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Permalink Reply by Pamela on September 17, 2012 at 1:14pm

HI ,

    Does Lulu get heavy play time beside walking? Like throwing ball and having her get it back to u ?  Maybe that kind of exercise might help lose weight.   The walking  3 times sounds good. Im new so Im learning. If I recall from reading  here , it is  2.5 cups for Corgis a day. I hope that is what it should be ?

Pam

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Permalink Reply by Ludi on September 17, 2012 at 1:37pm

Ace is, as you know, her littermate and honestly I fed him just a half a cup a day of quality kibble (Orijen or Acana) a day, even when he was growing. Then I switched to raw. He was never thin, but he is probably smaller in dimensions than Lulu.

What I found is that as soon as he hit the 13-14 month mark, he started to get fat even when I just LOOKED at him. Previously it was impossible for him to get fat no matter if I ended up giving him close to 400g of raw a day. But now I absolutely must keep him on 200g~ total of raw a day, or else he blows up really quickly. If you don't want to reduce her food more, maybe try to find Lulu a full-body exercise like swimming. I'm not a fan of running since it's just pavement around me and it's awful for dogs to run on it for extended periods of time.

Does Lulu have any dog friends you can meet up with on a regular basis? Ace burns calories like crazy when playing with other canines. They wrestle, chase, and wrestle some more until they all collapse in a tired heap.

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Permalink Reply by John Wolff on September 17, 2012 at 1:46pm

Don't drop weight or increase exercise too fast.  You're in this for the long haul.   Look up the dog weight charts on the net.

A tennis ball chucker or soccer ball or frisbee might go a long way, but add this sort of new activity gradually.

I'd sometimes wondered whether my neighbor's corgi was overweight or simply bigger-boned than Al;  this was answered when I saw him recently -- they'd changed his diet or something, and now he looks and feels just like Al.

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Permalink Reply by Snickmom on September 18, 2012 at 12:57am

Snickers is 22 pounds and I feed her what you are feeding Lulu, with less exercise. Are you measuring the food? You may be feeding her more than you think. Is it possible a family member is sneaking food to her? You don't want any sudden weight changes, so if you reduce her food, only do it a little at a time. There have been lots of discussions on how to tell if your corgi is the right weight; Use the search box at the top. I frequently check my dogs to see if I can feel their ribs and backbone. My vet said Snickers is recovering so well from her knee surgery because she is not a fat corgi, so good for you for working to keep Lulu healthy.

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Permalink Reply by Ping & Lulu on September 18, 2012 at 1:17am

We do measure Lulu's foods carefully with a measuring cup. There are times that I would give her vegs or apples for snacks. I could still feel her ribs but I would need to press harder.

Because I walk Lulu very often, Lulu has very short nails and I have not needed to trim her nails since I brought her home. Once I tried to run with her for 2 weeks, it turned out that her paws were bleeding and her nails broke....So now we decide to invite our neighbor's dogs over for a play date. Maybe by doing that Lulu could burn more calories.

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Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on September 18, 2012 at 1:43am

I think what you are feeding is sounds like a lot for a dog of her ideal size but take a look at the calories per cup of the type of food you feed. Even among the Blue Buffalo brands the calories will vary significantly. Its hard to guess how much your dog will need per day, if you use those typical calorie calculators they make that base the # of calories needed on the resting energy requirements of a typical dog you usually end up being told to feed WAY more than what a corgi needs. For Franklin it says to feed 2 cups of his kibble for a 27 pound dog (which is 2 1/2 pounds less than he is now). I amf eeding 1/2 cup a day with about 1/4 cup green beans/peas. He also gets about an hour a day of off leash walks, fetch, swimming, etc and yet I can't seem to get him from around 30 pounds to the 27 I'd like him to be at.

So to me 1 cup a day plus 1/2 cup of green beans and only exercise being walking seems like a lot of food, especially of a calorie dense food like Blue Buffalo. I'd cut back on the kibble more and be very aware of the treats you are giving. Some great low calorie treats are things like pieces of rice cake or baby carrots.

Also 0.2 pounds in one month could be the difference of did she poop before you weighed her or not, were you applying a bit more pressure to the leash than last time, was it a different scale, etc. So I wouldn't consider it weight loss and would decrease the food a bit more and weigh her again in a few weeks.

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Permalink Reply by Cindi & Twinkie on September 18, 2012 at 8:45am

I wish this was an easy thing to fix.  Twinkie is super-chubby!  I have gone to feeding her exactly like Lulu and not much is happening.  Last year the vet talked me into giving her diet food and feeding her 2 cups a day!  That did not work obviously.  Now everyone is on BB Longevity Healthy Weight and she is getting half as much.  I can tell that at 15 months, Logan too is going to be a fatty.  UGH, I think this is the most frustrating part of owning corgis.  Why must they like their noms so much!

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