Overweight Cairn

[Annette]

Hello Everyone,

I have an eight year old cairn that is a little overweight, 25.9 lbs. to be exact. I only give her a cup of food a day (pro vita organic) and some treats throughout the day. Have any of you ever had to put your cairn on a diet?? If so, what did you do? I know I have to cut out the biscuits, any other suggestions on treats.

Thank you for you help.

[Idaho Cairns]

Annette, some Cairns just run large--one of our girls was just weighed yesterday and she came in at 27lbs on the nose--her little companion is 13.5 lbs--half her size. We feed them both from the same bowls the same amount each day. Before I changed the feeding habits I think I would have her checked by a vet to make sure she is overweight. Our big girl has always been large--from the day we got her, is in terrific physical shape, and never tires, and seems in proportion to her height and length.

If it is a concern you could cut out the treats but if your dog is like ours, that is going to be really difficult--might want to think about something smaller than biscuits--just bite sized treats of some sort.

[jimnconnie]

How many calories in that cup? I'm trying to get a couple of pounds off Bailey (he will be 7 yrs. this summer & weighs 18#). I've swithched to a reduced-fat formula kibble(Wellness Core brand), and he only gets 1/4 cup twice a day (total 175 calories). I add chopped apple & baby carrots to his breakfast, and chopped green beans & a spoonful of canned pumpkin to his dinner, to help fill him up. He gets 2 treats daily (4.5 calories each), and a baby carrot when we eat our own dinner. He may get 1 bully stick & 1 greenie per week. This seems like a pretty low-calorie diet to me, so I think what he really needs is more exercise. We walk 45 minutes, about 1.5 miles, daily, and we should probably do that twice a day instead of only once. The problem there, is getting me to do it!

Jim

[Hawkeye]

First off, has the vet checked her out? Is she healthy, but just overweight? If she just needs to lose some weight, you may consider decreasing the amount of food you give during meals, I feed mine 1/3 of a cup twice a day and then treats. Also, try giving fruits and vegetables as treats, mine love raw carrots,green beans and apples. Is your dog getting enough exercise? Take her for walks.

I know you will get a lot of helpful advice from this forum plus you can do a search on feeding and diets. Keep us posted on how you do. Good Luck!

[bradl]

Some great advice above. Every dog is different. Assuming a dog is otherwise healthy, getting them to the correct weight should be as simple as feeding them less. How much may vary during the year - the weather, their activity level, and so on. A cup sounds like quite a bit to me, but again - it doesn't really matter.

Good for you to address this. Carrying excess weight is literally damaging to the dog. (See a recently linked article about arthritis, for just one example). Food is not love.

I'm a believer in keeping treats to molecular size. The dogs seem to work for them just as hard and appreciate them just as much. For a Cairn sized dog, a treat the size of a pea or a single kibble is plenty big enough. And they all add up!

[Zekey's Mom]

a treat the size of a pea...

Yikes! That makes the Pupperoni sticks I've been giving Zekey about a week's worth of treats all at once! I'll have to gradually cut back on the size. And add apples and carrots.

[kintra]

When Zach was on a diet, I cut him back to 1/4 cup of kibble twice a day and it was always supplemented with canned green beans or canned pumpkin. He hated the green beans but LOVES canned pumpkin. Instead of just letting him out in the yard for exercise, we started taking him on longer, more frequent walks.

And along with what Brad said, we also give very small treats. When I'm doing obedience work, I'll take a portion of the dog's supper and use that for treats during training. Or we make our own treats and cut them into very small pieces.

[lindasue]

Pegi's treats are Little Jacs - small dog training treats. They are about the size of a pea and available at Petco. She loves them and I'm sure the calorie count is very low...main ingredient is chicken liver.

[Hagar]

Renny is a big boy for a Cairn at 23 pounds at his last checkup. That is actually down a pound from a year ago. The vet said his weight is just fine and he is not overweight.

I have employed "free feeding" since he was a puppy. Food is always available and changed daily. He usually eats a small amount in the morning and his "big meal" of the day is in the late evening when we get back from our last walk of the day. Otherwise he will stop at the food dish for a bite or two at different times during the day.

As others have mentioned, I would suggest a visit to the vet before putting her on a diet.

[SparkyJonesMom]

I feed my pups a little less than a cup a day. Probably in between 3/4 cup and 1 cup. They just burn through the calories, so it's not a big deal if they eat a little more. I do know some people that substituted some of their dog's food each day with green beans, and it really helped their dog lose the weight it needed to lose. But ask your vet first, because I really have no idea how healthy that is.

[BeeBladen]

Gretsch gets the Lil Jacs too! They're the perfect size, good ingredients, cheap, and he LOVES them! They have a strong smell with the chicken liver, so I think that helps them want it more. : ) He values those over even the big rawhides and cookies. He is also a larger cairn at 21 lbs. at 9 months. (he's about the size of a small beagle now!)

[Annette]

Thank you all for the great advice. Sophie was to the vet and he is the one that told us that Sophie needs to loose weight. And now she has a bladder infection, my poor little girl.

[DawnandTuk-tuk]

Aw, bladder infections are no fun. Our Great Dane, Honey, had one once. Poor thing. Then we when we got the meds I had to feel bad for our checking account! Because she was 120 lbs the antibiotics were dosed the same as for a person, but of course she wasn't covered by any insurance plan. It cleared up quickly though so hopefully your little one will be on the mend soon.

My secret to keeping Tuk-tuk's weight down was to keep my mom from feeding him from the table! And my grandma. And my ex. And my friend's kids. Hmmm, I see a pattern here.