weight questions
My corgi Franklin has always been a super skinny little guy. Recently I took him to the vet and we weighed him in and he gained 5 pounds since his last visit!! For Franklin that is a good thing, BUT now he is at an ideal weight and I want to make sure he doesn't gain another 5 pounds! The only thing I can think of that has changed is switching his protein source in his food (from Wilderness Duck to Wilderness Salmon), and he now gets a few more treats (i.e. one stuffed Kong or a rawhide). Upon further investigation I found that the Salmon formula has 415 k/cals per cup where Duck had 410 k/cals per cup (he has been getting 2 cups a day for his entire life and has not gained weight until the last 3 months or so). So my question is this.....does 5 k/cals per cup really make that big of a difference? Also, in your best guess, what would 1 rawhide be equivalent to either calorie-wise or cup-wise? I've been searching and can't find any answers. I want to reduce his food on the days he gets a rawhide or a Kong but I don't know how much to reduce it. When I stuff a Kong he gets 1/5 of a Jumbone (which I know is pretty much pure sugar, that's why I sawed them into 5ths) and some peanut butter around the edges, occasionally he will get a cooked lasagna noodle instead of peanut butter. He also gets AT LEAST 45 min of offleash runtime a day.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Rachael & Waffle on
-
5 kcal is just 5 Calories. Like, 5 people calories. No, it doesn't make a difference, really. How old is he? It's possible he's still growing. Waffle gained 2 pounds since August and he's almost 2, but they were 2 very needed pounds. I'm not sure of the calorie count in Rawhides or Kongs. Generally, you should just worry about how he looks, not his exact weight. If you can barely feel ribs when you lightly press on his side, he's good. If you think he's getting fat, cut back on his food a bit. No need to crunch numbers.
-
Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
-
Every dog's metabolism is different, besides their gender, physical health and activity level, their age also play an important factor.
When my dogs were around your Franklin's age, they had 2 cups for the longest time and did very well, they are 7 now, Mocha eats 1 cup and Vienna eats 3/4 cup, she gains weight easily yet she is the active one with longer stamina.
2 years ago I had 2 foster corgi brothers and they were 10 + lbs overweight, as you can see in the photo comparison, besides the physcial difference from my pack, they also snored REAL loud, due to the excess fat around their neck collapse around the trachea, when you don't sleep well, you don't recuperate as well after exercise = slow weight loss.
I'll say get a human step on scale, carry them and weight yourself weekly for 1 month, if Franklin continue to gain at a rapid rate, cut down the treats, peanut butter and other dense calorie food. Franklin looks like a petite frame corgi, he looks awesome from your pics :)
-
Permalink Reply by Beth on
-
How old is Franklin? Usually until they are one and a half or two they can use more calories without gaining weight (just like human adolescents and twenty-somethings) and then they start to gain. Jack used to get 1.5 or 1.25 cups a day and now gets a cup. He also used to get a LOT more treats.
Read the peanut butter label and you'll be stunned by the calories in just a couple tablespoons.
I would follow Sam's advice and weigh him regularly at this point. I would cut his food by about 25% on days he gets a stuffed Kong. Can't find any info on the rawhides....
-
-
By the way, I have calculated the calories in the food down into portions (quarter-cup, etc) and try to find the calories of extra food they get (yogurt or eggs or whatever) and reduce the amount of food by the same amount of calories as the add-in.
However, mine both gained weight when I started adding salmon or sardines to their food a couple times a week. Could be a coincidence, but not all the calories in kibble are necessarily digested (since dogs don't necessarily utilize grains the same way we do) and it could be that the higher protein in the fish packs on some pounds. Not really sure, and I have no science to back that up. :)
-
Permalink Reply by justine moeller on
-
Franklin looks really healthy. Nice a sleek. The same thing happened to Mickey just when he hit two. We actually had reduced his food and he gained weight. Three pounds and I could tell because he was just thicker. He is now on one cup a day plus treats, and raw food twice a week with eggs and marrow sometimes. Two cups is pushing it if he is starting to gain weight so dont be scared to cut back a bit :)
-
Permalink Reply by Melissa and Franklin! on
-
thanks for all the info! Franklin is almost two (next month) so he is definately at that age where is metabolism is going to slow. It was just such a dramatic weight gain over a period of about 3 1/2 months I wanted to make sure it didn't continue. He is (was) always very petite, usually weighing around 24 to 25 pounds, but at that weight all his ribs were easily palpated. Now he still has a waste and you can still feel his ribs a little bit, but he is at 29.6. I was just worried because I couldn't really tell he gained so much!!! I see him every moment of every day so when my family asked if he gained weight I took him in to weigh him and was shocked! I think I will be getting a human scale to keep track of his weight gain. I switched his food to a less dense food (although not by much) and back to duck as the main protein source. He didn't like the salmon formula and ate it grudgingly so when I was near the bottom of the bag I had decided to switch back to duck anyway. He is now on Taste of the Wild Wetlands which is still 100% grain free and he absolutely loves it! It has less calories and duck as the main protein source. Its much cheaper too which I need since I will be adding in a second mouth to feed next month!
Rescue Store
Stay Connected
FDA Recall
Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall
Groups
We support...
Badge
© 2024 Created by Sam Tsang.
Powered by
