[justine]

My friend's dog, Toby, who's been living with me for the past few weeks went to the vet over the weekend for his ear infection and it turns out he is tipping the scales at 97 lbs!

That said, he was probably over 100 before he came to me because he was previously getting too much food and too little exercise. He's been having a lot of fun on all of our walks, trips to the park and playing with Abbey. So the exercise part will definitely help him.

The vet said that he'd like to see him between 75 and 80 lbs.. so he's got about 20 lbs to lose. He said to decrease the food by 1/2 cup each meal (morning and night). He was previously getting 2 cups 2x/day, but now will get 1.5 cups 2x/day. It doesn't seem like enough food for him and he seems like he's starrrrving and he's been begging and begging for food.

Any suggestions? Adding something like green beans to his food or something like that?

Thanks!
Justine

 

[zoezoe]

mix green beans in with his feedings and give him frozen carrots as treats. not too many carrots though.

 

[justine]

mix green beans in with his feedings and give him frozen carrots as treats. not too many carrots though.

He doesn't like carrots, I tried that one already, haha. I think I will get some green beans and see how he likes those.

 

[Bob Pr.]

I buy 5 lb. bags of frozen green string beans at Sam's Club ($5.88) and add a cup of cooked beans to each of Puff's suppers (1 cup kibble). Works for us.

 

[2blacklabs]

My Rudder is a big boned girl herself (13 months/100 lbs) and she still has growing to do. I feed Wellness and she gets 1 1/2 cups per meal 2x per day. I cook sweet potatoes in the microwave and mash them up with her food as filler - my dogs LOVE sweet potatoes! I am always amazed by reading dog food bags how different brands can vary in how much you should feed your dog. I always stick with the WDJ top 25 dog foods.

 

[justine]

He's on Pedigree right now, but I am switching him to Wellness CORE, which Abbey is on, so the amount of his feedings may go down even more. We'll see.. it's going to take some fidgeting to get it perfect.

Are sweet potatoes considered high in calories?

 

[2blacklabs]

1 cup has about 180 calories, 6 grams of fiber and like .3 grams of fat. I liked that it had some fiber for the "full" feeling. What they need to put on it is that it may produce gas - hehe sheeeeew!

 

[sarah]

How long are you minding Toby for again Justine?

 

[Trickster]

You may find that he is less hungry when you switch to a higher quality food.

 

[justine]

How long are you minding Toby for again Justine?

Don't really know... for a while at least.. months!