Diet For Small Dog.

[sandyRoe]

The Vet has told me my dog needs to lose weight and I should feed her as though she was an 8 kilo dog.
I'm giving her 60 grammes of Pedigree Vital, a 'complete food', and one tin of Cesar(150g) served as two meals.
Is this enough? I don't want to be starving her.

[sandyRoe]

120 grammes of the Pedigree would constitute a full ration on its own.

[1ozzy]

Our pooch is 12yrs old now. She has only been fed dried kibble and bones to gnaw on. No tinned muck, plenty of exercise and people mistake her for a young dog.

[ummmm]

How often do you feed her?

[sandyRoe]

The trouble is she has arthritis in one joint and can't exercise as she once did.

[sandyRoe]

Ummm, twice a day

[ummmm]

Maybe spread it over three meals..

How old is she?

[sandyRoe]

10 or 11. She's a rescued dog and the people at the shelter said they thought she was aged about4 or 5 when I got her.

[TheChair]

There's a chart here that suggests that for a sedentary adult of between 5 and 10 Kilos, between 85 and 145 grammes per day is enough.
A trick we do with overweight animals, is to measure out their daily ration and feed them slightly less at meal times, keeping some in reserve to dish out as "treats".
If your dog loses weight to rapidly, you can always adjust the amount up slightly.

[sandyRoe]

Thank you all. Keeping back a bit of the ration as a treat is a good idea.

[viv41]

lozzy, I fed my dog on that tinned 'muck' for the 11 wonderful years I had him and he lived to be 17 and was a big dog! I prefer that diet to a boring one of dried food ALL his life. Like us just eating chips every single day and nothing else ...

[wolf63]

Sandy, the vet has put my fat cat on a diet. It is almost impossible as Frankie loves his food. Frankie also loves his sister's food. Frankie is keen on some of my food too.

I bought a couple of treat balls, put the treats in and make him work for them. The first one was lobbed down the stairs and burst open - he ate all the treats.

The second one is still sitting on my desk.

Good luck

[sandyRoe]

These fat cats are popping up everywhere. :-))

[ladybirder]

Sandy I took on another rescue dog some time ago who was overweight and has arthritis in his front legs. I decided to take the advice of people who recommend a raw diet and I feed him a mixture of two 5* frozen raw foods. He should be fed between 2 - 3% of his bodyweight a day. I fed him 2%/day until he lost the excess weight and then 3%. You take the weight the dog SHOULD be not the weight it is, so you would feed yours 80g a day and I divide mine into a morning and evening meal. The food comes frozen and each 500g pack lasts us 3 days and keeps very well in the fridge for that time once defrosted. I buy a month's worth at a time as I have the room. My dog absolutely loves it. I use Nutriment and/or Natural Instinct and as I said they both get 5 star ratings. I recommend it without hesitation and will feed any future cats or dogs I have on the same. What comes out the other end is halved as there is no rubbish and no more trumping!!
Give it a try, it's not yucky and you won't regret it.
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