Quote Originally Posted by dukedogsmom
I went to the SPCA yesterday and just looked at dogs. There's a sweet chocolate lab that's 5 years old. She's there because of a divorce and whomever had her couldn't keep her in the new apartment. She was being fed Beneful, which I'm sure is part of the problem. I also suspect she got table scraps. I would guess she needs to lose probably 25 pounds or so. my question is, can I accomplish that with proper food from the vet, and exercise? I don't want to take on too much but I hate to see a sweet dog like her there because of her circumstances.

I also found a beautiful shepherd on Petfinder but it was a courtesy listing and I haven't heard back from him yet. I want to do this right and not make another mistake. My next dog will be for keeps.

On a side note, I felt so sorry for two 8 year old black labs there. Owner had them all their lives and gave them up. They lived all thei lives on a front porch. If they were house trained, I'd be tempted to take one and show them what a real home could be. Even if I would risk the hurt of loss soon because of their age. I wanted one of them badly. It was so very sad. I talked to him for a bit and petted his muzzle through the gate. Get tears just thinking about it.
A Lab is a finely tuned eating machine. At some given amount it will maintain the current weight. Add just a little more food and it will gain. Decrease a little and it will lose weight. If I wanted my previous Golden/Yellow Lab to gain I'd feed her 2.25 cups of Propet Maintenance. Intake of 2 cups maintained weight, while an intake of 1.75 cups took weight off. Since she was outside during my working hours I let her gain to 80 lbs during the winter, and then decreased the weight back to a trim 72-75 lbs in the summer. Typically a female lab's best weight is around 65-70. Mine being a mix could carry more without any problems. Increasing her exercise seemed to have no effect on her weight. So find a good quality of food, and then determine the correct amount. Since a Lab will eat just about anything, you can try giving it carrots or the like to fill up the tummy.