Overweight? Underfed?

[Guest heathertrent]

Help please! I have been feeding only raw food to my Riley since August 20 and he is doing fantastic with it!! When I brought him home last September he weighed 73 pounds, which was his racing weight, but now he is up to 81 pounds. Is that too much of a gain for him? Should I try to get him back around 73-75 pounds? He had a lot of problems with food sensitivities and never showed much excitement for his food. Since he has been on raw his health is much better, he is more active, and he seems to feel much better. He also LOVES his food now! He eats each meal in minutes and always acts like he is still hungry. He will go back to his bowl a few times to lick and sniff it. I have been using a raw food calculator to figure out how much to feed him. It showed 24 ounces a day to get him to around 75 pounds, so I have been giving him 24-28 ounces a day. Is that enough or should I feed him more? Does he look like he is at a good weight? I don't want him to be overweight but I don't want him to be hungry all the time either. Thank you!!

 

Michelle

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Batmom]

It can be hard to tell but in these pics he looks a tad fluffy to me -- not plump, exactly, but soft. Does he get much exercise? If not, I might try to step that up -- longer walk, a good run twice a week or some fetching games / lure pole sessions -- and scale back his food a smidge so he doesn't keep gaining.

[greysmom]

I would like to be able to see his last two or three ribs a bit better, and see his hip points. Like people, dogs can carry their weight in different places. Some get love handles at their waist and some gain it in the badonkadonk ( ) and some have a pad of "fluff" as Batmom said between their hip points. You also want to keep his nice tuck up and not let him get a belly droop.

 

He sure is cute though! Glad the raw diet is working!

[cleptogrey]

It can be hard to tell but in these pics he looks a tad fluffy to me -- not plump, exactly, but soft. Does he get much exercise? If not, I might try to step that up -- longer walk, a good run twice a week or some fetching games / lure pole sessions -- and scale back his food a smidge so he doesn't keep gaining.

agree, a tad thick in the middle and round in the rump. i personally like some defination and angulaton there. from what i have seen raw fed dogs can drop a few #s very easliy- i personally perfer a thinner well muscled dog, any breed- muscles and no padding.

 

this might be too thin for your taste

Edited September 14, 2013 by cleptogrey

[Guest june]

No advice. Just want to say, Beautiful Boy!

[Guest heathertrent]

I walk him for about 15 minutes three times a day. He has zero interest in fetch or anything. He is very lazy, I have to make him stay out for walks. He tries to pull me back to the house after he has done his business. The vet said there is nothing wrong with him, he is very healthy but just needs to lose a little weight. I want to get him back to about 75 pounds. I am starting to think he is playing me with the pitiful sniffing & licking his bowl. He LOVES his raw food and I think he is just being a typical dog about it. How much should I feed him? Is 24 ounces really enough?

 

Thank you everyone for the advice & the compliments on my boy!

[Batmom]

If you've been giving 28, I'd probably cut back to 22-24 and see how he does over a week or two. Mine always want more to eat .

[Guest heathertrent]

Thanks, he makes me feel terrible when he does that! I just wanted to be sure I am not underfeeding him.

[KickReturn]

Many dogs will always act hungry no matter how much you feed them.

 

For some Greys their racing weight is perfect as a pet weight. Don't worry if he is skinny and a bit hungy, much healthier than the other way 'round.

 

As for the walks...hmmm... 15 minutes, three times per day? That is pretty minimal. Try taking him by car to some forest trails or similar. The boys needs some big adventures. In a matter of a few week you can build up his stamina and he will love his walks. That will change his life.

[RedHead]

I would cut it back a bit...maybe 23-24 ounces would be good. My guy is around 78 lbs and has pretty much stayed his racing weight eating about 25-28 ounces (mostly) raw per day (he is fairly active and walks at least 4-6 miles per day). 75 lb might be a good goal weight for your guy

 

Here is a good article on healthy weight. It shows how you can't always go by the rib or lbs gained rule.

 

http://greyhoundcrossroads.com/index.php?page=weight

[Guest Dancer]

I would cut it back a bit...maybe 23-24 ounces would be good. My guy is around 78 lbs and has pretty much stayed his racing weight eating about 25-28 ounces (mostly) raw per day (he is fairly active and walks at least 4-6 miles per day). 75 lb might be a good goal weight for your guy

 

Here is a good article on healthy weight. It shows how you can't always go by the rib or lbs gained rule.

 

http://greyhoundcrossroads.com/index.php?page=weight

Thanks for sharing the article - very helpful

[Guest heathertrent]

I will try taking him on a hiking trail, maybe he will like that better. I am going to increase his exercise and keep his food at no more than 24 ounces for a couple of weeks. I bought a pet scale so I can watch his weight without having to take him to the vet every week. Thank you all for your advice and thank you RedHead for sharing the article.

 

Michelle

[Guest Giselle]

Exercise is just ONE component of a healthy lifestyle. It is not the answer to everything. There are many long-distance runners who, at first glance, look "heavier" than what is considered normal because they exercise a lot and, thus, they have a very high metabolism and must eat a lot, as well. They're still incredibly healthy.

 

Don't feel bad about how much exercise you're giving. 15 minutes 3X a day is not minimal. If you walk at a normal 3-4 mph pace (this is pretty slow...), your total of 45 minutes of walking a day = 2-3 miles a day. That's more than sufficient for a middle aged greyhound. How many people do you know can fit in 2-3 miles of walking or jogging a day?

 

Exactly. You're doing fine. Just cut back on the food a little bit. Add to the exercise regiment, IF YOU CAN, but do not feel bad about it!

 

ETA: One caveat of exercise is that many people overestimate how much they actually walk or run. To verify that you're actually walking and covering a solid 2-3 miles every day, try mapping your route on Google maps. If you're truly doing 2-3 miles/day, you're fine, and your dog is fine.

Edited September 14, 2013 by Giselle

[Guest heathertrent]

I wear a Fitbit so I know how much we are walking, usually between 1.5 and 2 miles a day total. Part of our walk is very steep and, according to my Fitbit, we are walking the equivalent of 18-20 flights of stairs. I can only do short walks because I have Fibromyalgia and the pain is sometimes too much to walk any more than that. I can get my kids and husband to walk him more if I need to. Sometimes I swear Riley can tell I am in a lot of pain, on my worst days he stays right by my side and doesn't let me out of his sight.

 

Thank you!

Michelle

[a_daerr]

Aww, he looks like a love. If he were my dog, I'd scale his food back until you could see a little more rib and hip points. I prefer my boys on the thinner side.

[RedHead]

I'm a runner so all of our routes are mapped out with my GPS watch. I personally think 45 min. is just fine (especially since he doesn't seem to demand more), I think you are doing a great job considering your own health. The raw calculators are very deceiving, a lot can depend on the breed, age, activity, size and even the fat/calorie content in different diets as they all vary.

[Guest chickenpotpie]

I think he looks fine but I'm a noob. Lucky and I have worked up to 3 mile hikes, though I can only get away with that once a week! the hikes are pretty rough, I think she may be part mountain goat! The rest of the time, she does full out run 2 days a week for 2 runs on each day, we walk 1.5 miles 2x a day (which is the size of our neighborhood loop) The only time I don't walk her much is when she's going to run or the day we hike, because thats just overkill IMO. the only thing I'm dreading is winter, which can kinda suck here.

 

She does well with her food, she's not all the way on raw but she's getting there (she prefers it!), In the morning she has a handful of kibble, teaspoon of oats, and teaspoon of coconut oil. Yeah I know but I cant get her to eat more than that in the a.m. She eats more in the evening about 1 cup of kibble, the rest raw veggies and meat/bones and some salmon oil.. I make her work for treats though....it works and she looks good (she may be too padded for some) but she's healthy, happy, and content. don't feel like you have to do more exercise if you cant, from where I sit you're doing what you can do.

 

Oh and one more thing. Lucky will eat all damn day if I let her dont feel bad about restricting the food, its for their health. Last time I weighed her she was 68lbs, and raced at 62.

[Guest FrankieWylie]

He may not like to go on walks, but does he like to run?

 

Do you have access to a fenced in area where he can go full out? We feed raw and have two boys that we have to fluctuate what they get every day, depending on how they are looking. It is hard as hell to keep weight on Magic (78lb, raced at 74)), so some days he gets 3-4lb a day, and others 2.5. Echo (raced at 81-83) is a little more consistent and he gets 2.5lb a day, but on weeks where the weather has been nicer and he has been more active, he gets 3.

 

Then you have Charlie (84lb)....the dog that sounds a lot like your Riley. He is an easy keeper and no matter the amount of food he gets he's still looking for more. During the summer we cut his food down to about 1.5lb a day because he will flat out refuse to go outside any more than our regular walks, so he gets less exercise.

 

It can be tough to find the right balance. But good on you for seeking help! Riley isn't nearly as overweight as Charlie was last summer (we didn't adjust his portions), and he got back down to a healthier weight pretty quickly!

[Guest mischaluvsgreys]

I don't know much about this topic I just wanted to tell you that Riley is a gorgeous fawn.

[Guest Scarter55]

He looks a bit heavier than my dog, but as many have said, all dogs (and people) are differnet and carry weight differently. I can relate my cats to Riley a bit more, as they exhibit similar behaviors. That is, always acting hungry. They both scarf down their food, and always start letting us know abotu 90 min before feeding time, just to make sure we don't forget. We also started mixing water in with their food, and that slimmed them down a little.

 

On the excersize side, I agree that Riley is probably getting a decent amount of excersize. It's good you are getting him out three times a day. Lady wouldn't play fetch at all until we found a tennis ball that squeaks. Now she is nuts for that, and we used it to teach her fetch. So, if you haven't already, maybe you could just try a few different types of toys until you find one that Riley really connects with.

 

But again, he looks great! But it's good that you are concerned about his health.

[Guest johnmclaren]

Firstly don't feel bad about what you are feeding. The thing is you are feeding him more than enough.

Infact you cut it back a bit. And do regular exercise.