Lowest Calorie and Best Grade Food

[Brian M]

Hi
What are members answers to above and food I can buy in the UK ,I have tried R C ,Burns and now on Arden Grange and have been looking at Fromms who advise me just feed their kibble and no need for fillers like green beans ,broccoli and carrot which I now feed.
Just weighed all three and they have all put on weight and we have just got back from the shore and a good hard hours walk ,its getting to me all I want for them is the best but this weight is depressing ,Help.
Pops only gets 20gr of kibble in the morning and evening both topped up with veg and a squirt of salmon oil a scoop of keepers mix a teasppon of natural bran a small bite size shredded wheat and a teaspoon of low cal probiotic yog and I am thinking of starting manuka honey ,but I am going wrong somewhere i know they need more exercise but i do what i can

[tupup]

Hiya,
Have you asked the vet Brian what they would advise? It seems vets are pretty *into* weight loss for pets so maybe they could help?

[Brian M]

hI TUPUP

sorry I find vets just give the same advice cut down on food and go up on exercise ,have done both also had them checked over for any biological reason but no ,so I thought if I could poll opinion as food for Cavs people are so different on what they feed and how much ,if I could go with a really top quality food to start with in pref a low cal one and start again do I add this and that like I am or just nothing but kibble and as Pops only get 20 gr x 2 that makes her daily 40 gr now would that be dangerosly low ,I dont know so any answers appreciated .

[diddy]

Hi Brian, According to my new pups diet sheet, the breeder advises
"At 6/8 months combine the 2 remaining meat meals, thereafter your pup should have the following for life;-

1 Tablespoon hard biscuit, 4 to 6 ozs of meat, 1 Vitamin tablet.

Products used: Biscuit =Pedigree Petfoods Lamb n Veg/Royal Canin CKCS.

Meat = Pedigree Petfoods "Ceasar" or fresh uncooked beef mince.

Vitamins = Vetzyme with Garlic.

One Bonio type biscuit for bedtime.

Though I have to say that Amber,who is currently staying with me much prefers James Wellbeloved Lamb/Rice or Turkey/Rice sachets with JW Duck n Rice kibble. I also throw in whatever veggies/rice or pasta that happens to be left over from our evening meal.

Its hard to see how just one tablespoon of bics would sustain a cavvie, especially as Amber (who has a problem gaining weight) will eat duck/rice kibble by the bucketfull!!.

[lorebringer]

Brian,

I have a never ending battle with one of my Cavaliers weight - we got her down to 9.5kg (she needs to be about 9kg) and were thrilled and then the last time we visited the the she was back up to 10.5kg . Her diet is good (she's currently on Origen) and she is taken for a decent walk daily, plus playing at home with the others. Her treat intake is low (maybe 1/2 dog biscuits per day) and she gets no human food (except for some Shredded Wheat and the odd carrot).

I don't want to put her into "light" food because she is doing so well on the food she is on (she is prone to bouts of colitis and dodgy anal glands) but it may be the only option becuase I can't reduce her food intake much more or she will be eating nothing but air! I have started to mix Hills Science Plan Light in with the Origen, just to bulk it out without adding too many calories, which is working well so far. I am, however, always a bit warey about "light" foods becuase they can be filled with extra stuff the bulk them out. We previously had her on Arden Grange Light and it worked very well - the wieght came off nice and slowly and she was very happy on it. Am thinking of going back to it becuase it worked so well. Plus Arden Grange is a great food so she is getting all she needs without the expanding waistline!

I don't want to give her frozen peas etc. becuase she's not the biggest fan of veg (apart from carrot and cabbage!) and will leave it in the bowl, and it's just a waste (which drives me mad!).

Good luck on your search and if you find anything that works for you please let us know

[Dublin]

Brian, have you concidered feeding a raw diet? Looking at what you're feeding now you could substitute the kibble you give now with raw chicken - maybe wings or drumsticks & you could still give then the raw veggies too. Some of the kibbles have fat added as a flavouring to make it more attractive to the dogs.

With the chicken they will spend a bit longer eating their dinner (well Sparky does!) so might feel a bit fuller too? With the bone-in-chicken they wouldnt really need the extra fibre as the bone would help keep poops harder if thats a problem (noticed you give the shredded wheat - figured that you give that for extra fibre?).

[sins]

Hi Brian,
I used to feed Arden Grange and if you give the recommended amount they shouldn't put on weight.You need to look at other sources of calories.Any oil will be high in fat so I'd cut the salmon oil.
The vegetables should be fine to feed as snacks or treats.
When you feed Arden grange you don't need to give supplements.They have prebiotic supplements and glucosamine already added so you can cut the yougurt if you wish.It's a food that produces small compact stools so that's good too.
It's also a food which is dairy free,gluten free and soya free so you're not getting the hypoallergenic benefits if you're feeding dairy and wheat products alongside the kibble.
If you want to maintain the benefit of salmon,you can get arden grange salmon instead of the rice and lamb variety and they have salmon crunchy bites as treats which are good for their teeth.
So summing it all up,
I would suggest to stick with the Arden grange,get AG salmon crunchy bites or kibble and chop and change between lamb and rice kibble.
Feed frozen veg as before and keep up the exercise.
Eliminate all the other foods.
Sins

[harleyfarley]

Arden Grange is one of the best Brian, esp the light version, but being a high quality food you can get away with feeding less, harley has 30 grams twice a day and thats it. Yes he is hungry all the time, and its very hard. He will even attempt pigs ears, and really hard chews which he used to ignore. Last weigh in he was 11.6 kg, thats over 2 kilos hes lost. They did say when they reach their optimum weight they wont lose any more weight no matter how little you feed. He does look good though, di

[Karlin]

1 Tablespoon hard biscuit, 4 to 6 ozs of meat, 1 Vitamin tablet.

Products used: Biscuit =Pedigree Petfoods Lamb n Veg/Royal Canin CKCS.

Meat = Pedigree Petfoods "Ceasar" or fresh uncooked beef mince.

Interesting -- that's such a tiny amount of dry food -- keep in mind vets would be concerned about maintaining teeth -- that's virtually all mushy soft food so dogs would need raw bones or dental chews or something supplementary. I feed almost the exact reverse most days -- mostly a crunchy hard food with some meat as an addition. I'd opt for the mince but like to at lightly cook it myself rather than give raw.

For folks feeding raw meat, don't forget dishes all should be boil-washed every day after each meal and observe kitchen hygiene.

For people who like giving an evening biscuit or biscuit treats, James Wellbeloved do an excellent quality one. Fish4dogs hard fish skin rolls are great too -- lots of alternatives to the supermarket brands which are mostly filler (some dogs may have allergy issues with the grains in these too).

[Karlin]

BTW this is simply a breed that will stuff its face constantly and really has little to do with being hungry. All my dogs would eat themselves ill if given the chance -- owners absolutely cannot judge what to feed on the basis of the dog seeming hungry. They aren't hungry, they are greedy -- seems to be something genetic as some other breeds, including labs, are like this. Vets say about 6-7 breeds seem to just have this inability to control the need to feed! That's why I'd never free feed a cavalier.

I walk a neighbour's collie regularly and while my dogs are head down searching for food on the ground, Sam the collie has virtually no interest in stuff lying in the street. Same for my partner's GSD and another neighbour's collie (she owned a collie and cavalier and the cavalier would stuff itself silly on anything; the collie was simply not interested in much after it's regular meal and also didn't scavenge off the streets). Cavaliers seem to have no 'fullness' trigger...