Buddy’s going on a diet!

[MerseyGrey]

When we brought our champion Buddy home in June 2018, he weighed 33kg (73lb). He is currently tipping the scales at 40kg (88lb) so we have decided to put him on a diet. We feed him Royal Canin Maxi 8+ and have shaved a little off each of his scoops of food at breakfast and tea, and have recently started using Olewo carrots. Tea is always followed by a dental stick of some kind.

We do give him quite a few treats when out on walks as I am trying to get him to be a bit more sociable - initially I use a treat to distract him if there is another dog coming our way, and then if he has a good interaction with the other dog, he gets a treat for that. The treats are small and there are a few low fat ones mixed in.

I don’t think he looks fat - until he stands next to another greyhound. I can still see a couple of ribs and maybe a vertebra or two, and he still has a waist, although it’s thicker than when we got him. Exercise-wise, he is walked twice a day. The morning walk is fairly short but generally brisk, and the evening walk is usually longer but with lots of stopping, sniffing, and slower walking. I try and run him off leash every other day, just for short stints. He is nearly nine years old.

Since we’ve cut his food down slightly he is mooching around for more. He returns to his empty bowl to make sure it’s empty, and to his treat ball and snuffle mat repeatedly in case some more middle has been placed there by the god of greyhounds. He’s a devil for picking stuff up on his walks, from dead birds to horse poop and dropped ice cream cones +/- ice cream. It’s gone before I realise he’s even picked up the scent! Does anyone have any tips for bulking out his food with low fat fillers? I’m running low on Olewo and have started to add oats soaked in water (he has quite loose stools so I’m not worried about constipation). Can I use them in greater quantity? Does anyone know any good recipes for low fat stuff I can make at home?

I know someone out there will have an answer! Thanks in advance 🙂

[Remolacha]

I have heard of people adding green beans or other veggies to add bulk with few calories. I’ve always added oatmeal to my older grey’s food, lately I have been using the water I cook their chicken in instead of plain water to cook the oatmeal. A savory oatmeal, as it were  plain cooked chicken breasts might work too, but that would be more expensive than the cooked veggies.

[MerseyGrey]

Thanks, I will try the cooked veggies and see how he fares. He does loves minced/mashed food so I can do a batch and add it over a few days

[HeyRunDog]

You might find just cutting down on his treats and a little less food will have the desired effect. A few little changes will probably work better than a lot of big ones. You could try to only give him a treat when he has a good reaction to another dog not to distract him for example.

[gunpowder]

Tea? As in black or any other caffeinated tea?

I'm personally not very pro-cutting meal portions, specially if the diet you're giving is not nutrient packed. What you will achieve instead is a dog that is not getting enough nutrients, while most of his calories come from invaluable sources like corn, by products, and other fillers.

From the food you're giving, top 10 listed ingredients are:

• Chicken By-Product Meal, Brewers Rice, Wheat, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Fat, Corn, Brown Rice, Natural Flavors, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Wheat Gluten.

None of this is a plain muscle tissue animal source. The following ingredients before salt (1% rule of thumb) are vegetable oil, some tomato paste, fish oil and fillers. 

So the problem here is what you're feeding, not how much. Your dog won't digest most of this ingredients very well, and they will store as fat. 

When it comes to treats, low fat ones aren't necessarily best unless prescribed by a vet, and they can make more harm than good. Dogs, specially older ones, need all the good fatty acids they can get. I'd say give your dog meat based, low calorie treats like the Merrick chewy bite ones (I think they go 3 cal each), plain pieces of turkey/chicken deli (no salt) or whatever meat you have handy, or dehydrated meat that is just meat. 

In terms of diet, I'd say it's a good idea to change the actual food to something that contains more lean meats, organs, fats and some fresh veg/fruit and less fillers or grains. 

As in what you have now, I'd say try giving your dog half an egg, some plain chicken, maybe some veggies (a little, less than a cup) and a quarter of kibble. You should be able to watch the fat melt off. If you want quick results, go full home made, but they won't last if you go back to the old kibble. 

Like all diets, they are a temporary solution to a lifestyle problem.

[cleptogrey]

raw carrots and ice cubes will satisfy his need to chew and fill his tummy.  try a low calorie kibble. be strong!

[palmettobug]

"Tea" is British English for the late day meal, dinner or supper to others.

[MerseyGrey]

1 hour ago, palmettobug said:

"Tea" is British English for the late day meal, dinner or supper to others.

 thanks for the translation! Sorry, yes I meant dinner/supper. Supper is what I have after tea, when I’m feeling peckish (maybe you can start to see why Buddy is getting a little chubby...). Chubby means fat in the UK, in case it means something else abroad.

2 hours ago, cleptogrey said:

raw carrots and ice cubes will satisfy his need to chew and fill his tummy.  try a low calorie kibble. be strong!

I will try! We have just bulk bought two huuuuuuuuge bags of Royal Canin but I can buy another low cal bag of kibble to mix in. I was reluctant to change his food (we’d recently had a short and unsuccessful experiment with Hills which he would barely touch at all, but knowing what I know now about his weight, I probably should have not tried to make him eat it by mixing in wet food) but we can certainly give that a go.

 

10 hours ago, HeyRunDog said:

 You could try to only give him a treat when he has a good reaction to another dog not to distract him for example.

This is the next stage in his training, which he has being doing so well at, hence the treats. I’ve tried cutting down his food just a little so he doesn’t feel like I’m starving him, but apparently he’s noticing - on this evening’s walk he picked up a windfall apple and carried home, walking ahead of me so I couldn’t try to take it from him. He’d already scoffed a bird skull as an appetiser 🤢. When he’d finished his tea/dinner/supper and his dental stick, he went hunting for more food.

thank you all for your great responses, I’ll try a few and see what works best

[cleptogrey]

21 minutes ago, MerseyGrey said:

I will try! We have just bulk bought two huuuuuuuuge bags of Royal Canin but I can buy another low cal bag of kibble to mix in. I was reluctant to change his food (we’d recently had a short and unsuccessful experiment with Hills which he would barely touch at all, but knowing what I know now about his weight, I probably should have not tried to make him eat it by mixing in wet food) but we can certainly give that a go.

cut out the wet- lots of empty calories

good that he will barely touch the hills food- cut the r.c. with it or another low calorie food. can you return one of the sacks?

serve dry- 5 min to start eating or take it away. your dog will NOT starve! i had salukis who are the most finicky of eaters, that's the standard w/ those fuss pots!

technically you will be dealing w/ less and firmer stool. raw carrots and string beans are bulk- they will come out undigested.  also up his exercise, a tad at a time.

[MerseyGrey]

51 minutes ago, cleptogrey said:

 

good that he will barely touch the hills food- cut the r.c. with it or another low calorie food. can you return one of the sacks?

 also up his exercise, a tad at a time.

Hills r/c - that’s what we did in the end and the hills is all gone. We’ll get some low calorie stuff and do the same. The R/c is with the in laws and will be for another course of weeks so returning is probably not an option. We are also planning ahead for Brexit

the exercise bit should be easy now the weather is cooling down a bit. As long as I can get him to stop statuing on his walk (this is a newish thing)!

[HeyRunDog]

Another suggestion is to break the treats in two so he still gets the same number but only half the calories.

I feed Grace the food from the Greyhound Trust which if you order 2+ bags you get a discount and free delivery. This also has the advantage of minimal gas emissions.

https://greyhoundtruststore.com/collections/pet-greyhound-feed/products/pet-greyhound-food

[MerseyGrey]

12 minutes ago, HeyRunDog said:

Another suggestion is to break the treats in two so he still gets the same number but only half the calories.

I feed Grace the food from the Greyhound Trust which if you order 2+ bags you get a discount and free delivery. This also has the advantage of minimal gas emissions.

https://greyhoundtruststore.com/collections/pet-greyhound-feed/products/pet-greyhound-food

Yes, I do this with the treats too! I will look into that food as anything that reduces emissions is a bonus! Thanks!

[macoduck]

Looks can be deceiving when you are trying to figure out optimum weight. This has some good info with pictures:

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

[MerseyGrey]

18 hours ago, macoduck said:

Looks can be deceiving when you are trying to figure out optimum weight. This has some good info with pictures:

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

This is great! Thank you. Buddy’s shape is most like the last picture on this webpage...so definitely on a diet now and I’m going to have to harden myself against his sad hound eyes

[EllenEveBaz]

Quote

 I’m going to have to harden myself against his sad hound eyes

Most of my dogs have been firmly convinced that an appropriate weight for a greyhound is approximately 400 lbs (182 kg).  Stay strong!

[MerseyGrey]

4 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:

Most of my dogs have been firmly convinced that an appropriate weight for a greyhound is approximately 400 lbs (182 kg).  Stay strong!

 

Thanks, we have just embarked on a short break to Scotland and in the first cafe we visited, the waitress fed him a whole sausage!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_pizza - national dish

there’s no hope for him

[HeyRunDog]

13 hours ago, MerseyGrey said:

Thanks, we have just embarked on a short break to Scotland and in the first cafe we visited, the waitress fed him a whole sausage!

Diet starts tomorrow 

[MerseyGrey]

👍 the diet always starts tomorrow!

[EllenEveBaz]

Quote

 

we have just embarked on a short break to Scotland and in the first cafe we visited, the waitress fed him a whole sausage!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-fried_pizza - national dish

 

From Wikipedia, emphasis added:  Deep-fried pizza is available in many chip shops in Scotland.^[1][2] The basis is an inexpensive fresh or frozen oven-ready pizza consisting of a thick parbaked base with toppings already applied. This is then fried until crisp. The dish can be served as a "pizza supper" (with chips) or single (without chips), in whole and half pizza portions. The dish may be served with salt and vinegar, or with "salt and sauce" (a mixture of brown sauce and vinegar) in Edinburgh and the surrounding area per local chip shop custom. Often the chips will be poured onto one side of the pizza, and the pizza then closed around them.

This pizza is deep fried without batter, although another variation known as a "Pizza Crunch" consists of a large, battered pizza/half-pizza deep-fried, usually served with a hearty amount of chips and vinegar (which is then called a "Pizza Crunch Supper").

O.M.G.  Milo and Jeter would kill to get those pizza bones.  However, I will see Scotland's pizza crunch supper and raise you a dish my grandmother used to make to ensure that everybody in our large family got a taste of the prized fresh pork liver after we slaughtered a hog :  Livermush.  Livermush is a dish with at least 30% pig liver and a mixture of pig head parts and cornmeal. You may say "yuck," but locals have fallen head-over-heels for the fatty fare, even celebrating an annual Livermush Expo; putting it in omelets and pizzas; and devoting a Facebook fan page to it.  Ingredients: Pig liver, assorted other pig parts (usually fatty), cornmeal, pepper, salt.  Fat content: One popular recipe calls for one liver and a pound and a half of fatty parts for a six-serving batch of livermush, making each serving worth about 30 grams of fat.

Buddy, enjoy!

[MerseyGrey]

6 hours ago, EllenEveBaz said:

However, I will see Scotland's pizza crunch supper and raise you a dish my grandmother used to make to ensure that everybody in our large family got a taste of the prized fresh pork liver after we slaughtered a hog :  Livermush.  

Oh, you win! Nothing can compete with that!