Weight loss advice please

Karlin mentioned in a thread that she got one of her dogs to lose a third of her body weight. Our little Katie is small and was 11.5 lbs, a very good weight for her size. My DH was sneaking her cheese and other treats and she has gained almost 3 lbs and is looking quite "fluffy".

Can you all please offer advice on how I can safely get Katie back to a healthy weight. He has finally stopped giving her extra food after much nagging. Help!

reduce the portions of her regular food, supplement with carrot stix and other nonstarchy veggies, give veggies especially instead of chew treats. Exercise. karlin is my guru.

That's pretty much what I did. I reduced from 1/2c twice a day, to 1/3 cup twice a day. I give carrot sticks for treats and take lots of walks. Playing fetch helps, too.

Going from 1/2 to 1/3 cup twice daily of dog food sounds reasonable, or if you have been feeding her 1/3 cup 2x all along, you could reduce it to 1/4 cup 2x. I wouldn't cut her food in half, though; that might be too drastic.

Frozen cut (or french cut) green beans are lower in calories than carrots, and my pups love them! Fresh green pepper pieces are good, too.

Molly I also have a hubby who sneaks treats to Dudley and then denies it at least your DH admits it. icon_whistling icon_whistling icon_whistling

I could see that Dudley was gaining weight and I have cut him down to 1/4 cup of EVO twice a day from a 1/3 cup. I cut most snacks out also, I have also been taking the boys to the park about 4 times a weeks and letting them off leash, I would have to walk miles in order for them to get that kind of excercise. I have a bad knee at the moment and unfortunately can't walk them daily. I have found they love to run free, I go to the park at dinnertime when nobody else is there. I bought a white t-shirt for Darby as I was having a problem seeing him in the dark since it gets dark so early now.

Tell you DH to eat the cheese.

Dudley has already lost 6 ounces, I just weighed him he was 17.8 lbs and he is now down to 17.2 lbs.
Darby is 13.2 lbs so he lost a bit too but I have not decreased his food just increased his exercise.

Thanks so much for the help! I was afraid to reduce her food too drastically. We have started taking them to the dog park too now that they have fenced off an area for the smaller dogs! Way too many pit bulls before that. And they all love frozen green beans! I'll let you know how she does.

You can also try ice cubes for treats. Ours LOVE ice cubes! Down side is that the floor gets wet in spots.

molly said:

Thanks so much for the help! I was afraid to reduce her food too drastically. We have started taking them to the dog park too now that they have fenced off an area for the smaller dogs! Way too many pit bulls before that. And they all love frozen green beans! I'll let you know how she does.

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Molly, if you really want to see the difference, take 'before' and 'after' photos!! :snap: Good luck!