tikeya is getting fat. help

[tikeyas_mom]

tikeya has been getting bulgy around the sides. :(. she is getting over weight, i mean really over weight. what can i do to help her. she eats 2 times a day 1 cup each time. and i take her for a walk 1 every 2 days or when i can :o. I am being honest. She gets no people food at all. I walk her everyday in the summer, fall, and spring. but in the winter it gets too cold.

What can i do for her? i know that obese dogs live shorted lives and they arnt as happy. :(:(.. i dont want that to heppen to my poor gurl..

HELP. it is like 25 below outside, keep that in mind to. i will freeze to death walking a long distance with her. pluse i have no warm clothing *snow pants ect*.

HELP.

[wolf_Q]

How much does she weigh? What kind of food are you feeding her? Maybe you could try switching to a lower calorie food made to help dogs lose weight. It could also be a medical problem, so if you try things and it doesn't help, I would suggest seeing a vet.

[Kater]

If you absolutely cannot exercise her any more than you are then I suggest you cut down on her calories. You need to see the vet about how to best do this. Also continue to keep her off 'people food.'

[shais_mom]

First off take her to the vet to make sure there isn't anything medically wrong with her. She could have a thyroid problem. That is why Keegan is heavy. If Tikeya's thyroid is out of whack no amount of reducing food or exercise will help her lose weight. Then try switching to a lower calorie food, adding some canned pumpkin or green beans to her food. If you add pumpkin, you SUBSTITUTE the pumpkin, like half cup for half cup.

[lv4dogs]

Originally posted by shais_mom
First off take her to the vet to make sure there isn't anything medically wrong with her. She could have a thyroid problem. That is why Keegan is heavy. If Tikeya's thyroid is out of whack no amount of reducing food or exercise will help her lose weight. Then try switching to a lower calorie food, adding some canned pumpkin or green beans to her food. If you add pumpkin, you SUBSTITUTE the pumpkin, like half cup for half cup.

I couldnt agree more. If the vet rules out any medical problems then i would discuss diet with your vet.

Of course more excersize would be nice (I too tend to slack in the winter months)

You can try a lower calorie diet, or maybe just keeping her on the same food but feed her 3 times a day OR just try giving her about a 3/4 cup 2x's a day instead of one cup.
The more times a day the dog eats the better metabolism works.

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
How much does she weigh? What kind of food are you feeding her? Maybe you could try switching to a lower calorie food made to help dogs lose weight. It could also be a medical problem, so if you try things and it doesn't help, I would suggest seeing a vet.

she is on a dog food called Subit, made in Alberta BC, it has no fillers.

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
I couldnt agree more. If the vet rules out any medical problems then i would discuss diet with your vet.

Of course more excersize would be nice (I too tend to slack in the winter months)

You can try a lower calorie diet, or maybe just keeping her on the same food but feed her 3 times a day OR just try giving her about a 3/4 cup 2x's a day instead of one cup.
The more times a day the dog eats the better metabolism works.

I took her to the vet and asked what i can do about her weight problem, they said that she just needs more excersize. they didnt even check or mention a thyroid problem...

[Kfamr]

Originally posted by tikeyas_mom
they didnt even check or mention a thyroid problem...

Maybe you should mention it to them then.

[wolf_Q]

If you took your dog to the vet for the sole purpose of finding out if there's a medical problem behind her weight gain and they didn't even check anything...I'd be finding a new vet.

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by wolf_Q
If you took your dog to the vet for the sole purpose of finding out if there's a medical problem behind her weight gain and they didn't even check anything...I'd be finding a new vet.

i went there and i asked then (while she was getting vachinated) if there was somthing that i should do for her weight gain, and they said that i need to walk her more.

[trayi52]

Sometimes you have to knock, knock on the vets head to make them listen. My vet just hates to see me even coming, he can't stand it when I carry one in and I already know what is wrong. He has been trying to prove me wrong for years. LOL. He does tests and then says yeah........your.....right...., so a lot of times you have to make them work for their money.

Willie

[tikeyas_mom]

i have been to three different vets. vetcetera, and two local animal care hospitals. I have tikeya on as low as food amount as if possible for her, she freaks out whining and crying if she only gets half a cup a day, i also think that is kinda crule.. ugh..

I know i wouldent only want half a cup of food a day.lol

Anyways what is a thyroid anyways?

[binka_nugget]

Can't answer your thryoid question but you could try out what staci said. I find it a bit harsh to cut down from the 1.25 cup of food Kai gets so I sometimes only give him 3/4 cup of kibble and some greenbeans to make him feel more satisfied. As long as he isn't always hungry, I wouldn't find it cruel. And (like someone said) you can try feeding the same amount (or less) but in 3 smaller meals. It'll make her metabolism go up and should help her lose a few pounds too. I try to feed them 3 small meals instead of 2 when I can.

[lv4dogs]

How old is tikeya? If she is under a few years of age it is *probably* not related to a thyroid problem. Has she been gaining weight fairly suddenly or is it barely noticable over a long period of time? How long have you been feeding her 2 cups a day? Is she on a low calorie food? If so how long has she been on it for?

Here is a site w/ thyroid info http://thyroid.about.com/cs/catsdogspets/

I find it odd that you went to multiple vets & care hospitals (which are the same things here in NY just a different name) anyways none had mentioned anything about thyroid even when you mentioned a weight problem (& obviousally they could see the weight problem) I would be seeking for yet another vet. I could understand that if you had only been to one then I would mention something to them, sometimes they may have a bad day or whatever & just forget or overlook a thyroid prob.) but to have 5 different ones do it thats really strange. UNLESS & she is very young maybe under 2 or 3 years of age AND is getting only 2 cups a day (including treats & what not).




I have tikeya on as low as food amount as if possible for her, she freaks out whining and crying if she only gets half a cup a day, i also think that is kinda crule.. ugh..

I have a 13 year old 70lb shep/husky mix & he gets only 3/4 cup of nutro natural choice for large breeds. He has had a weight problem since he turned about 3-4 & especially back then has always gotten plenty of excersize & good food. I had him checked multiple times for thryoid problems even the vets could not believe that it turned out a-ok. So we tested for other things & could find nothing.
Anyways guess just he has a really really low metabolism. I have had him on this amount for years (even tried other foods) but it kinda took his belly a little while to shrink so he would not mind being fed less but I did it gradually. And for the first year I did this I fed him 3 times a day It made him think he was actually being fed more than normal.

If all else fails feed less actual food & add a little filler (like canned pumpkin or green beans)

[wolfsoul]

Originally posted by tikeyas_mom

Anyways what is a thyroid anyways?
The thyroid is the gland in your throat that releases hormones to control your metabolism. Just last year I lost six pounds in one week, so I had to get my blood checked for HYPERthyroidism (thyroid produces too many hormones). HYPOthyroidism is when the thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones, and so your dog will metabolise food at a slow rate and become overweight. Golden retrievers and Irish setters are the worst for this.

A blood test shouldn't be too expensive. :)

Also, I don't think she's fat. :eek:

[tikeyas_mom]

How old is tikeya? If she is under a few years of age it is *probably* not related to a thyroid problem. Has she been gaining weight fairly suddenly or is it barely noticable over a long period of time? How long have you been feeding her 2 cups a day? Is she on a low calorie food? If so how long has she been on it for?

Tikeya is 5 years old. It has been sorta sudden, I started noicing she was chubby when Baby came.
We have been feeding her two cups a day for around 3 months.
her food is called Sumit dog food made in alberta, maybe you could look it up?? she has been on the food for about a week not even we just switched to it.

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by wolfsoul
The thyroid is the gland in your throat that releases hormones to control your metabolism. Just last year I lost six pounds in one week, so I had to get my blood checked for HYPERthyroidism (thyroid produces too many hormones). HYPOthyroidism is when the thyroid doesn't produce enough hormones, and so your dog will metabolise food at a slow rate and become overweight. Golden retrievers and Irish setters are the worst for this.

A blood test shouldn't be too expensive. :)

Also, I don't think she's fat. :eek:

i would like to get her tested, money is not an issue. And i think she does look fat, so does the vets and my mom and dad.

[dragondawg]

they didnt even check or mention a thyroid problem...

In the absence of any other signs of hypothyroidism there is no need to run expensive diagnostic tests.

My prior dog a Golden/Lab mix did quite well on 2.25 cups of dog food. If I wanted her to gain weight (e.g. from 74 lbs to 80 lbs in the winter) all I had to do was give her 2.5-2.75 cups of dog food. When Spring came 2-2.25 cups took the weight off.

If the picture in your posts is the dog in question then 2 cups may indeed be too much. You should try going to a dog food blend with less protein/fat content as a first try. Then start to cut back on the amount from 2 cups to 1.75 cups. After a week or two, cut back again to 1.5 cups and see what the effect is on the weight. Adjust until you obtain and maintain the ideal weight. If the dog still doesn't lose weight and becomes lethargic then that's the time to revisit the Vet.

As someone else mentioned if the poor thing acts starved - you can try fillers in the diet, such as raw carrots. String beans have been reported to cause diarrhea in some dogs, so be careful about overloading on fiber.

As for exercise, I found it made little difference. With my dog she regularly would swim continuously 20 minutes a day on the weekends, and get half mile walks every day. No effect on the weight. But change the food ration and the weight response was immediate.

[tikeyas_mom]

Originally posted by dragondawg
In the absence of any other signs of hypothyroidism there is no need to run expensive diagnostic tests.

My prior dog a Golden/Lab mix did quite well on 2.25 cups of dog food. If I wanted her to gain weight (e.g. from 74 lbs to 80 lbs in the winter) all I had to do was give her 2.5-2.75 cups of dog food. When Spring came 2-2.25 cups took the weight off.

If the picture in your posts is the dog in question then 2 cups may indeed be too much. You should try going to a dog food blend with less protein/fat content as a first try. Then start to cut back on the amount from 2 cups to 1.75 cups. After a week or two, cut back again to 1.5 cups and see what the effect is on the weight. Adjust until you obtain and maintain the ideal weight. If the dog still doesn't lose weight and becomes lethargic then that's the time to revisit the Vet.

As someone else mentioned if the poor thing acts starved - you can try fillers in the diet, such as raw carrots. String beans have been reported to cause diarrhea in some dogs, so be careful about overloading on fiber.

As for exercise, I found it made little difference. With my dog she regularly would swim continuously 20 minutes a day on the weekends, and get half mile walks every day. No effect on the weight. But change the food ration and the weight response was immediate.

i just talked to my mom *the person who normally feeds all the dogs, tikeya included*, and she is on ONE cup a day. half a cup in the morning, and half a cup at night. my dogs refuse to eat veggies.

[shais_mom]

Originally posted by lv4dogs
How old is tikeya?

Keegan was only a year and a half of age when she was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, just this summer.