Science Diet RD

What does he eat now?

I had the same problem with my golden retriever, KayCee.  She went from 67 to 85 pounds.  However, this during a period of her having bad knees, surgeries on both knees, etc so had very little exercise.  However, once her knees were good, i couldn't get the extra poundage off no matter what I tried.  Our first golden had ballooned up due to low thyroid, so I had KayCee tested for thyroid--twice in a 2 month period, but he thyroid was fine.  My vet suggested I put her on the SD r/d.
 
Well, in just a few months she was down to 70 pounds and I took her off it and she has been off for almost  2 years and not put any of the weight back on.  However, I do have on on low cal food, but she does get home cooked ever day as well.  Like, for breafast this morning, they each got cottage cheese and i divided a jar of baby food sweet potates between the 3. This with 2 cups of dried.  Tonight they will have l cup of dried, plus mackeral, green beans and carrot slices. 
 
But the r/d did work great for KayCee and I would not hesitate to do it again----in fact my 11 year old golden was found to have a kidney infection when he got his "geriatric physical/blood work done last week and he is on the SD k/d until it clears up and his kidneys are back to normal.  And of course, is on a 21 day s supply of antibiotics also.

Have you checked for thyroid problems?

Science Diet R/D flies off of the shelves at the vet clinic that I work at.  Our Vet. recommends it for any dog that is overweight.  Sometimes he also prescribes some sort of thermogenic diet pill that you give with the R/D.  We have seen some really good results with this combination.

edit: i found the link to where the article about weight loss for pets is if you are interested....
http://tinyurl.com/m5slz

several studies have compared the "high fiber" diet foods to low-carb/high protein foods, and found that dogs do lose weight on both diets. However, on the "high fiber" diets much of the weight lost is muscle, not fat. On the high-protein/low carb diets the muscle is retained and the fat is lost. Something to consider-- what do you feed? Some dogs seem to turn carbohydrates (corn, rice, potatoes) directly into fat. And many dogs need far less food than you would ever imagine-- some large working dogs, who get more exericse than any pet, only need one cup of kibble per day. You can always pad out the volume with vegetables if you feel bad about the amount, or feed canned foods which are mostly water. Another option is to make the dog work for the food-- feed out of a kong or busy buddy, or make the dog perform tricks to earn the food. Many dogs seem much more satisfied with small meals if they have to work for them instead of just sucking it out of a bowl in 30 seconds.

I agree with papillon about getting the thyroid checked; hypothyroidism is fairly common in dogs and could explain the weight problem, especially since you've been doing the right things to help hom lose weight. Try to have your vet send the blood to Michigan State University; they use Dr.Dobb's protocols. I also agree with mudpuppy about using a low carb diet; it worked for Jessie when a lite diet which was grain based didn't help; she had been on the lite diet for over a year and I fed her a lot less than the recommended amount. When I switched her to a food that was 40% meat meal (duck) she lost a pound a week. I fed her 25% less than the recommended amount; she was getting more calories than on the lite food but lost weight. It is important for your dog to lose weight and if you do feed the RD it's good to know others have used it with success and he wouldn't have to be on it for long. Good luck with your decision and keep us posted.

I submitted that post and then went to work.  I was pleased to see all the responses.  Now for more details.  New Years 2005 we adopted a 6 month old Baily.  He was eating Iams Lamb and Rice (LAR) and that's what we brought home for him.  Don't really like Iams as a company...that's a different thread.  Immediately we noticed he had really soft stools.  All the time...  After trying a couple different brands of LAR, we switched him to NutroMax Adult Beef and Rice.  His stools firmed right up in a couple days. That's when he started to gain weight.   We go to the vet and she says he's starting to look a little heavy.  My mom says he looks heavy.  We go to get more food and the Nutro Rep happens to be there.  We go home with Nutro Natural Choice Large Breed Weight Managment.  Vet tells me to feed him 820 calories a day to lose.  This goes on for a while and he doesn't lose an ounce.  In fact, he gains.  I reduce the calories.  At some point, we introduce Wellness Canned Food mixed with the dry.  He loves it.  I buy a scale and do all the math so we can acurately stick to the calorie goal.  All the while he is getting exercised daily.  Still not losing...reduce cals again.  Now his two meals total 635 cals/day.  Plus a rawhide once a week.  A few dry biscuits a week...occasionaly gets to lick the dinner plate.  He loves apples and carrots as treats. 
 
 Three weeks ago I took one of the cats to a new vet.  Upon his reccomendation we switched cat food to California Natural Chicken and Rice Dry because of it's simplicity.  I got to reading the Nutro dog food bag again and thought about switching him to Cal. Nat. too.  A week ago I bought him a bag and decided since cutting his cals wasn't working that a different type of food with more cals might do the trick.  The Nutro is loaded with corn, rice and wheat.  Cal. Nat only has brown rice with chicken meal as the first ingredient. 
 
May 16 I took him in to get weighed.  66.0 lbs.  Last weekend, started new food, took him to the cabin and he ran and swam for two days.  Excercised every day this week.  Took him in this morning...67.5lbs.    ?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!  I spoke to the vet tech about poosible medical problems and thyroid was mentioned.  She didn't feel that was an issue just yet because of his young age.  (only 2) 
 
I am now ready to "take drastic measures"  I don't really like the ingredient list of Science Diet RD (corn meal, peanut hulls, chicken by-product meal, soybean meal, soybean mill run, chicken liver flavor)  All those are crap! ( in my opinion)  How can this be so exspensive?
 
He needs to lose 9-12 lbs.  I am willing to feed it temporarily. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence that it does work.  I just have to wonder really how healthy is it? 
 
Baily LOVES to eat.  Unfortunately, his metabolism doesn't.  After the weight comes off I am afraid he is destined to eat very little and never be satisfied in order to stay lean. He does have a Kong and another hollow ball that I sometimes put his food in.  He has figured out that if he picks them up and flips them across the room, stuff falls out when they hit the floor   I think 3-4 meals/day instead of 2 will help as well.
 
Sandra, what is the low calorie food you use?
 
I am headed tomorrow to buy a bag of RD.  Too bad I have a lot of the Nutro and Cal Nat mix left...
 
Thanks for the help!  I will keep you posted. 

They didn't test his thyroid, even after you asked about it???
You might want to get a second opinion!

He has figured out that if he picks them up and flips them across the room, stuff falls out when they hit the floor

 
Mine figured that out, too. I should change his name to Smartypants. My dog eats Nutro L B Adult L & R and and has been maintaining at approx 58.5 pounds. But he does have a unique metabolism.
 
I agree with Starsenchis. You may need to find a vet that will do a thyroid test.

You might want to consider the fact that when you made all the changes to diet, and exercise, you might  have caught him on the weigh-in at a point when he was replacing fat with lean muscle.  I started doing strength exercises in rehab when I was mobile again after my car wreck - I was around 268 pounds from sitting in a wheelchair for 4 months.  I dropped clothes sizes rapidly, got all excited, and after two months went in for a weigh-in.  268 lbs.  [sm=eek.gif] [sm=eek.gif] [sm=eek.gif] dr. told me not to panic, that muscle weighs more than fat and the muscle now had to do its job burning fat - keep at it.  It did work and I ended up losing about 40 pounds that year.

So the point of this long story is that you might have temporarily increased his weight slightly with the exercise. The best way to judge the success of your weight loss program is by feeling his condition.  Ideal condition for almost most dogs, except many breeds in show condition, is that you should be able to see or feel a slight tuck in the waist from the side and from above, and you should be able to tell where his ribs are by touch.  Some breeds you'd want to visually dilineate ribs but most vets I know get antsy about visible ribs. 

Just like with people, don't fall into the trap of letting the scale dictate your overall approach.  If your dog gets enough exercise, he'll lose weight on prime rib and yeast rolls with butter!  []

When I mentioned thyroid problems to the vet tech...(knowing full well that it can lead to weight gain in humans) I was really grasping at straws.   He is not showing any other signs of it at all and he is still quite young.  I think the real issue is finding a food and an amount that works for him.  Visually, he looks stocky.  I'll post pictures in a little while.  I wondered too about replacing fat with muscle and that would account for weight gain but when I took him to the clinic to be weighed...the tech said he was losing his waist... so ignoring the scale altogether he looks heavy.   

here's a couple pictures I just took. 
 
What do you guys think?

have you considered a protein rich grain free food like innova evo, solid gold wolfking, or solid gold barking at the moon. i am sure there are others too.