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Permalink Reply by Judi, Dawn, Soffie & Griffyn on February 12, 2009 at 6:02pm

Soffie became a bit overweight. Our vet said the green bean diet was good. But....even tho Soffie would eat it, it didn't seem to work. What we did was switch to Pro Pac low fat.... and we cut out rawhide (which she loved but it's "fattening") we feed her 1/2 cup in the morning and 1/2 cup in the evening. (7:30 am & 5:15pm... we're pretty consistant with those times) Griffyn eats the same. Soffie has lost a little and Griffyn has maintained his weight... which was good anyway.
But..... I think the biggest change we made was to cut out the rawhide and cut back on snacks! Griffyn defininitely benifited from what we learned with Soffie because he grew to and has stayed at his optimum weight! We have now switched to the Pro Pac Adult and both Soffie and Griffyn are doing well with it.

Those big sad eyes looking at you saying "feed me more" can be hard to resist.... and believe me Corgis can lay the guilt trip on you! But be firm and stick with a good feeding schedule. Good luck!!

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Permalink Reply by NoClaws4Alarm on February 12, 2009 at 11:04pm

I've switched my brood back to Blue Buffalo Lamb and rice after being on Canidae for 4 months. Sadie, our eldest, put on a whopping 5 lbs eating a cup a day (half in the morning, half at night) during that 4 months, and it seemed to go right through Rolo, our youngest. Honestly, I'm sorry I ever stopped feeding Blue. Unlike Canidae... nutrients go where they are supposed to. Not as much elimination, either. I'm guessing that it's due to less filler.

Sadie weighed in at the vet a couple weeks ago and is now a svelt 28 lbs after just a month back on Blue. I fed her a quarter cup of kibble and a quarter cup of canned, unsalted greenbeans (slightly heated...she liked that better) in the morning and in the late afternoon. It just MELTED off. Rolo is off his "puppy rations" of a cup in the morning and a cup at night... and is doing the half and half now that his growth spurts have stopped. He's doing a lot better, digestively speaking, too. Not to be gross, but I was tired of picking up less-than-firm stools he got from the Canidae... and I know he wasn't enjoying them much, either :)

I'm a big advocate of greenbeans. Not sure why someone said they were bad for them to have too much...as long as you use them as a supplement so they get ALL the protein they need, I can't see where it would be a problem.

Baby carrots are tasty and nutritious treats, too.

I only use pumpkin when they get constipated or have loose or watery stools. It's an odd product. It seems to fix BOTH conditions... and they LOVE it.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanton on February 13, 2009 at 7:31pm

Hi there. I was the one who said I thought I'd been told they were bad in excess -- I looked through my vet notes, and I think it was the idea that people would cut out too much of their regular dog food and only feed green beans, which is not the idea. As you say, they are supposed to be a supplement, so we're certainly on the same page. That's all -- but for my little hefty cinch sack, it was pointless anyway, since he'd just suck off the dog food clinging to the bean bit, and spit out the bean. So when he got a tad chubby, I had to follow Sam's advice above, and just cut back on the food a tad. And I ended up dreaming about those big brown eyes crying for more! more! more! ;-(

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Permalink Reply by Carlie on February 13, 2009 at 9:46am

We feed Kiwi Innova, twice a day (1/3 c in the am, 1/2 c in the evening). We also mix in a tbsp (or less depending on the amount of activity she gets each day) of FAT FREE PLAIN yogurt. She's had it since she was a baby and we just never stopped. If we notice Kiwi having trouble pooping or the other way around we add about a tsp of pumpkin to her breakfast and dinner, the fiber is great for them, and she loves it. Kiwi is a gobbler, the only thing we do to help her slow down is we make her "wait" before she eats, but she's normally finished within 1-2 minutes (if not less). Hope this helps. The pumpkin and the yogurt are great supplements.

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Permalink Reply by mosesbotbol on February 13, 2009 at 9:49am

I am pretty light on Camber's food so we have room for treats, which is usually just small meat pieces. She does not need much since she is not a "working dog". We go to the Vet next week for her annual and I think we are good with keeping her weight perfect.

No matter how much you feed a dog, they are going to give you the hungry eyes. You have to look beyond that.

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Permalink Reply by Cindy & Jeremy & Caden too! on February 13, 2009 at 2:34pm

Don't forget that different brands of food, have different energy contents. For example, 1 cup of Innova has ~500 calories versus 1 cup of Royal Canin has ~350 calories. Caden had started off on 1 cup of Royal Canin from 2 months to 5 months and then we made switch to Innova and kept it at 1 cup, since the breeder said around 6 months is a good time to increase calories and that's worked for us.

We know he's still growing (~21 lbs at 7 months), so we are now in the habit of weighing him each week and feeling the ribs.

We feed him twice a day and at least one his meals has some sort of frozen veggies to jazz it up. When I put him in his crate in the afternoon and if I want him to eat slower, sometimes I'll mix the kibble with a soft food (like yogurt, peanut butter, canned pumpkin, canned sweet potato, or baby food) and put in the freezer in the morning, so by lunch time, it's a bit frozen, and it'll definitely take him some time to eat it.. or I freeze a kong with baby food. (All of which, btw, gives him bad gas... so they are used sparingly.)

If he is outside of his crate and I want to eat his food slowly and get some exercise.. i put his food in this: Treat Ball

It's so cute to watch him push it around the house. And he doesn't like it on the hardwood floor, so he'll pick it up and take back to the carpet.

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Permalink Reply by Carlie on February 13, 2009 at 2:43pm

Really quickly, your ideas sound great, but just be careful with the baby food, I just read something at our vet the other day that baby food can have onion powder in it, which has the potential to cause some damage to red blood cells (that is of course dependent upon how much/how often and the weight of your dog), I just thought I'd give you a heads up about it. Otherwise, great suggestions!

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Permalink Reply by Cindy & Jeremy & Caden too! on February 13, 2009 at 2:48pm

Thanks...no worries, we are aware..I pride myself on being an excellent label reader. If we can, we usually buy organic.. so if it says it's peas... the only ingredients will be organic peas and water. We noticed that some of the mixture ones... like chicken with rice, or turkey dinner... will have garlic or onion powder in them.

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