Green Beans
For all of you that use green beans in your Corgi's diet I need some guidelines. I assume most of you do it to maintain a healthy weight without starving your dog. (I know, don't ask them, they will always tell you they are starving.)
Poopdeck gets carrots as snacks and I have cut him back to less than 3/4 cup twice a day. We are working on the exercise end of things. So how many green beans do you feed per meal? Cooked or raw?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on
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Does he need to lose weight? 3/4 cup twice a day seems like more than he would need. Mine get about 1/2 cup twice a day and they are at great weights. If I notice one getting a bit porky, I cut back the kibble and toss in a small handful of green beans, mine like them frozen. I use the frozen ones since they do not have any salt added like the canned. Green beans also work for snacks.
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Permalink Reply by Linda on
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Oh heavens, I couldn't tell you an exact amount of green beans I put in their dishes. I used frozen at first but now I use canned. Our market brand has them with no sodium and that's what I use. When we got Max he weighted 54 lbs...very fat corgi. I use Blue Buffalo healthy weight dry...1/3 cup twice a day. Dinner is when they get the green beans along with canned chicken which is 98% fat free or tuna in water. I guess 2 heaping soup spoons full...need a shrugging shoulders thingie here. Max is a healthy 35lbs...he is a LARGE corgi and my vet is thrilled. Katie is 28 lbs and still has her girlish figure. In the mornings I mix in either non-fat cottage cheese or non-fat yogurt. Carrots are their snacks with a regular size biscuits at bedtime..makes them look forward to bedtime. And they let me know if I am staying up later than my normal time too.
Max (11) has been on this diet for 6 years and Katie (9) for 5. Both are healthy and happy.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Haha, mine let me know if it's bedtime too, for the same reason yours do. They get very annoyed if their bedtime snack is late!
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The amount of kibble you are feeding sounds like a bit much. One of my corgis gets 1/2 cup twice a day (one cup total) and the other gets 1/3 cup twice a day (2/3 cup total). They do get some treats as well.
When we do green beans, I use frozen ones. In summer I feed straight from the bag, still frozen. I winter I microwave them with a tablespoon of water (I'll do a few days worth at a time and keep them in the fridge). I'd say they only get maybe a couple tablespoons. Be careful how much you give; they have low calories but they do have calories. You don't want to feed so many green beans that you could have given another tablespoon of food instead. They are about 30 calories/cup.
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Beth is right....the actual dog food needs to be the major part of the meal. The other stuff is to help fill thier tummies without adding a lot of extra calories.
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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on
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I give Izzy 1/3 cup of low fat kibble twice a day and with dinner she gets about 1/2 cup frozen (thawed) green beans. She is a very mellow corgi so her only real exercise two walks a day and the occasional FRAP when my husband comes home from work. I use treats rarely but my husband has been known to get carried away. This keeps her weight very good at 24 to 25 lbs. but most importantly she looks good and has the right look physically.
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Permalink Reply by Denis J. on
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Wally gets 1/2 cups twice a day, with the occasional healthy treats, brocolies and cheeze pieces.
He walks quite a bit after work with me and plays with others at the dog park.
He's 12 months and at about 32lbs I figure.
I haven't tried green beans but I want to attempt dehydrading Sweet Potatoes for treats.
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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on
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I understand that the use of green beans may be helpful when cutting down on the amount of food he had previously been served and which was too much for his needs, so he has become fat. What I would like to point out (this applies to humans as well) is that the stomach is an organ which, over time, can shrink or expand to some degree, depending on the quantity ingested. It is not only about nutrients. If your dog is fat on 3/4 cups of food twice a day and you were to cut back the amount, his stomach would feel deprived (hungry) and green beans could fill that gap. Ultimately though, you want the stomach to adjust to the proper amount of food the dog needs by slightly shrinking. if you keep adding the green beans, he'll always feel hungry without that added bulk. Unless you have an obese dog, my preference is to simply diminish the amount of kibble slightly, while cutting out other added food, and giving the dog's stomach the chance to adjust to the lesser bulk. In a couple of weeks, I would decrease by a little bit more, and so on. Slow is the key. When the dog has reached the wanted weight, adjust upward by a small amount to stop the weight loss. This will allow you to easily give a bit more or less as his needs change with the seasons or activity levels.
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Permalink Reply by Sam, Gregg & Poopdeck on
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It was the breeder that told us to only feed 3/4 cup 2x a day. We have cut Poopdeck back to 1/2 cup and upped his exercise for a couple of months now. He lost some but still need to shed a few more LBs. Friends of ours, also Corgi owners, met a woman in their neighborhood who shows Corgis. She told them about supplementing green beans; they are doing it and both their kids look great. I didn't want to cut his kibble back any more, it seems like a very small as it is.
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I fully agree with you. He needs the nutrients in his kibble. If he has lost weight already, you are on the right path and succeeding. I would just stay the course and not decrease further.
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Permalink Reply by Shanna Lien on
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We feed Boo about a 1/2 cup of green beans only at dinner time. Not for weight loss but for added fiber to help her express her own anal glands and avoid extra vet visits. We also use the low sodium canned kind.
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@Shanna, interesting approach that makes sense. How long have you been doing this? I may try this with one of my dogs (not a Corgi) who has had that problem.
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