Question re fat/cal content (generally) of a few items...

My breeder says Holly is a tiny bit overweight, even though she'd be the middle photo waist wise on Laura Lang's page, and has a very discernible chest/belly difference from on side. I've been following Karlin's tips elsewhere- Holly now gets between 40-60 grams a day (third to half of what she was getting) of dry food- Wainwrights potato and salmon- and half an unsalted organic rice cake daily. Every other day or so I feed a little less kibble (40g) and give one JWB turkey and rice crackerjack treat. I don't know if there's much difference so far- I have no scales!

Question 1- are rice cakes a good food to feed to a dog on a diet? If not, can someone suggest an easily obtainable veggie (which is not pumpkin ) that will provide a similar fibre source? Holly's stools are much firmer now!

Question 2- I got some chews at the dog show today. I thought they were bone, and tried to ask, but guy was german and had poor english. Bought a couple anyway, and now I'm inclined to think they're actually rawhide! I have an idea that this is NOT a good treat to give to a dog-on-diet - am i right or wrong?

Tomorrow I'll give Holls a bath and see if I can get a photo of her from above and side and then maybe people can give an idea of how overweight she is. The breeder said she's still well within the breed standard and not to worry too much since she's definitely not fat- just a wee bit heavier than she was last year when they looked after her. All the same, I don't want her to be heavier at all! :yikes This is what happens when people tell you you starve your dog, and then your dog is picks through the kibble so you end up giving more to compensate..

Hi Lisa,
I am not a nutritionist or dietician, so this is just my humble opinion.

I would not feed my pups rice cakes as a meal. I don't think there is much nutritional value in them. I feel that a quality kibble is better for their meals.

To get a perspective on the amount to feed, in both grams and calories, I used some info. from my dogs' kibble bag. Currently I am feeding each dog approximately 358 kcal, 82 grams, per day (the girls get a teeny bit less and the boy gets a teeny bit more) to maintain their weight.

I also give them each approx. 28 kcal in treats, plus they get bits of carrot or green pepper if we're making salad.

Some people feed their cavs frozen vegetables like green beans for low calorie fiber.

I'm not sure about the rawhide, so someone else will need to answer your question. I give my dogs bully sticks (pizzles) and have no idea how many calories are in them.

Have you tried carrots? We cut carrots into rounds (or buy frozen carrot slices) and turn it into a play/treat session - rolling them one by one and letting her chase them. Apples and cucumbers (I peel and seed both) are good too. Also lettuce...Pixie especially likes the thick crunchy stems (veins.)

Pixie is back up 1/2 pound, so we're being extra diligent in what we give her and in extra exercise.

I used to give rice cakes, the no salt variety. Jake loved them but he sure made a mess with them! They both get broccoli, carrots and apples for breakfast.

I really must have one fussy dog! Merlin will only eat his kibble, any meat and cheese. The weetbix treat lasted 1 day and I have tried carots - he'll crunch them but spits the bits out.

He seems quite happy on just one meal a day with the odd tripe stick or other treat now and again.....

( it does worry me though when I read all these posts about how other cavaliers are so into food...... and mine just isn't.... :roll: )

I looked up rawhide on the internet, and found there are some calories and protein in rawhide, but it should never be counted as a food in a dog's diet. It appears to be ok to give a dog rawhide while on a diet.

Also, frozen peas and carrots have more fiber than green beans. My cavs love frozen vegetables.

Rice cakes are just in the morning; she does get a good quality kibble later on in the day, and if they're not fattening I'd like to carry on feeding them as she really loves them. I've tried her on raw carrot but she'll only eat if it's cubed! Will try the frozen too though..

rice is converted to sugar very fast in the body, i just know about this in the human context--it is not a good weight loss food, and it (sugar) also can aggravate any tendency toward inflammation in the body, if one exists.

kirsty, zack is similar to merlin, for weeks now his pattern has been, i put down a half cup of Innova Evo in the morning (grain-free kibble, high protein) and he just leaves it there. I put it down again at lunch time, he just leaves it there.

At lunch time, unless i forget, every day i give him a carrot stick. He doesn't eat it but plays with it a little bit, or may just ignore it but i leave it down for him as a chew treat instead of something like rawhide which i was advised not to use by the person i got him from, for safety reasons, the rare chance of choking or digestive obstruction.

at night i put Zack's food down and he cleans the bowl, though usually with some hesitation before he starts, as if he's waiting for something more exotic like supermarket kibble or cooked chicken.

I then give him a second helping at the evening meal of 1/2 cup and he cleans the bowl. I guess i could just change to giving him a whole cup at night and stop offering him food duringt he day. At night, he eats his kibble, he cleans the bowl however much i put down, in the day he acts not interested at all.

Of course, any time throughout the day he would happily eat treats such as cheese or chicken or storebought dog treats like merrick's lamb filets, or kong filler. I don't feed those except very minimally for occasional training reward because the way zack looks to me, at the waist, he is at the border of having too much weight. i could be wrong, it might be that his coat is coming back in after his summer haircut.

I haven't weighed him in a while. I'm going to take him to the pet store and weigh him today on their scale. I have begun cutting down the food portions from 1/2 cup to a little less than a 1/2 cup, twice day.

Part of Zack's pattern is, when he wakes up in the morning, he eats the soft soggy carrot that has been laying around since the day before. He seems to like them in the morning--that's his choice of breakfast food. He may actually finish the carrot. not all at once--he generally picks it up and plays with it, throws it in the air, and eats a bit, and then plays with something else, and then comes back to the carrot and eats a bit more. He will finish it either in the morning or later. This is a recent thing, he used to never finish them.

I have always given him a half carrot stick rather than cutting them into rounds. That allows him to gnaw on it. But he usually leaves it alone the first day he has it and then eats it the following morning. It seems he may like it better when it's softer and soggier or perhaps less cold.

At one time, he never ate them but gnawed on them off and on, and spit out the pieces so that there were shredded carrot bits scattered over my carpet that i would step on accidently. but recently, he's been actually eating the carrot during the first half of the day.

Last night i gave him small whole carrot instead of just giving him half, and he ate about half of it right away, before eating his kibble. I wouldn't say he really likes the carrot, the way he ignores it for most of the day. but he seems to have fit it into his routine in a way where he will eat it and i think it's a healthy filler for him.

Zack's eating routine seems to always be changing so i never know how it's going to be a month from now.

I'm not giving him any grain, i'm going along with the Evo philosophy on that, for the time being. He only gets grain if someone else gives him a treat with grain in it.

i'm not good on counting calories and measuring weight/volume of food. I am just going by eye and feel as to whether Zack's weight and size are ok, and if not, lowering the amount of his portions overall. but i'm not sure right now whether he's right or not. that's a good idea to post photos when wet.

i'll be taking him to the vet soon because i have been committed to waiting until after he's a year old to have his first rabies vaccine and he's almost a year old. I'll discuss weight then.

Thanks Judy,

I'm not worried about Merlin, he is nice and slim and he does eat when he is hungry later about 7 pm. He will eat treats. I'm just amazed that I have got one that is not food obssesses like all the books suggest is a common trait icon_whistling