketeton.

I suspect the only way to get Simba lighter without losing muscle is increase the exercise. Food sounds pretty restricted for an active dog already

 

[Caro]

Deska is around the same height. His weight hovers between 10.5 and 11.5 kg. At 10.5 he is lean, but he has arthritis in his elbows so that's not bad. I think 11.5kg would be a good weight for him in normal circumstances. One of the things that I think keeps him lean is he follows me everywhere around the house, so he doesn't spend most of the day just laying around. At his biggest he was 13kg - that was before the arthritis diagnosis - and he did just lay around a lot, so there's a lot to say for upping the exercise to reduce weight.

Maybe aim for 12kg, and re-evaluate with the vet once you've reached that weight. I think vets often err on the upper side of normal weight because they see so many chubby dogs. You may be able to reach 11.5kg given British lines tend to be lighter and the lower end of normal is better for agility dogs. But wait until you see what he looks like at 12kg. When Tully did flyball and agility she was 1kg lighter than her current weight (she's under 13"), and the vet says she is currently a good weight. Although when she was lighter I did have an agility instructor say she should lose more weight, which was absurd. And when she had the hip replacement I discovered her bones were actually very large and dense for a dog of her size. I don't think agility instructors are necessarily the best judge, esp if they don't have full coated dogs, but the breeder would have an idea.

Anyway, start with small steps, half a kilo is enough to worry about for now.

Btw - avoid the pigs ears if you give them. Had a friend whose dogs lost a lot of weight when she cut them out of the diet.

 

[Simba13]

Um 11kg seems quite light for a sheltie of that height unless he is really light boned. Birch is the same size 16.5" and very moderate bone. He usually runs around the same weight 12-12.5 kg(26-27lbs). I have had him lighter and heavier and under 26lbs , he loses muscle and over 28 he is too heavy. I could never get Birch to 22lbs without him looking like a sketeton.

I suspect the only way to get Simba lighter without losing muscle is increase the exercise. Food sounds pretty restricted for an active dog already

I don't think he is light boned but he is definitely over weight at the moment. His ribs can't be felt at all unless he is lying on his side. His dad is 11kg and is about the same size as him and his mam is 9kg but is 2" smaller. I would like him to be somewhere between 11.5-12kg. His breeder told me 11.5 would be perfect for him. I think it must be the treats that are stopping him from losing weight but he isn't toy motivated so I need high value treats when obedience training.

 

[Cara Sandler]

I use very high value treats while training such as freeze dried fish or turkey heart, but I use tiny, tiny little crumbs of them. Literally little shreds. I would estimate that each shred is about the size of 1/2 a grain of rice. It really is more about the dog feeling that he is receiving a reward and not about the size of the reward.