Need some advice on slimming Birdie down

[hugapitbull]

Trouble is on a home cooked reducing diet. When her mobility became a serious issue, we were instructed to get the weight off NOW.

I substitute ground turkey for the beef, Trouble's allergic and sometimes mix it up with mackerel or canned chicken. I'm taking her for a weigh in and I expect a total of 10 - 12 pounds.

Here is the diet:
Canine Reducing Diet

* 1/4 lb ground round or other lean beef
* 1/2 cup cottage cheese (uncreamed)
* 2 cups drained canned carrots
* 2 cups drained canned green beans
* 2 teaspoons dicalcium phosphate (health food store or substitute bone meal)
* Balanced supplement which fulfills the canine MDR for all vitamins and trace minerals.

Cook beef in skillet until lightly browned; pour off fat and cool. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Keep covered in the refrigerator. Yield: 1 3/4 lb.

Feeding Guideline:

* 5 lb dog – 1/3 lb food daily
* 10 lb dog – 2/3 lb food daily
* 20 lb dog – 1 lb food daily
* 40 lb dog – 1 3/4 lb food daily
* 60 lb dog – 2 1/2 lb food daily
* 80 lb dog – 3 lb food daily
* 100 lb dog – 3 2/3 lb food daily

Snacking and scavenging should be forbidden during the reducing period.

[BullyLady]

For the feeding guide on that, you would feed according to what you want them to weigh, right?

[hugapitbull]

For the feeding guide on that, you would feed according to what you want them to weigh, right?

Yes, you would feed according to what you want them to weigh. I mixed once a day and fed Trouble 1/2 each meal. She would then get a green bean or carrot snack if she acted hungry - sometimes with a tablespoon of cottage cheese.

[Hoyden]

UPDATE: After long and seriously tortuous debates with Mark about feeding RAW, I have pulled Birdie off of all kibble and canned dog food and have been feeding her RAW. He was afraid I was going to end up killing the Gremlin was bad bacteria. (That damn kid IS a biological weapon.)

To transition her, I started with boiled rice mixing in french cut green beans and shredded carrots into the rice & adding that to chicken or beef that was cooked. (Birdie will pick out the green beans and carrots and throw them on the floor or leave them in our shoes if they are not shredded.)

I had bought a good amount of chicken legs & wings, but since the bones were too small, I had to improvise. I boiled them all, removed the meat from the bones and mixed that into the rice at a ratio of 50/50. We finished up 12+ days of chicken & rice and transitioned to raw chicken quarters.

The butcher holds out 4.5 - 5.5 lb. birds and cuts them into quarters for me. Knowing that we are feeding this meat to the dog, he also gives me extras like odd ribs from when the cut them up & meats that aren't up to their quality standard for humans but are just fine for dogs. They tend to sell to a higher end clientele that are picky, so there are always some goodies in Birdie's bundle.



She is getting between 1lb and 1.25lbs. of raw meat per day at dinner time. She gets some stupidly expensive gluten & corn free dog bones made with ground up liver etc for breakfast, one bone that is 2" x 4" long for breakfast. If we are eating eggs that day, she gets one scrambled with no milk or cheese added. (She won't eat them raw, not matter what.)

I'm considering boiling eggs and feeding her two a day in place of the biscuit for breakfast. She HAS to have breakfast or her doggie world will come to an end, so she thinks. She will nag, pester and go raid the cupboards or fridge if she doesn't get her breakfast.

So she has FINALLY started to lose some weight, but I am worried because it seems like it's too fast to me. I cut her food intake before and increased her exercise, but she only lost a little bit. Now? She's lost about 2 - 2.5lbs. in the last 3 - 3.5 weeks with a DECREASE in daily exercise. (I hurt my left knee, so I don't have a good leg to stand on.) Is that okay? Am I feeding her enough?

[Patch O' Pits]

Breaking the amount of food up into 4 meals instead of two also will help to slim her down. Just like in humans smaller more frequent meals helps.

[hugapitbull]

(Birdie will pick out the green beans and carrots and throw them on the floor or leave them in our shoes if they are not shredded.)

So sorry, still laughing Trouble LOVED her green beans and carrots.

[Hoyden]

Breaking the amount of food up into 4 meals instead of two also will help to slim her down. Just like in humans smaller more frequent meals helps.

She is slimming down fine now that she is eating raw, I am just worried I am not feeding her enough.

[Hoyden]

(Birdie will pick out the green beans and carrots and throw them on the floor or leave them in our shoes if they are not shredded.)

So sorry, still laughing Trouble LOVED her green beans and carrots.

Birdie is a brat sometimes. We thought it was funny until we stuck a foot into a shoe and had squished vegetables stuck to our socks.

[mnp13]

If her energy is normal and muscle tone is fine then she's fine. Don't sweat it.

[iluvk9]

Well, speaking of chubbas....you all know Truman must lose weight (Vet's orders.)

And not being a cook of any sort, I am using the "Let's not feed him so much kibble, and give so many treats, and give in when he looks at he refrigerator" method.

Shanna's recipe was too much for me. I chose not to do raw. I was feeding 3 times a day, but apparently, I wasn't making the portions small enough. He just looks so BIG AND HUNGRY getting such little portions.

So.....I added string beans. Not a lot, just a cup. He got diarrehea like you wouldn't believe. There are no other variables that were changed, and since he is leash walked because of his knee acting up, I know he didn't get into anything outside. I have him on rice and chicken until this passes.

[plebayo]

The thing about going to raw or even a canned food diet is that you're cutting out all of the grain fillers and carbs. The weight essentially is going to fall off because you're not giving your dog a bunch of filler crap.

I can attest to feeding a canned diet. My cat has lost 3lbs since last year eating strictly canned. He was 12.5# [and a little hefty], now he's about 9.44# and looks really good.

Well, speaking of chubbas....you all know Truman must lose weight (Vet's orders.)

And not being a cook of any sort, I am using the "Let's not feed him so much kibble, and give so many treats, and give in when he looks at he refrigerator" method.

Shanna's recipe was too much for me. I chose not to do raw. I was feeding 3 times a day, but apparently, I wasn't making the portions small enough. He just looks so BIG AND HUNGRY getting such little portions.

So.....I added string beans. Not a lot, just a cup. He got diarrehea like you wouldn't believe. There are no other variables that were changed, and since he is leash walked because of his knee acting up, I know he didn't get into anything outside. I have him on rice and chicken until this passes.

I know you might feel bad but it is in his best interest to lose weight. Also if you can feed a really high quality kibble you should know that even though you're feeding him less - the quality of ingredients per cup is sufficient for him. That's pretty wild about the green bean diarrhea, but he could be sensitive to them. My cat is allergic to peas .

[iluvk9]

Thanks ~ He does get a high quality dry. Plus his Nupro supplement.

[plebayo]

Thanks ~ He does get a high quality dry. Plus his Nupro supplement.

Then you're not starving him, just giving him Super concentrated food in a small quantity :p

[iluvk9]

Thanks ~ He does get a high quality dry. Plus his Nupro supplement.

Then you're not starving him, just giving him Super concentrated food in a small quantity :p

You have my phone number, so why don't YOU call him at discuss this "smaller quantity" with him.

[plebayo]

Thanks ~ He does get a high quality dry. Plus his Nupro supplement.

Then you're not starving him, just giving him Super concentrated food in a small quantity :p

You have my phone number, so why don't YOU call him at discuss this "smaller quantity" with him.

You just have to look away! My dogs would eat themselves until they died... I should take a picture of LiLo's stomach pushed all the way into her chest when she ate 5lbs of dog food in one sitting.

You need to sit down with Truman and tell him, if he were in the wild he would be lucky to get one small meal per day, if that. He's lucky he at least gets three kibble meals There are starving dogs in china for goodness sakes!

[TheRedQueen]

Tell Truman that my dogs get a fasting day some weeks...he should know how good he has it. I tell them "well, you didn't catch anything today, you don't eat".

[amalie79]

If I remember correctly, a 1-2% per week weight loss is perfectly safe, and Birdie's recent loss falls in that range (assuming my math skills haven't abandoned me)...

Also, those charts always seem really high to me-- remember, Waltham is the company that provides the "science" behind a ton of the crappier commercial brands, so...I take it with a grain of salt. I tend to use the feeding guidelines from Nature's Variety's website because River maintained her weight really well on that food using those guidelines; it had her, when she was around 60lbs, eating just under 1000 calories. But then she was on crate rest, and we got Robin so everyone got more treats that I didn't compensate for . She's now closer to 70lbs and eating between 800 and 1000 calories (because she's still not particularly active) plus some treats. Robin eats almost exactly the same amount, but doesn't seem capable of gaining a pound over 40. She's younger and bouncier, I guess.

[airwalk]

If it makes you feel any better, we have embarked on the nightly round of

Scooter - says oh yummy green beans, yippee, yahooo I don't mind losing weight if I get green beans and

Doogie - says...do I look like a vegetarian to you? If you insist on putting those things in my food you will find them squashed all over the house and you will step on them, I promise you...I don't care if I need to watch my weight.

[iluvk9]

Tell Truman that my dogs get a fasting day some weeks...he should know how good he has it. I tell them "well, you didn't catch anything today, you don't eat".

I am afaid my Pit Bull would eat me at night as I slept and share the bones with Truman.