overweight golden

I agree with jojo the pogo, Innova EVO reduced fat would be perfect.  I have a Rottie that tends to tread on the heavy side...I give her a grain free food and feed for the weight I want her...you will feed far less grain free than normal kibbles.  Also, when I add canned, sardines or leftovers I take away some of the kibble so she is not getting too many calories.  If you want to give treats try broccoli...to make him feel full add green beans or some other veggie low in calories/sugar to make him feel like he's eating more.  You could also add ground flax seeds to his meals.  Try fasting him for a day every week as well.  Most dogs act like they are hungry out of routine...don't give in to the pleading looks...a dog would eat eatself into a glutton if allowed[]

In a perfect world all dogs would be walked every day...but, this isn't a perfect world.  I applaude you for getting someone to walk your Golden a few times a week...that's better than most show dogs I know that NEVER get out for walks or social things other than dog shows...so, your dog is living a better life than many dogs[]     

There are breeds that do tend to have problems with weight, Rottie's, Beagles and Goldens are the ones we see most often will weight problems.  I have even seen some Golden's that get tons of walks, eating reducing diets  and exercise and are still overweight with no health problems.  I personally think some of these dogs are sensitive to Carb's.  If you do feed a food with Carb's or feed leftover's make sure the Carb's are low on the glycemic scale...just like people I think some pets are sensitive to Carbs which are high on the glycemic scale.[] 

Hope this helps, and your not alone with having weight problems with a Golden...I can't tell you how many customer's we have at the grooming shop who have overweight Goldens and have done everything they could to loose weight.  It seems to be prominant in certain lines I think. 

# cups does sound like alot of food.  I have a chow mix that was overweight.  I changed her to the Wellness lite and cut her back to 3/4 cup twice a day.  Of course my vet wanted her on the Science Diet lite but I refused and took him nutritional value from other foods.  He looked at it and said that all of them were good and told the the amount she should get on each food as  he based it on the kcal of the food.  He also suggested adding salt free green beans to the food as they are loaded with fiber and will make her fill full.  She lost 12 lbs after that I changed her to Natural Balance reduce calorie but she gained some weight back. I will stick the 3/4 cup of Natural Balance reduce but make sure she is not getting treats from other people.  I think that is our problem.

Nutro is not a bad food, but it is very high in carbs. I would also suggest trying the EVO reduced fat food-- it certainly has no corn or wheat in it. Also, three cups a day sounds incredibly high to me-- go talk to people with big chunky weight-prone labs, and the norm tends to be around 1 cup a day for active dogs. Who knows what your inactive dog would eat- possibly as little as 1/2 cup. Seriously, when reading feeding guidelines on bags of food a good start is to feed exactly half of the amount the food recommends and adjust up or down as needed by the dogs body condition.

I really think that feeding a reduced fat food will ruin a dog's coat.  I suggest just cutting back on the kibble quantity and adding in a can of green beans for extra "filler". 

Edited to say that I have a moderately active Labrador who is almost 6.  He weighs about 70 lbs - at his heaviest (when he was more muscular as well, not really "fat") he weight 86 lbs.  I feed him 4 cups per day of a food that has about 400 kcals/cup, so that equals about 1600 calories.  He's at an ideal weight and looks healthy and svelte.

Not sure how many kcals is in the Innova Evo folks keep posting about, but I know if I fed him just a cup a day that would be far less than he should be getting to be a healthy weight.

I just re-read your post and saw that you're feeding Nutro Natural Choice Chicken Meal, Rice, & Oatmeal. 
 
[linkhttp://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdogcro.asp]http://www.nutroproducts.com/ncdogcro.asp[/link]
 
This has 338 kcals/cup so 3 cups a day = 1014 calories.  That's a good amount for a diet and if you added green beans to that (no sodium kind) he'd be getting the same calories but would also feel more full. 
 
You cannot go by what the bag recommends to feed dogs.  Dog food companies WANT you to feed a ton of food so that you go through the bags faster and buy more food!   I see they recommend 4.5 cups for a 75 lb dog - that's 1500 calories.
 
Best of luck.  I think if he's doing well on the Nutro from an allergy standpoint you should stick with it and just try cutting back, add some green beans. 

Thanks so much. I will call around and see if I can locate a feed store that sell INOVA. I do the green beans, but never thought of broccoli! I wonder if he'll eat it? I will certainly give it a try. []
 
PS Fasting him? Not on your life - I'm afraid he'll eat the cat. []
 
Thanks to everyone in this forum for your replys - it's nice to talk to dog lovers who care about their pets as much as I do.
 
Blessings,
Linda

Your Cole is beautiful! We raised a purebred yellow lab when we had the kids at home. She was more hyper than our border collie and still prone to overweight. They didn't have as many food selections back then so we fed her a low fat food that I now realize had some unhealthy ingredients. She passed away from a stroke when she was 11. A wonderful dog.
 
Then came "Gen" Beckworth's Genuine Gold. A show dog we adopted when she was seven. She was wonderful, but died at age 11 from spleen cancer.
 
The twins, a boy and girl, were 90% Golden and 5% Lab. We got them at 10 weeks old. They were a joy! Again both died at age 11 within 4 weeks of each other with different kinds of cancer.
 
Now we have Midas - a purebread Golden - adopted from Golden Bond rescue. He is my husbands soul mate.  [] Sometime I think I need to grow floppy ears, a furry muzzle and hairy neck. We both adore him, but he has been a handful between alergies and weight problems. We didn't know how old we really were until we adopted a 16 mo old pup. Now he's four and we don't want anything to happen to him so we are doing everything we can to feed him what is best. The vet is stumped, so I will follow the advice, reduce the amount of kibble and add green beans.
 
Thanks again
 
Linda

and the norm tends to be around 1 cup a day for active dogs. Who knows what your inactive dog would eat- possibly as little as 1/2 cup.

Are we talking about golden retrievers here or chihuahua's??

1 cup a day,or as little as 1/2 a cup[sm=eek.gif] Thats about the amount a toy bred would eat per day,no? My dogs would consider 1/2 cup or a handful of kibble a treat,not a meal,and i honestly think they would be severly malnourished on 1 cup of food a day,they get more than double that per meal... Now i know my guys are much bigger than GR's,but i just can not see a dog of it's size being able to be healthily maintained on 1/2 to 1 cup of dry food per day...

I thought that Edie - fair enough my dog is young, very hyper err.... active[]  And lean at 95 or so lbs.  He got sick overnight once and (explosive craps everywhere [:'(] then started puking) and the vet said don't feed him until the next day.  We wound up having to crate him because he was trying to eat everything and anything.  He then started to eat the crate.
1 cup a day and I would have one irritable dog on my hands a half cup - that be like extras for being a good boy!

I feed my 150 pound dog 4 cups of Flint River Ranch a day, 2 in the morn and 2 at night.  When his weight moves up at all I cut his food down to two cups a day, with a bowl full of "green beans" for two weeks.  1 cup of food, and lots of green beans and one at night with more green beans.  Broc is to gasey, I wouldn't suggest it.  His weight is a struggle and we are continually watching and modifing his diet to keep him from getting to big.

really truly 1 cup a day. Might want to add a multivitamin if your dog needs that little food. Big dogs often require remarkably little food. I have a 90 pound mutt who instantly turns any carbohydrates into body fat. She's on a low-carb diet. I don't feed her any kibble, but I estimate she'd need less than a cup of reduced fat EVO if I decided to feed that. She's very active, too. I have a 150 pound dog who eats part kibble part other foods-- I estimate if he ate only kibble he'd get around 3 cups of EVO per day. He's older and not very active.

ORIGINAL: L I S

Your Cole is beautiful! We raised a purebred yellow lab when we had the kids at home. She was more hyper than our border collie and still prone to overweight. They didn't have as many food selections back then so we fed her a low fat food that I now realize had some unhealthy ingredients. She passed away from a stroke when she was 11. A wonderful dog.

Then came "Gen" Beckworth's Genuine Gold. A show dog we adopted when she was seven. She was wonderful, but died at age 11 from spleen cancer.

The twins, a boy and girl, were 90% Golden and 5% Lab. We got them at 10 weeks old. They were a joy! Again both died at age 11 within 4 weeks of each other with different kinds of cancer.

Now we have Midas - a purebread Golden - adopted from Golden Bond rescue. He is my husbands soul mate.  [] Sometime I think I need to grow floppy ears, a furry muzzle and hairy neck. We both adore him, but he has been a handful between alergies and weight problems. We didn't know how old we really were until we adopted a 16 mo old pup. Now he's four and we don't want anything to happen to him so we are doing everything we can to feed him what is best. The vet is stumped, so I will follow the advice, reduce the amount of kibble and add green beans.

Thanks again

Linda

Thanks for that - and thanks for sharing your history with dogs! 

I really think that trying the simplest thing first and seeing how he does (reducing the amount of kibble and adding green beans) would be the first step...changing the food would be the next step.  As someone who's been on the "dog food rollercoaster" more times than I care to remember, I tend to take any path first that does not involve me having to switch food! 
 
Edited to say, I like how both our dogs' names are a play on their color.   

1 cup a day,or as little as 1/2 a cup Thats about the amount a toy bred would eat per day,no?

Teenie, my miniature Dachshund, ate 1/2 cup of kibble per day, when I was feeding kibble. She lost weight on that amount. Of course, when she got to where she was able, she became VERY active. Don't small dogs have higher metabolisms than big dogs? Their hearts beat faster...

sorry- cat on shoulder so must type one handed.
we decided to stay on nutro chicken rice oatmeal because his allergies are under control. sticking with 1 1/2 cups per serving ( vet said don't give less) and added 1/2 can green beans per meal. when low on kibble we adjust with rice, green beans and 1/4 cup low fat cottage cheese. still only one or two pieces of kibble for treat. i do believe its working[] he is much happier and has more energy. now have a girl to walk him 4 times a week and i play ball or frizbee several times a day.  Got one of those scoop and toss throwers? [8D] What a difference. So much easier on me and they have to run farther!
 
have switched Ally (border collie) to a smaller bite food - ONE chicken oatmeal formula because it has more natural sources of glucosamine, and because it's easier for her to chew. (she lost one canine and one other tooth when she was working cattle and held on to a calf too long)  She gets 1/4 cup of cottage cheese on top of her 3/4 cup kibble (2 meals a day). She is losing weight and is more active now too. She turns six in March.
 
I know I already said this but your lab is so beautiful! Wish I could upload a picture of Midas, but don't have the equipment. He's a dark golden Golden. [] very large even if he wasn't overweight. His coat is thick and long, waivy at the neck and chest, long feathers and extra long tail. Only negative is deep jowels that hold a great deal of drool. [:'(]
 
Ah, what would we do without them. I often torture myself by going to the Golden Bond web sight and sighing over all the wonderful Goldens that need homes. Such wonderful dogs. If we were 20 years younger and rich we'd adopt several more. []
L

Glad to hear he is adjusting well!  Can't wait to hear how he continues to progress!!