Dog Community

A Nutrition Rant

probe1957

Posted : 3/27/2007 3:30:44 PM

Two years ago or so, maybe a little longer, we adopted Odie, aka, "The Ode" from the local shelter. We figured he had been at the pound 6-8 months. Apparently, some people are a tad reluctant to adopt large dogs that appear to be aggressive when they are in a kennel. But I digress.

Shortly after we adopted him, we loaded him up in the car for a trip to the doggy doctor. He got a clean bill of health but the vet mentioned that she would like to see him gain about 5 pounds. He did look a little on the skinny side to me too, so I upped his food a bit. He weighed 59 pounds with a target weight of around 65 pounds.

Fast forward a year or so. Another trip to the vet for a checkup. Vet compliments me on whatever I am feeding him. Says he looks great, but she would like to see him LOSE a little weight. Apparently I over did the food increase a bit because he now weighs 69 pounds. The vet said she would rather see a dog a little under weight than a little over weight. I also thought he looked a bit chunky, so I decreased his food.

Over the winter we let the Ode's hair grow. I actually thought he looked a bit fat with his longer hair. I could feel, but not see, his ribs through the hair. A couple of weeks ago I got his hair cut and, Mein Gott, he looked skinny. You could see his ribs. Not prominently, but you could see his ribs. Last weekend we go to the vet for his annual doggy checkup. The vet gives him a clean bill of health again but his weight is down to 55 pounds. IOW, he weighs 4 pounds less than he did when the vet said she would like to see him GAIN 5.

Odie, you worthless mutt, what do I have to do to keep your weight stable???

sandra_slayton

Posted : 3/27/2007 3:50:22 PM

I pulled weight off Buck after he came down with arthritis in his hips and lower spine 2 years ago. He has kept it off, but every once in a while i have to cut back a little on his food for a couple of weeks. KayCee was my problem child. She had bad knees and had knee surgery on each knee 14 months apart and during that couple of years with bad knees, surgeries, recoverey time, she packed on over 15 pounds, up from like 69 to 85. Got it off her with Science Diet k/d and she has kept it off. But i do really control how much she eats. With these long hair dogs with thick undercoats like my goldens, it really is hard to tell if they are skinny or fat. KayCee is so use to going to get weighed that when we got to the vet she goes in, gets on the scale and when I tell her okay, she starts for the front door. If I try to get her to go to one of the exam rooms, she balks and when we get in and i sit down, she gets under my legs and peeks out at the vet or the tech.

jjsmom06

Posted : 3/27/2007 4:07:20 PM

Billy,

do you feed

retty much exactly same amount each day? My greyhounds would be "plump" if I let DH feed them all the time. He is such a patsy with them and gives them extra food every meal and tons of dog treats because he says "but they want them..." I have to always adjust how much I feed them based on how many times that day or so that DH has fed them.

Who takes care of the feeding...you or your wife or both of you? Also, does he get treats and do you both have different ideas on HOW MANY they should have in a day? How many times a week does he go to the dog park, get long walks, etc???

sooner

Posted : 3/27/2007 4:17:17 PM

When you are feeding more or less are you readjusting when the optimum weight is reached? Or continuing to feed the gaining or losing amount?

glenmar

Posted : 3/27/2007 4:24:03 PM

I HAVE to increase rations in the cold months or Thunder especially look downright anorexic. Even tho I do like to keep them on the lean side, visable hip bones is tooo lean!

willowchow

Posted : 3/27/2007 4:49:45 PM

I check Willow's weight once a month especially over the winter because her coat is so thick it's very hard to feel and just look at her and tell if she's good or not.

jenhuedepohl

Posted : 3/27/2007 5:07:03 PM

Lucy is like that, too. I'm constantly swinging between chunky monkey and skinny mini with her. Five pounds is all it takes and her optimum is about 50 pounds. It's tough to balance the kibble with kids around that drop "snacks" and the goodies I give her to keep her from going crazy in her crate.

probe1957

Posted : 3/28/2007 10:55:12 AM

I will probably do what Lori does and start weighing the Ode once a month, in the winter, when his hair is long. Thanks for the comments folks.

houndlove

Posted : 3/28/2007 11:01:16 AM

I have the same issue with Marlowe going from very skinny to kinda chunky with nothing in between. He has his annual vet visit next month so we'll see what the Dr. says, but this has always been a problem for us. When we got him he was underweight, but then he started to look chubby, so we cut his food a bit and all of a sudden he was skeletal again, so we upped it a little bit and got the chub back. *shrug* I tend to try to err on the side of slim, but with a dog with not much hair at all to hide his body shape, you get some nasty looks from people.

Susan Robertson

Posted : 3/28/2007 5:02:29 PM

if I let DH feed them all the time. He is such a patsy with them and gives them extra food every meal and tons of dog treats

I have the same problem here! I feed Kato M-F and am stingy with his food. I cut it back to what the vet told me. Dh feeds Kato on weekends when I'm working and I just know he's feeding him way too much! He feels it's "not enough" or he's thinking that HE would like more if he was Kato......whatever that goofy reasoning I know he feeds him more than I told him to. Grrrrrr!

JoAnnDe

Posted : 3/29/2007 7:31:46 AM

Gosh this thread makes me feel a little better - I thought I was simply "stupid" because I can't find the correct amt of food to feed ! I know I overfed Prancer when I first brought her home (silly me - trusted what it said on the packaging !), but now I feel like I'm down to nothing and she's still getting on the chunky side. And since her fur is finally filling it I'm having a hard time with the rib test, just like the rest of you.
I'm getting concerned about the effects -its like a yo-yo diet which we've heard (in humans) is unhealthy.

chelsea_b

Posted : 3/29/2007 9:43:57 AM

I'm getting concerned about the effects -its like a yo-yo diet which we've heard (in humans) is unhealthy.

I was thinking about that the other day. Cherokee fluctuates a lot. 57-63 pounds pretty much. I'd really like to keep her around 57, but I just can't seem to. I feed her differently practically every week. Sometimes kibble, sometimes homecooked, and even then I vary kibbles, vary toppers, and the ingredients in the homecooked are always different, so I have a really hard time feeding the same number of calories. But now I'm thinking it's gotta be abnormal for a dog's weight to fluctuate like that, even with calorie differences. Mine doesn't, and I sure don't eat the same number of calories every day. I'm starting to suspect she's hypothyroid or something. Time for some bloodwork, methinks. (And I HATE getting Cherokee's blood drawn. No matter who does it, they have to prick her like 20 times before they find a vein. It's really unbearable. She's scared enough without getting pricked a million times.)