UPDATE - Sophie's Weight Loss Program
Here is an update on Sophie's weight reduction program. As of this morning, Saturday October 9, 2010 she weighed in at 31.0. She is down .7 of a pound and she looks better all the time. I continue with the same program - lite dog food, frozen green beans finely chopped and a spoonful of canned pumpkin. She gets a few light treats during the day and a plain organic brown rice cake for her bedtime snack. I am so pleased with her progress! Adding photo taken yesterday and last night.
FIRST POST SEPT 25, 2009
Sophie is 2 years old. In Feb 2010 I found she is overweight and she has hip dysplasia. In February she weighed 35 pounds, I put her on a doggie diet and in two months she had gained another 1.5 pound - was up to 36.5 pounds. AHHHH! It is so important I get her weight down to help with her hips. The Vet told me
that 1 extra pound on a dog is equal to 5 pounds on a person.
It has taken me months of trial and error. I find every bite counts! I have had to try 3 different brands of food before I found one that worked. She now weighs 32 lbs (UPDATE - as of Sun 9/26 she weighs 31.7 lbs). She already feels so much better and can once again jump up on the bed and on the couch. Sophie is a long corgi and she may be able to carry a little more weight then the "standard". My goal is to get her to 30 lbs, see how she is doing and go from there.
For Breakfast I have been giving her 3/4C Science Diet Light Small Bites, adding some warm water to soften it, then I add 1/4C finely chopped green beans and recently began adding a spoonful of canned pumpkin (both of these to had bulk and fiber and few calories). I realize 3/4C may sound like a lot of food - but the Science Diet Lite is low in fat and high in fiber and it is designed so the dog can get a bigger portion. She also gets a little cooked egg white (1 TBL) and sometimes a tiny bit of non-fat ground turkey breast meat (1 TBL).
She always wants dinner, so for dinner I give her 1/4C dog food and smaller portions of the other ingredients.
I limit her treats. My dog trainer suggested I give her a rice cake at night for her bedtime treat - she likes them, and I give her one every night. She gets a few low cal dog treats during the day along with her Dasuguin glucosamine chews.
Since I began adding the green beans and pumpkin she has been loosing .1 to .2. This past week she was much more active and lost .3! :)
I bought a new home scale and now weigh her by weighing myself then holding her. It isn't the most accurate I am sure but it is a way to gauge how she is doing.
I would really appreciate any objective suggestions as to how to go about getting the weight off of her. Is this fast enough? Should I make her bite the bullet and not have dinner?
Sophie a few days ago:
Here is her before photo at her highest 36.5
FIRST POST SEPT 25, 2009
Sophie is 2 years old. In Feb 2010 I found she is overweight and she has hip dysplasia. In February she weighed 35 pounds, I put her on a doggie diet and in two months she had gained another 1.5 pound - was up to 36.5 pounds. AHHHH! It is so important I get her weight down to help with her hips. The Vet told me
that 1 extra pound on a dog is equal to 5 pounds on a person.
It has taken me months of trial and error. I find every bite counts! I have had to try 3 different brands of food before I found one that worked. She now weighs 32 lbs (UPDATE - as of Sun 9/26 she weighs 31.7 lbs). She already feels so much better and can once again jump up on the bed and on the couch. Sophie is a long corgi and she may be able to carry a little more weight then the "standard". My goal is to get her to 30 lbs, see how she is doing and go from there.
For Breakfast I have been giving her 3/4C Science Diet Light Small Bites, adding some warm water to soften it, then I add 1/4C finely chopped green beans and recently began adding a spoonful of canned pumpkin (both of these to had bulk and fiber and few calories). I realize 3/4C may sound like a lot of food - but the Science Diet Lite is low in fat and high in fiber and it is designed so the dog can get a bigger portion. She also gets a little cooked egg white (1 TBL) and sometimes a tiny bit of non-fat ground turkey breast meat (1 TBL).
She always wants dinner, so for dinner I give her 1/4C dog food and smaller portions of the other ingredients.
I limit her treats. My dog trainer suggested I give her a rice cake at night for her bedtime treat - she likes them, and I give her one every night. She gets a few low cal dog treats during the day along with her Dasuguin glucosamine chews.
Since I began adding the green beans and pumpkin she has been loosing .1 to .2. This past week she was much more active and lost .3! :)
I bought a new home scale and now weigh her by weighing myself then holding her. It isn't the most accurate I am sure but it is a way to gauge how she is doing.
I would really appreciate any objective suggestions as to how to go about getting the weight off of her. Is this fast enough? Should I make her bite the bullet and not have dinner?
Sophie a few days ago:
Here is her before photo at her highest 36.5
Comment
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Comment by Gromit, Sparkle, and Doug on September 25, 2010 at 3:44pm
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Have you measured Sophie to see if she's dimensionally large than the typical Corgi? If she's "big boned" was we chubby people like to say, then she'll naturally carry a little more weight. Gromit's a big guy over all so I don't expect that he'll ever weigh under 30lbs. Other than that, that second photo above in a very nice photo of Sophie and shows what a beauty she is. I showed it to Gromit and he went "Arrroooooo!" ;-)
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Comment by Carole and Sophie on September 25, 2010 at 2:56pm
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Thank you everyone for your comments - it is so helpful to read what everyone else is feeding their dogs. I have been contemplating cutting back her morning portion of dry food from 3/4C to 1/2C, and continuing her 1/4 at night - both with green beans and a little pumpkin. You are all so right about not falling for the "I'm so hungry face". She acts that way right after she eats.....and all day long. Little Foodie!
My Vet did suggest swimming therapy for Sophie and gave me a pamphlet of a place that does this. I live on an island and it is a ferry ride then a 50 mile drive to get there, which is just to far. I will look into it and see if there is any place in Bellingham, WA that does this. It would be great for her. She loves the water, we go to our beach every day and she swims - but it isn't like therapy swimming.
Just getting the 4.5 pounds off of her has made a world of difference. I can't believe the change in her already!
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Comment by Samantha, Daxter and Seeka! on September 25, 2010 at 2:20pm
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my guy has also been on a couple diets....at his heaviest he was at 31 lbs. and that was around Christmas time last year. He is now at 27lbs, and i would feel better if he lost 1 lb. more. He gets 3/4 cup of kibble/raw daily with added green beans and water so he feels like he's getting more. i have also been having him do "therapy" swimming at my work. i work at a doggie daycare and we have a large saltwater pool. you should look and see if there are any places like that in your area. i love having daxter swim because it's low impact, so it won't hurt their joints (which are oh-so sensitive when they're overweight), it burns as many calories as it would if you took them on a two mile jog (that's swimming for 20 minutes non-stop), and they look pretty darn cute in their little life vests. lol. if she likes swimming (or even if she doesn't) it might be something to look into.
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Comment by Stephanie Donsteph on September 25, 2010 at 1:36pm
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It is interesting how variable doggy metabolism is. Mikey gets 3/4 science-diet adult small bites in am and 3/4 same at night. That is it. He is 2 yo and gets 1-2 short walks and plays some fetch and that is it daily. His is low key in the house. He stays at 28lbs and the vet is happy.
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Comment by Bev Levy on September 25, 2010 at 12:48pm
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She is so pretty! I feed mine 1/3 cup of a good quality food twice a day with a 1/2 cup of green beans at dinner and very few tiny treats during the day. They get a glucosimine treat at bed time. Sparty's weight stays great and occasionally Izzy needs a little less because she tends to put weight on. You can increase the green beans if she seems hungry. I have to say mine are not any more starving now then they were when I fed them more. Do not fall for the starving corgi routine. Keeping them light especially in your dog's case will extend the quality and length of life!
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Comment by Alison Prasavath on September 25, 2010 at 12:47pm
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Noodles is 5, so when I read the amount of food you are giving Sophie, I thought that was a lot (but your dog is 2 and mine is 5). Noodles has weight problems, so he gets 1/2 cup of Low Fat dry food (I use Diamond Light Low Fat lamb and rice formula) in the morning for breakfast and then 1/4 cup of dry food mixed with either green beans or peas for dinner. He gets 1 piece of jerky for a treat before we leave for work in the moring and then 2 small bones while we eat dinner. He also gets one baby carrot a day because too many of those don't do well with his tummy. He has now been on this "diet" for 2 years and has dropped 16 pounds. He goes jogging twice a day and I can tell that he has a bit more energy. His vet is pleased with how much weight he has lost and I'm hoping he can drop a bit more. He is a big boy, but I would love to get him down to 35 pounds (the last time I checked, he was at 39). We go in for his normal check up in January, so I'll find out if he has lost any more weight at that time. Best of luck to you and Sophie because it is sure hard seeing those eyes pleading at you for more food. They aren't nicknamed "floor explorer" for nothing. (smile)
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Comment by Melissa and Franklin! on September 25, 2010 at 12:42pm
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you don't want her to drop weight too fast, the vet will have a good suggestion of how many pounds she should loose a month. Also, I know you like he Science Diet but Nutro Natural Choice Lite is the lowest cal dog food you can buy over the counter, it is almosst equivalent to the food your vet carries such as Hills R/D or Purina O/M. It is also part of the natural choice line so they do a little more to provide some higher quality ingredients. They also make treats. You can usually buy this food at feed stores, it may even be cheaper than the science diet. And lots and lots of exercise! I had a big dog who was 160 bc of too much food and a thyroid condition and we were able to trim him back down to 130 with the Nutro and he even still got treats. He had a torn cruciate ligament so exercise wasn't an option for 4 months after surgery so it was pretty much just the food and getting his thyroid under control. GOOD LUCK!!
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