OK, I know this may sound strange but I have 3 corgis that may be a little too skinny! I had Sage to the vet recently(low energy) and she checked out fine. Wynn and Bella also seem a bit thin also. You can feel their ribs but I know they should have a thin coat of muscle that you can feel over their ribs.They don't have worms either but do get plenty of exercise! I feed them Taste of the Wild, a grain free food a handful 3 times per day. I am thinking that feeding them a bit more would be good. Any thoughts?

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We will give you a Minnesota welcome Yoda and with that it means plenty to eat :)

Over a year ago, Al faked a sick call.  Lori took him to the vet, who remarked he might be a bit thin.  Typical kickback scheme.

Keep a log of diet changes and weight (or ribcage observations) on your calendar.  Measure the food with some precision.

We decided Al & Gwynn could carry just a bit more weight.

I got a hi-tech scale at a yard sale -- the hanging kind, with hooks -- put dog in heavy-duty shopping bag (the reusable kind!) to weigh.

@ John....kinda sounds like a fish scale to weigh fish you catch out of Lake Superior:) Great idea about logging the diet food changes and maybe I will even measure their chests but then again an inch off in the chest would really thrown it off! I am measuring the food in the am and pm and just the regular handful at lunch will remain the same. Thanks!

I am actually a veterinary technician in training and sadly my two yahoos have the other problem, they eat too much.  But in my program, we are taught by a couple of veterinarians.  I have a nutrition class that they have given us a formula that helps us calculate how much food to actually give our dogs.  The dog food bags are so general that its just not hitting the mark.  The formula requires your dog's weight in kg.  PLEASE REMEMBER!!!!  I know more than a few classmates that have screwed it up.  Also, find out how much kcal per cup is in the dog food.  Some dog foods print it on the bag.  Those that don't you can do a quick Google search and find it. But here it is,

 

Resting Energy Requirement (RER)

RER in kcal/day = 30(body weight in kilograms) + 70

 

Daily Energy Requirement (DER)

 

Ideal (fixed) adult w/ normal activity  1.6

Ideal (intact) adult w/ normal activity  1.8

 

light work 2.0          these are your farm dogs, racing dogs, police dogs, etc.

moderate work 3.0 not house pets.

 

 

EXAMPLE: 

Blue

Weight: 25 kg

Sex: neutered male

Food: 365 kcal/cup

 

Step 1: Calculate RER

30(25)+70=820

Step 2:Multiply RER by DER

820*1.6=1312

Step 3: Divide by number of Kcal/cup

1312/365=3.59

 

So Blue will get about 3 1/2 cups of food a day.

 

Hope this helps.  There is alot more to the calculations depending on if the dog is overweight/uderweight, pregnant, puppy, etc.  If you have concerns, talk to your vet about the body condition score and what that means for your pet and if you email me what your vet says about your pet's BCS, I can talk to you more about nutrition and daily food requirements.  Sadly this is a mess that not many vets walk their clients through without at first you confronting them about.  My dogs have been on the Hill's prescription diet trying to lose weight for two years and the vet I was going to never mentioned anything but sold me the food.  I find out later that its not the best brand for them because both of my dogs are gaining on it, I'm not feeding the right amount to them and their still gaining.  Oh the problems....  But my vet instructors are so much better and I really would like to help you guys with this stuff cause I know you are in the dark with alot of this as much as I was.  If I don't know the answer I will try to find out.  

OMG...if I fed Seanna this much food she'd literally blow up. It says she should get 2 cups a day. She gets 1/4 cup twice daily, and I still can't get her weight down.

And this is why when vets put Corgis on "diets", Corgis continue to get more and more obese.  And also why breeders tell Corgi puppy buyers not to listen to the vet about how MUCH to feed.   :-)

 

My 33 pound male Corgi is in "agility weight."  To be in show weight he'd probably go about 3 pounds heavier; his ribs are readily palpable with no pressure, just normal hand weight.  So I put him at 15 kg.  

 

His food is about 340 cal/cup.   

I counted him as a "pet" and did the 1.6 thingy.   

 

By this formula, he should get 2.5 cups of food a day.  In fact, he gets 1 cup a day, and maybe another 50 calories a day in treats, tops.   When he is in training and gets more treats, I cut  his food back to 3/4 of a cup a day.

 

My girl weighs 28 pounds and she also gets a cup a day, sometimes a bit less.

 

This formula is for an "average" dog and Corgis are not average.  They are ridiculously efficient at processing food.  They are "easy keepers" with low metabolisms.   It may be linked to their dwarfism, and it may be something else altogether, but it's well-documented that Corgis need very little food for their size (which would have appealed to the poor Welsh farmers who developed the breed).  

 

So if you are the sort that does not mind raising issues with your instructors, you might pass on that you post on a Corgi forum and were assured that their formula would make lots and lots of morbidly obese Corgis.  :-)  

Mine are actually on about 1 1/4 cups a day right now based on the instructors. There's alot more to the table calculations that were alot more involved that I thought would confuse so I posted for the average. I didn't know about the corgi metabolism thing, but it makes sense. Its been a source of heartache for some time.  Like I said, I'm still in training and they don't always go into a lot of details, but I will certainly ask about it.  So far they haven't steered me wrong. They just stay busy with the size of our program. Thanks for the info!

 

My girl would be HUGE on 1 1/4 cups a day, even if she had no treats.  (We mostly use Charlie Bears and other 3 cal treats, but they do get one bigger treat--- about 20 cal--- at bedtime).   My boy could probably handle that amount of food since he's skinny now. 

 

My girl goes 27 to 28 pounds and is at the top of the breed standard; slightly over 12 inches high at the shoulder.   She's a retired show dog and her breeder/handler said she normally went that weight, so I know it's a good weight for her.

I've never had experience with a breeder,and books certainly don't cover it.  My boy is very muscular and athletic, like a little arnold puppy.  The girl gets less, she's at 3/4.  Honestly I keep trying to do the right thing by them.  Huxley loves to exercise and run and work out all the time.  But Shay had cruciate ligament surgery and so its very hard for her to exercise any way even though she wants to.  Her hips start dipping and she cant walk much farther than a block or two.  She has hip displasia and floating knees.....(rescue, but don't tell her that). So walking off the weight is almost impossible for her.  Any recommendations?

LOL I agree. They need to redo this for Corgi's! It says I should feed Franklin about 2 cups a day, I am currently feeding about 3/4 per day! Hmmmm, now to figure out a corgi only calculation....

 

as for helping your pup get weight off, best thing to do would be to decrease kibble and substitute part of her portion with green beans or peas. That way they still get the same amount of food but less calories per meal. I put about a week's worth of frozen green beans and peas in a blender with a bit of low sodium/low fat chicken broth, or some cooked ground beef with the grease drained off (just to give the green beans more flavor) and I fill Frank's Kong with it every morning. He LOOOOOOVES it, in his case I only feed him that so that he will eat his ground flax seed (I mix it in the blended mush each morning). I've been doing this for over a month now and even though he is getting an extra 1/8 cup of "food" each morning, he has actually lost weight. I had originally cut back his kibble by an 1/8 cup when I added the other mixture, but after he lost 4 pounds I went "whooops!" and added that kibble back in.

Mine are starving all the time but sadly their waist lines tell a different story. They want to use your post as a way to get more food but I will hold strong...
I ended up getting them a food that fills them up more ( it has more quality crude protein) but I feed them about the same or alittle less than I was.  I add an apple slice in as a treat and a little pumpkin as well to help with the fullness without the calories.

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