Putting My Hounds On A Diet

[Guest BrindleBabes]

OK, so I was warned once by the vet and then by our trainer ... the girls are packing on the pounds. But when I took them to Dewey and saw all those shapely, skinny, gorgeous greyhounds I realized that I'd been feeding them too much food and too many treats!

 

They are 8 and 7 years old. The 8 yr old likes veggies, the other doesn't. I've been feeding them IAMS lamb and rice because the 7 yr old tends to have loose stools. The 8 yr old will avoid anything that smells like exercise, including long walks.

 

Has anyone had any luck in getting their older greyhound to slim down, and if so, how did you do it?

[TheFullHouse]

The best way is to cut back on treats. If you're feeding them a lot you can cut back on the amount you're feeding. Check the fat content of the food, If it's high in fat, try a low fat food, especially if your pup's get little exercise. Try a weight control formula.

[3vagreys]

Two of my dogs got a little chunky. My Frosty did well with removing about 1/3 cup of kibble and replacing it with a cup of thawed, frozen green beans (french cut). I found with my Angel Stampede, that if I reduced the kibble and put some cooked, lean meat on his food he was happy. The green bean thing didn't work with him. He was always hungry but the meat seemed to do the trick.

[Guest KsFrets]

We had a foster come to us about 10-15 pounds over weight. I simply fed her the same as I fed our three, and took her on the daily two mile walks with ours. A month later she had lost the weight, and was looking great for her new forever home. I don't see it as a diet. It's just a proper lifestyle.

[GeorgeofNE]

You have to consider it as a necessary HEALTH measure, and don't have the mindset that you're depriving them. You're improving their health!

 

I personally don't really care all that much if my dog wants to exercise or not. He needs to. He's nine, and he goes on a 2 mile walk every morning.

 

He gets one cup of kibble in the AM, and one cup in the PM. He does get plenty of treats--that's why he gets such tiny meals!

 

I don't give him a lot of add ins. I don't worry that he ACTS hungry. Every dog I've ever known will eat pretty much any time you offer them food. And they all act like they're starving when they see something they want.

 

Cut back slowly, increase the exercise, and I'm sure you'll get results. It won't be overnight, so don't give up and don't give in!

[cleptogrey]

The best way is to cut back on treats. If you're feeding them a lot you can cut back on the amount you're feeding. Check the fat content of the food, If it's high in fat, try a low fat food, especially if your pup's get little exercise. Try a weight control formula.

 

ice cubes and carrots for treats.

 

eactly how much are you feeding them and how tall are they? how much did they weigh when they were racing?

Edited October 13, 2011 by cleptogrey

[Guest june]

I needed to take a couple pounds off my girls and when I would measure their food I'd reach in the bowl and remove a small handful before giving it to them. They slowly lost the weight and really didn't miss the couple bites I removed. I don't give a lot of treats unless we are training and then, again, I remove a couple bits of food.

 

I have to admit this did not work with one of my girls. She is the biggest, gets the same amount of food and is still overweight(by about 2 lbs). I think she is just what we used to call "an easy keeper." Her food is going to be decreased a bit more to see if that helps or if I need to do something different.

[Guest KennelMom]

Just cut back a little on their food. Odds are, they won't miss it. Especially if you've been overfeeding to begin with. Dogs don't "need" treats...they get them because we like to give them treats. Our dogs get treats if we're training or after their nails are done. That's pretty much it. And they're pretty damn happy dogs. Dogs get used to whatever their routine is...there may be some grumples when you change things up, but most dogs adjust quite easily. If you're giving lots of treats now, you could probably start by just cutting those out or way back - treats are usually empty calories anyway. OR, reserve some of their daily kibble ration to give out as treats.

[Guest BrindleBabes]

eactly how much are you feeding them and how tall are they? how much did they weigh when they were racing?

 

Tess raced at 64# and now weighs around 70#.

Grace raced at 61# but was only 54# when we picked her up -- she now weighs 76#

They are both big girls, though Grace is taller, leaner and more active.

For the past 4+ years I've fed Tess 3 cups a day and Grace 4 cups, but now I've cut both them back by a half cup less per day.

 

I think what packed on the pounds was several weeks of 90 degree days followed by a month of rain. No one felt much like walking this summer and I neglected to compensate by cutting back on the food and treats.

[Guest BrindleBabes]

You have to consider it as a necessary HEALTH measure, and don't have the mindset that you're depriving them. You're improving their health!

 

I personally don't really care all that much if my dog wants to exercise or not. He needs to. He's nine, and he goes on a 2 mile walk every morning.

 

He gets one cup of kibble in the AM, and one cup in the PM. He does get plenty of treats--that's why he gets such tiny meals!

 

I don't give him a lot of add ins. I don't worry that he ACTS hungry. Every dog I've ever known will eat pretty much any time you offer them food. And they all act like they're starving when they see something they want.

 

Cut back slowly, increase the exercise, and I'm sure you'll get results. It won't be overnight, so don't give up and don't give in!

You're absolutely right -- Tess has manipulated me into cutting walks short by simply lying down in the grass. (The neighbors think it's hilarious -- I've even had cars stop and ask if she was hit.) And no matter what I'm doing at 4pm, she comes up to me, barks and gives me that "Hey, I'm starving to death here!" look.

 

Must be time for me to take a dog obedience refresher class.

[Guest june]

Isn't it amazing how they wrap us around their little paws! And some people call them "dumb" animals

[cleptogrey]

sloooow and steady, that's a good amount of weight to drop. i kept 5lb bags of carrots in the fridge as i monotored velcro's weight. i managed to get 10% off of him in one month, then kept it down so his meds worked. but don't go for 10%, try for 2 lbs a month. petsmart has scales.i would start w/ a lower calorie food, they won't miss anything. science diet weight reduction is total garbage, peanut hulls! check out all the brands avaialbe and compare. the calorie count is on the bag. you might need to suppliment w/ fish oil, maybe not, you will know in 2 months.

 

my 76# boy who is super active eats 4-4.5 cups per day!yes, 4 cups should keep your dog's weight at 76#! my 61#girl eats 3 cups, she's pretty active and just turned 4.my last female who died prior to her 9th b-day(osteo) ate 2 cups a day- 61#s. i feed hollistic select and NO canned food, give out biskets for bed and when i leave for work.

[Guest FawnFan]

I agree with the others - slow and steady food reductions will do wonders for your girls.

 

I had a similar problem this year with one of my hounds - the 9 yo. I think he's an average male. He came to us at 76 pounds and this past summer he went up to 85 (yikes!) He has lots of feet problems though, i.e. corns on each foot, missing toes and now SLO (we're down to only 4 nails left - yeah!)

 

So to get his weight down I had to use food reduction since the exercise part is difficult with the feet issues. What I did was this - I reduced his Pinnacle Trout and Sweet Potato kibble to 3/4 cup from 1 cup per meal; added half of a baked small/medium sized sweet potato minus the skin; added 5-6 baked carrot discs/slices (baked with the chicken) and added a handful of shredded baked or crock pot cooked chicken thigh meat. It took us about 9 months yet he's now down to 77-78 pounds depending on the day. I also would give a large milk bone biscuit when he came in from being outside 2-3x's/day. I cut those in half too and now only give him half each time.

 

He doesn't act hungry nor does he seem to miss the food. As long as there are "extras" in his food bowl (chicken, veggies, tuna) he's fine. He'll also eat apples too yet I limit these to avoid the big "d".

 

My other greyhound isn't a big veggie eater so he does better with more meat. He does love the half of sweet potato though. His metabolism must be faster because he has stayed pretty lean. He's also 2 years younger and is more active. He does act hungry almost every day though...the bewitching hour is 9 PM around here. This is about 4 or 5 hours after his dinner and he just won't quit bothering everyone until something is added to his bowl. He usually gets about 1/2 cup of dry kibble then which he is thrilled with. Sometimes I will mix it up and give him 1/2 cup or so of dry regular cheerios. His previous owner used to feed him a bowl of cheerios for breakfast sometimes so he has a liking to cheerios.

 

Bottom line, personally I'd work with what you have as far as kibble is concerned; cut it back to maybe 1 cup per meal and then replace the other cup with veggies or some kind of meat depending on the dog's likes/dislikes. And then also cut back on the treats or replacing them with more healthy ones like carrots or apples or dehydrated sweet potato chips.

 

Good luck!

 

ETA - 9 yo

Edited October 14, 2011 by FawnFan

[Fruitycake]

...Tess has manipulated me into cutting walks short by simply lying down in the grass. (The neighbors think it's hilarious -- I've even had cars stop and ask if she was hit.) And no matter what I'm doing at 4pm, she comes up to me, barks and gives me that "Hey, I'm starving to death here!" look.

 

Must be time for me to take a dog obedience refresher class.

 

Nope, you are quite obedient! I'd say you passed with flying colors (and aren't your dogs proud!).

 

 

Monty and Allie know that they eat after we eat our dinner, so when we pick up the plates all heck breaks loose in our house in the excitement that they're going to be fed, yay and whoopee! (Even if we eat late because someone works late and they were fed an hour before, we're done so they eat!) Those darned programmed dogs....

[Guest Swifthounds]

Reading about the dinnertime shennanigans makes me Randomizing feeding time was the best suggestion I ever got.

[Guest BrindleBabes]

We lost nine pounds! Grace lost six and Tess three and they look GREYT!

 

Thanks for all your suggestions! Here's how we did it:

 

• 
   
  
• Longer walks (thank heaven the weather turned cooler). No excuses!
  
• I gradually cut back their food by 1/2 cup per feeding. So now Tess is getting 2 cups per day and Grace is getting 3.
  
• Green beans for Tess when she's hungry.
  
• Less treats, including cutting back on the Greenies.
  
• Tess had a tooth extraction, so I soaked her kibble in water. It expanded to twice the size and she didn't seem to notice that I was cutting back on her food.
  

I tried changing their food from IAMS lamb & rice to lower fat Taste of the Wild Sierra Mountain, but even at 1/4 c. Grace got diarrhea, so we chucked that idea.

 

I think Grace is perfect, but Tess could still lose a couple more. Now if only we can get Mom to lose a few!

[Batmom]

Good job!

[rschultz]

wtg!!! so proud..great job!!!

[Guest verthib]

Wow our male gets 5 cups per day and our female 4 cups. We must have a lower calorie food or something because my dogs are no where close to overweight. We feed Natural Balance fish and sweet potato.

[Guest BrindleBabes]

Wow our male gets 5 cups per day and our female 4 cups. We must have a lower calorie food or something because my dogs are no where close to overweight. We feed Natural Balance fish and sweet potato.

We don't have a fence, so it's two walks a day (plus pee breaks) and a weekly run in someone's yard. So maybe they don't get as much exercise as yours. And mine also get plenty of yummy treats for training, dremeling nails, etc.