Opinion...prescription diet vs California Natural

The prescription diet is a whole bunch of filler. You could just reduce his CN some more, and add in some low sodium green beans, or some raw carrots, for filler.

Do you take him for walks everyday? That helps also. Watching treats you give  is important also. Giving carrots and apples helps when you give as treat. I agree with the adding of green beans to the dog food. Exer. is important. Good luck.

Yes we walk for him for at least an hour a day...30 morning, 30 night.  I hadn't heard about green beans before..i'll try it.  I think the weight gain was a combo of overfeeding regular food and too many treats, both human and doggie.
 
I tried an apple last night and he wouldn't eat it.  He did like tomatoes....is that okay to give as a snack? 

You may want to try Sensible Choice Lamb and Rice Reduced Calorie;  [linkhttp://www.sensiblechoice.com/SCHDLRR.HTM]http://www.sensiblechoice.com/SCHDLRR.HTM[/link]    It's made by Royal canin and has Lamb Meal as the first ingredient. It's 7.5% fiber so your dog will feel fuller when he eats it and has 283 K/CAL a cup. Royal Canin also makes a Rx diet for weight loss that's 32% protein and  7.5% fat; [linkhttp://www.royalcanin.us/vetdiet/canineCCHP.html] http://www.royalcanin.us/vetdiet/canineCCHP.html[/link]

My Dachshund lost 11.9 pounds on regular calorie foods. She ate similar meals (in smaller quantities) to my Jack Russell. Teenie now weighs in at 11.6 pounds. Yup, she lost over half.

I do not believe in low fat or reduced calorie foods, for anybody. It is just my opinion, though. I have done very well, for myself and my dogs, on full fat foods. I lost over 50 pounds, a few years ago, and never put a bite of "low fat" or "sugar free" in my mouth.....

Tomatoes are ok, in small quantities. They're pretty acidic, and they're a nightshade veggie. Not good for arthritis.

My dogs love frozen carrots, and broccoli "bones" (the big stalk from fresh broccoli) for chewie treats.

For my dogs treats were the killer for weight gain,and the fatter they get the less they want to exercise and/or run around,and there the vicious circle starts. My dogs hate veggies so that angle was out [&:]

I would try a food with less calories,and replace maybe 1 kibble meal per day,or every second day with homecooked or raw,this is what worked for my dogs,plus cutting way back on treats.You dont think such tiny additions make such a difference,but they do [&o]

Start keeping records of everything that goes in to your dogs mouth and how much,then at the end of the week review it,he may be getting more tid bits than you think.The whole family has to be involved in this.I thought my dogs were only getting one treat a day,but then kids and OH were also handing them out like lollies and boy did it add up,especially when it's written there in black and white [sm=blush.gif]

I would try EVERY other option before resorting to the prescription diet.It really is garbage and doesnt contain anything remotely healthy [:'(]

Has he had a thourough vet check up,thyroid etc? Before embarking on any weight loss diet it is best to make surte there arent any underlying causes.

For my dogs treats were the killer for weight gain,and the fatter they get the less they want to exercise and/or run around,and there the vicious circle starts

 
That works for humans as well.  But Edie is right about fat dogs not wanting to get exercise.  My golden retirnever developed luxtaing patella and between the knee, then the surgery, and then recovery time, she put on some very un-needed pounds.  Even after the knee was okay, she still didn't way to run and play much.  THEN her other knee really went bad and anothr surgery, and this recovery time was longer as it also involved the ACL, bone cutting, pins, etc.  And more unwanted pounds were added.  With her, only the presciription diet worked at getting the pounds off, and once off she went to normal dog food. Sometimes that is the only thing that will work with certain dogsl  But before considering it, I would have a complete physical and blood work done to determine if it is medical or just 'getting fat"  Our one golden ballooned up and it was thyroid.  The meds and low cal, but not  RXdiet food, took the pounds off him.  I think the meds alone would have done it.

I would try to avoid the prescription diet as well.  They are full of grains & fillers high in Carb's and low in protein.  A friend of mine who will not listen to anyone but her Vet has her dog on the prescription diet.  The dog poops a lot, the poop smells unhealthy...and the dog is developing chronic ear infections and the eyes are starting to look unhealthy.
 
Beagles are notorious for being over weight, and it's common for a Beagle (and Lab's) to act like they are starved constantly.  The dogs "learn" that by begging or acting starved the owners will give in.  Perhaps for snacks give baby carrots, broccoli...steamed liver once in a while, perhaps a RMB to keep him occupied and happy.  Some dogs get bored and a RMB will allow them to keep themselves amused and the chewing action gives them satisfaction. If your not comfortable with RMB's there are other treats...I like teh Mucho Macho Stix as treats..but they are made of beef.  Nature's Variety also has rabbit ear chew which may be suitable for a dog with allergies.  You can also replace one meal with a raw turkey or chicken neck for the chewing action and this satisfies many dogs.  
 
Since you feed California Naturals, I assume your dog has allergies.  I  would not feed California Natural long term as it is a very bland food and great for dogs that cannot tolerate alot of different foods...mainly used for elimination diets.  I would start slowly introducing some of the other Natura foods, such as EVO, Innova, etc and perhaps other brands of dog foods such as Nature's Variety.  Since I don't know what your dogs problems are to be on California Naturals I wouldn't know which foods would be suitable.  It's also a good idea to go for a higher protein and no grain diet to help loose weight.  For example my Rottie Athena gets 1/2 cup of Nature's Variety Instinct twice daily with canned food.  She used to seem hungry all the time on foods with grain in it as the blood sugars sky rocket then drop leaving the dog hungry.  On this food Athena is not hungry all the time and seems satisfied.  

It is such a difficult time when you are trying to get a dog to lose weight.  You want them to have adequate nutrients to be healthy (which eliminates Rx diets), but you also don't want them to be hungry all the time (resulting from feeding less of a better food).  I think the best approach (as mentioned above) is to feed them less of a high quality food (like the Cal. Nat.) and add fibrous/non-fatty foods like green beans, carrots, etc to the food so they feel full.  

or some raw carrots, for filler

ORIGINAL: jennie_c_d

Do raw carrots pass right thru undigested?

Do raw carrots pass right thru undigested?

Sure do! Orange poop generally follows[]

My bulldog lost 9 pounds  (44-35) when I cut half her Calf Nat kibble and substituted green beens.  The bowl looked quite full to the dog.  I also quit the cookies and swithed to carrots   Just in time for her ACL surgery.
 
I will say that since I put my 2 dogs on raw meat diets, their bodies have naturally stablized at the perfect weights.  Sometimes I give my setter a little more if he's getting too lean.
 
I f you must give cookies , give EVO cookies with no grains.

I f you must give cookies , give EVO cookies with no grains.

Or make some yummy jerky for your dog[]

I lost over 50 pounds, a few years ago, and never put a bite of "low fat" or "sugar free" in my mouth.....

 
I had to comment on this. First off, good job!! But yeah, I totally agree. People I know are always trying to diet, either by cutting out carbs, fat, whatever, and shockingly they always gain it back. I lost 40 pounds eating whatever I wanted, just less of it (and I have an awful sweet tooth, so that included plenty of sugar), and have not and will not gain it back. My sister keeps saying to me "Oh, I just don't have the willpower to eat less of something. That's why I need to do Atkins." Yeah lady, and how many times have you lost and gained back that weight, by doing Atkins? [&:] 
 
Sorry, I like to hi-jack threads. Back to topic, my sister's pit bull was quite overweight when they moved in here two months ago. We switched him to a higher calorie food (Innova from Iams), but feed WAY less, and he's already quite close to a good weight. Unfortunately, we didn't weigh him first, so I don't know where we started or where we are now, but my guess is he was around 95 pounds two months ago, and I'm guessing 80-85 now. He looked really good a while back at 75ish, so we're getting there! He's also built a lot of muscle. He was just a fatty blob at the beginning of September, and he's got decently defined muscles now.