Greta is gaiing weight

[howsefrau32]

My dog is getting fat! OK, we used to walk her twice a day, but it is so dang hot right now, I know, crappy excuse, but she is getting one good walk a day and she is in the yard, which is a decent size yard and she runs around off and on all day, chasing squirrels and lizards. We weighed her at Pet Smart today, she was 90 pounds! Now, she is a bigger doberman than some, she is a very big, solid female, who the vet said should be about 80-85. She is only eating 3 1/2 cups of EVO divided up 2 x a day. She occasionally gets a small amount of kibble in her kong but usually I put carrots in there. She is not snacking, I have not even been giving her treats that aren'ts carrots of apple slices. She is due for her well check up next month, and I always have the more detailed bloodwork done on her. I'm wondering if she could have a thyroid issue? There seems to be no reason for this kind of weight gain, other than she is getting a little lazier and not running as much as she usually did. She is still active but has slowed down some in the past few months. She was 2 in March. I know the vet is not going to be happy about her weight gain at all, and we aren't either. Steve thinks maybe the EVO is too rich for her, maybe she should be on the lower calorie one, but I don't know much about the low calorie dog foods, whether they are good or not. Does this sound like it could be a thyroid issue? I guess I'll find out next month.

[ALDOGMOM]

I would cut her food back...I cut Bogey's back in the summer because he is not able to take the long walks like he does when the weather is cooler...He is about 85 pounds and he is able to maintain that weight on about 2.5 cups a day...Some days he will ask for more food and he gets another 1/2 cup but it doesn't happen very often..

I would reduce her food by about 25 per cent...If she still seems hungry - fill her up with some green beans...
it worked for Birdie..

[Baroooo]

My swissies only get 2 1/2 cups of Evo per day - and they have a bit more mass than she does (if a lower energy level!). She won't starve if you do need to cut her back a bit right now. The dreaded green beans work wonders - Kim is right.

[howsefrau32]

Wow, and here I was thinking I was starving her on 3 1/2 cups a day! I have to tell you, she is not crazy about the green beans, she will pick them out, but she does love carrots....or I wouldn't go that far as to say she loves them, but she will eat them, so maybe I should try that. I think it's not getting the exercise because it is so dang hot by the time I'm able to get home to take her for a walk. I'm dreaded our next vet visit, my vet is a doberman owner and she already got onto me because she was at 85 pounds, now she is over that. Thanks for the advice, I will cut back her food a little bit and add the veggies.

[ALDOGMOM]

Put a small amount of the low sodium beef broth on the green beans and mix it in with her kibble...

[howsefrau32]

Well, we did the green beans tonight with her dinner. I gave her a little less kibble than I had been giving her. At first she picked all the kibble out of the green beans and then stared at them for several minutes before giving in and eating them. I will have to try a bit of the beef broth and see how that goes, good idea. She is just getting lazier, I hate to say it. I mean, we are in Florida, and it is so hot, I can't blame her for not wanting to run around quite as much. I hope this works by her visit coming up soon, and that she has shed a few pounds by then, or we are going to get quite the lecture from the vet.

[HovawartMom]

That's a lot of EVO!.On that food,you can take it down,to 2 1/2cups as it's pretty rich!.