overweight corgis
Obesity is a very common problem in corgis. You mention just how hard they will plead to have one more morsel of food. Time to harden your heart just a bit. In rescue I would say that near 60% of the dogs that come in our program are overweight. Most often the problem lies in too much food and not enough exercise. I am typically not a believer is diet foods but changing the ration to be more appropriate for the dog. Many people do reduce the amount of kibble and add green beans. This has worked for many. Make sure that you lose a low sodium or well rinsed product. Many dogs love them. Good luck!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by TexasCorgiMom on
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we also do the green bean diet, it works great! Our kodi was 35 pounds..he is a big boy...most of it seems to be muscle and bone because he is pretty stocky, but i dont want him getting heavier. We feed him 1/4 cup food mixed with 1/4 cup frozen green beans a day, and so far he has lost 2 pounds in a month. His problem isn't pigging out so much as it is he HATES to exercise! He is SO lazy!
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Permalink Reply by Vladimir on
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We rescued a very overweight corgi from a family who didn't take care of him. He was 40 some pounds and had SUCH bad teeth. We gave him rawhides and chew bones that helped clean his teeth. One thing we didn't do was get him on a diet food but we did walk him every morning and every night and went on hikes with him and in a matter of months he lost a lot of weight. Instead of putting him on diet foods, we just decreased his amount of intake. When the time came that he found a permanent home, he was still a bit chunky but nothing like he was. So it is purely lack of exercise which gets 'most' corgis overweight.
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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on
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Our dogs eat raw meat, only about 1/2 cup 2x daily. A local pet food company delivers it frozen to our door in big styro boxes. This started because of allergy/skin problems, which vanished. They get a small amount of kibble to soften the stool, which can get hard on a meat diet (easier to clean up). Keep treats and training rewards SMALL.
Yes, when they're hungry, they will eat ANYTHING.
They need exercise. These are farm dogs.
They may not like being hungry but it's better than a bad back. Plus, the fairies like it when they get a ballistic ride on a fast, lithe corgi.
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Permalink Reply by VolnTitan on
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Also, if you add some warm water to the food and let it "soak up" the water, the food will "rehydrate" thus helping to fill up your pup more.
Our corgi is roughly 33lbs. She is a "bigger" corgi, but not overweight, but she could be. I wouldn't feed "reduced calorie" dog food because they reduce it by adding in fillers with no nutrition. We feed ours Wellness Core Reduced Fat and it is working great at keeping her weight normal.
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Permalink Reply by Linda Moore on
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Wellness is a great food, but remember that dogs digest fat much differently than people.
The ideal diet for a dog is high protein, high fat, and no carbs. Carbs are converted to sugar. That's one reason that diabetics must stay away from carbs. Usually a low fat diet is for dogs with a medical issue, not a weight issue. Wellness Super 5 is a great food and if fed in the correct amounts should not put any weight on the dog.
Linda
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Permalink Reply by Amanda on
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My corgi, Daisy, was nearing the 45 lbs mark I believe. Many factors worked into this. We have one other dog and Daisy would steal food from her bowl, the other dog never put up a fight and rarely ate all her own food. Also my husband and I work retail so it is hard to get out and play with them are much as we should. So recently, not even a week ago we started her on 1/2 cup Fit N' Trim and 1/2 cup frozen green beans (thawed/rinsed in hot water. We also put the other dog on 1/3 cup of each (She is a very small dog, mini weiner dog! ^_^) Now Daisy eats her food only and Roxy eats all her food, and they both get taken out for 40 minute walks.They both have already seemed to slim down. My question is, do any of you have the problem with your corgi looking at you like you are starving them to death? Do you use any sort of vitamins for them? Did you notice a change really quickly in your dogs? Also I plan on switching from Fit N' Trim to a food that is high protein, high fat, low carb along with green beans, does this seem like it would keep her weight from fluxing? We used Fit N' Trim cause the vet said they both needed to loose weight but it did not work for them it seemed. Plus how often do you feed your corgi's? Ours are on a routine of once a day around 5 pm.
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Well, Fit and Trim is not a very good food. You don't need to feed a diet food for your dog to loose weight. Just feed a high quality dog food. I would suggest Core or Instinct or Canidae Grain Free. If you go to the Canidae website you can locate the dealer closest to you. All Corgis are always starving! Always! It's a game that they play. Try baby carrots or pieces of apple for treats. We feed twice a day. There are many people that feed only once, but I believe that can lead to other issues. The stomach keeps producing acids even if there is no food in the stomach. If you are using a high quality food, you should not need to add vitamins. However, a vitamin supplement certainly won't hurt them. If there is an issue with one eating the other's food, feed them in their crates or separate rooms. Weight loss is slow is there is not enough physical activity.
Linda
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Permalink Reply by Kristen on
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My Lizzie and Fergie both act as if they are being starved, but they are not. I feed a hight protein low grain food (canidae)not a diet food. Both girls get a quarter cup with a handful of green beans twice a day. Sometimes I throw a baby carrot on top to slow them down when they eat. It took a while, but Lizzie went from 39 lbs to 29 lbs. Her attitude and energy levels changed for the positive. She always loved her walks, but now she runs and plays the whole time.She is more playful with the other dogs and she has a well defined waistline.Using a good quality food will help your dog feel fuller on less food. Be patient and it will pay off.Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I'm bringing this thread back to the top, because I had a few questions.
Our Corgi is big. By big, I mean oversized. He's almost 14 inches at the shoulder [Yes, he came from a reputable breeder. I've seen his littermate sister pinning in some shows, and his sire had some dogs at Westminster. He just so happened to grow up to be tall. :-) ] So the normal Corgi weights don't quite apply. When he was one he weighed 35 pounds and the vet said he was not overweight. This spring we took him in for a kennel-cough shot and popped him on the scale and he was a chubby (but not fat) 41. I was horrified. My guess is his healthy weight is probably about 37, now that he's fully mature.
Anyway, we cut back his food and he gained another pound. LOL The vet tech seemed puzzled by our level of concern because she said he was really not that overweight, but I explained I did not like the direction the scales were heading in, and Corgis are notorious for becoming obese. So we did some research, and switched him to lamb-and-rice food because it had about 20% fewer calories than a comparable chicken-based food, and I did not like the ingredient list on any of the "low-calorie" foods. We cut him back even more, and now he gets 1/3 cup am and 1/3 cup PM. He does (and always did) get exercise every day. He appears to be losing weight, but we need to get him to the vets to weigh him to be sure. He just blew his coat and of course that makes him look thinner.
Ok, here's my question. The 1/3 cup is such a pitiful amount; I can see my reflection in the bottom of the bowl. So we started adding some pumpkin, and he loves that and his tummy handles it just fine.
However, I am concerned about adding pumpkin every day forever because if its high vitamin contents; I'm afraid he might get an imbalance. So I want to try swapping out pumpkin with green beans. I will need to see if his tummy handles the beans ok. I will also probably alternate with low-fat sugar-free plain yogurt (only about 80 calories a cup, similar to the canned pumpkin, so a couple tablespoons a day would be ok).
Is it ok to mix in the vegetables indefinitely without hurting the dog's vitamin balances? And does anyone else have suggestions for any other low-calorie mix-ins they use to add some bulk to their dogs' skimpy rations? Thanks.
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First, don't be concerned about low fat products for dogs. Dogs do not process fat like humans. Excess weight is usually too much of any kind of food, or too many carbs. No need to buy low fat yogurt. Altermate between cooked green beans, carrots, peas, pumpkin, etc. No potatoes, corn or other what we call starch. As long as you don't feed a steady diet of one thing, like bananas, your dog with be fine. You don't have to worry about
imbalance. There are not enough minerals, etc in vegetables to harm. And don't worry about what the scale says. If your dog has a waist and you can feel his ribs, he's fine.
Linda
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Thank you. I will alternate vegetables every few days, after first feeding him each kind long enough to determine if any cause tummy upsets.
We could always feel his ribs, but he was starting to lose his waist. What happened was that until he was about a year and a half old, he was very busy. If he was awake, he was moving.
Then he matured and adopted a more adult-dog activity level, where he spends much more time lazing around. Because he was still getting the same amount of walk-time and playtime, we didn't really consider his self-selected reduced activity, and kept him on the same ration. He picked up a few extra pounds and his coat was so heavy (we had a frigid winter here) that I didn't notice it immediately.
He was on a cup and a quarter a day, and now he's down to 2/3 cup. He's looking much trimmer, so much so that we may bump him up to a half cup AM and a third cup PM once we get him where we want him. I also am more flexible with his rations now; if he has been doing a lot of training and getting treats, we cut him back even more just for that day. And we also found him some nice three-calorie egg-and-cheese treats that he loves---Charlee Bear treats. The first few times I gave them to him, he looked at me like "Where the heck is the rest of it?" but now he has adjusted.
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Permalink Reply by Marion and Vern on
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Our vet told us that each pound over can feel like 6 to 8 pounds of pressure if they are over weight. So of course we are watching Sami close on the weight, even with her just being a pup. Figure now is a good time to start on that, plus she doesn't seem to be a gobbler. She eats fine, we watch her treats and exercise her with walks and playing. Thanks for some really good information in the posts on this. Will make notes on some to refer to if we ever need them. Good topic!
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