She's not fluffy, she's FAT!!

[saje]

My Lab and my terrier mix are on 4Health grain-free (fish based) and are doing really well. They eat twice a day, 1 1/2 cups for the Lab (50-ish lbs) & 1/2 cup for the terrier (25ish lbs) each feeding.

They get a fair amount of exercise though, I do a serious ball-throw session for the Lab at least twice a day and the terrier is missing a front leg so her energy use is higher just getting around, never mind chasing the other dog and wrestling I have horses at home and lots of room for them to explore, even in the fenced back yard.

The Lab does have the classic Lab appetite, so she also gets 1/2 can of green beans and lots of water in her meals (I buy the no-salt beans). Both dogs also get carrots as treats, and frozen marrow bones to work on if I’m going to be away or busy for a long time.

[witherbee]

As an owner of an obese corgi myself, I have to say it is SO frustrating! My girl is 10 now and very active, but prone to yeast infections (paws and underarms) and crystals in her urine. I have her in Hills Prescription SO and it has completely controlled the crystals, but until recently did not have a lower-calorie option. My girl gets less than a cup a day with a spooneful of wet food to help her eat her joint supplement pill (and currently her infection antibiotics and Benedryl).

I worry so much about her weight. She gained it about 4 years ago when we had a houseguest for the winter. He was an insomniac and a smoker, and would sit on the steps and feed her Hostess powdered sugar Donettes. Of course I did not KNOW this, and actually had her thyroid checked at the vets due to the rapid weight gain. When I eventually found out, she had already gained 10 pounds and weighs in at 43 pounds. I have been totally unsucessful in getting more than 3 pounds off of her. Problem is, she is a typical corgi and is always STARVING! She is a professional mooch and scavenger. She east grain that the horses drop, cat food that the ferals drop (although I have put a stop to that by moving their food station), and of course horse poop and cat poop.

I do agree that a “better” dog food is good to use if you can - I just read the back and stay away from the 1st ingredient as a by product, bone-meal or corn etc. I look for meat as the 1st ingredient. Currently I have my other dogs on the grain-free Taste of the Wild and they eat it up - others the did not like as much (Iams, Canidae, Evo, Chicken Soup for the Dog Lovers Soul).

Good luck - I completely understand our human desire to include some scraps or treats and am guilty of it myself, but corgis are a dog that need a military control over their food (which is another reason besides the barking that I would not get another although I love my girl so much). My girldid eat green beans with her food, but just did not lose weight. My new plan one she sounds up is to leash walk her rather than just play frisbee with her. Hoping that helps because she is getting to the age where she is going to have problems.

[godiva13]

I would try a grain free dog food. You said you go to Costco? There grain free (Nature’s Domain) is rated as a good food and is very resonably priced. i give it to my dogs

[HorsefaceDee]

I would cut the canned food. My dogs dog tubby from it. I also know a very overweight beagle that is fed on a lot of canned food. it also makes their poop really gross…

I replaced the canned food with a protein like cottage cheese or boiled chicken. My dogs are scotties and get 2-3 hours of exercise everyday. They get about 1/2 cup of Merrick grain free kibble and a protein twice a day and are in great shape. I also feed a bit of probiotic powder a few times a week along with carrots and spinach.

[wendy]

good canned food is no more likely to make a dog fat than any other food, as long as you feed the appropriate amount- and it doesn’t make their poop “gross”.
Emphasis on “good” canned foods.

the problem with feeding dry kibble to fat-prone dogs is a) most kibble has a fairly substantial carbohydrate content, which promotes fat gain; and b) it’s very concentrated, so the dog eats a little teeny tiny amount and is ravenous all the time. Plus the owner sees how little the dog is eating, and is more likely to give the dog snacks etc. in a subconscious effort to compensate.

I’d avoid feeding “concentrates” to a fat-prone dog, much as one avoids feeding concentrates to fat-prone horses. Go for low-carb wet foods that have a higher volume per calorie than dry kibble.
I’d suggest feeding a very low carbohydrate raw diet, such as Stella and Chewy, or a low-carbohydrate canned diet, such as one of the 95% meat canned diets (Merrick’ s 96% Tripe canned diet is quite low in kcal per ounce, for example), or if you can find it, Freshpet Vital is a semi-moist very low carbohydrate diet that is only 214 kcal/ cup.

[threedogpack]

OP, I also a commercial kibble, and I do use canned. Canned food is much more dense in calories and my oldest Corgi ballooned on it. I began to measure out her food each meal. She has dropped 2# in 3 months. She now gets a heaping 1/2 c of dry and a measured teaspoon of canned. She moves better with that 2# off but she tells me she’s .starving. and is always looking for food. Take a look at the calorie count of various kibbles and choose one that is available in your area. As you can see from the link below, there is a big difference in a lot of the kibbles. Most are calories per 8oz, dry.
http://www.petobesityprevention.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Dog-Food-Calorie-Counts-December-2011-Dry-Dog.pdf

[threedogpack]

one more thing to keep in mind, when you reduce the amount of food, you are also reducing the minerals and vitamins. So you might want to add a general vitamin once a day, like Pet Tabs or something.

[Anne_FS]

I know slamming Hill’s Science Diet is a popular pastime, but I know a couple people that have had great success with it in getting obese dogs back on track. “It’s filler!” people scream, but the woman I talked to said that’s what her dog needed, since in reducing calories and increasing exercise made the poor dog frantic for food and it started gnawing on everything. Once she switched to Hill’s the dog’s craving for food subsided and he lost weight in a mentally healthy as well as physically healthy way.

As for kibble, there are some brands I wouldn’t feed, but some dogs do great on them. I have a friend who runs a very busy boarding kennel and lets people bring their own food. She has a lot of repeat business for very senior citizen dogs who are active, happy, and healthy and did it all on Old Roy or other brands. So blasting kibble is just silly.

[Aggie4Bar]

I think human studies have shown that weight gain is almost completely dependent on the calorie intake. Exercise helps but is not an antidote to over-eating. That being said, my 55# cattle-type mutt eats less than your corgi and maintains a stout (not overweight) frame.

I agree with previous posters about switching to a no-grain food. As it is a richer source of nutrition, you will want to change slowly to avoid diarrhea. A bigger factor there though is not over-feeding. I’ve yet to see bag recommendations that were accurate for any dog I’ve owned. TurboMutt pushes 100# and has never eaten more than about 2/3 of the bag recommendation for her weight regardless of which grain-free food I’ve used. (I rotate with several.) And I do have to watch her weight.

Table scraps are really no big deal as long as you continue to follow portion control for your dogs. My dogs have entire meals of leftovers but never more than they’d eat in kibble, and they do not get both. I divvy up what they get in the same manner I’d prep a plate for a small child (small portions!), though they still don’t get anything with grain in it. Again however, if your dog’s digestive system is not yet accustomed to eating “real” food, you’ll want to hold off until you’ve established a feeding system and gotten them where they need to be weight and health-wise. Too many variables complicates that process.

[Laurierace]

I can’t say that I have ever seen a corgi that wasn’t at least a little bit overweight. My sheltie is dealing with a spoon of canned food, a spoon of dry food and three spoons of green beans per meal right now. He is not a happy camper.

[threedogpack]

@wendy;7227474

good canned food is no more likely to make a dog fat than any other food, as long as you feed the appropriate amount

I disagree with this. Canned food is far more calorie dense than the dry.

example: Purina One dry/chicken and rice: 383 ca per 8oz cup
Purnia One chopped ground: 445 ca per 13 oz can.

[Aggie4Bar]

[QUOTE=threedogpack;7228819]
I disagree with this. Canned food is far more calorie dense than the dry.

example: Purina One dry/chicken and rice: 383 ca per 8oz cup
Purnia One chopped ground: 445 ca per 13 oz can.[/QUOTE]

383 cal/8oz = 48 cal/oz
445 cal/13oz = 34 cal/oz

Moist foods are generally less calorie dense on account of the water content. That being said, I’ve always felt canned food was a waste of $ unless there was a specific need for soft diet. That’s ultimately a personal/owner preference thing though.

[Hermein]

I give meat/wet food just because they like it.

Anyhow, The last time I bought dog food, I got the PetSmart store brand of canned because they didn’t have the Pedigree I usually buy. AND, thanks to you guys’ advice, I read the label. I fed Lamb with Vegetables, which lists (following “water for processing”) chicken, lamb, and meat by-products, then wheat flour & wheat gluten, then all the preservatives, vitamins, and trace minerals. It
contains 831 KCAL per kg, and the size cans I buy provide 624 grams of product. The minimum crude protein is 8%.

That doesn’t seem awful to me. Is it awful?

[threedogpack]

[QUOTE=Hermein;7229416]
That doesn’t seem awful to me. Is it awful?[/QUOTE]

no, it’s not awful. But I think 1/2 can 2x a day is a bit much. I’d cut back the canned food.

[Calamber]

[QUOTE=Hermein;7229416]
I give meat/wet food just because they like it.

Anyhow, The last time I bought dog food, I got the PetSmart store brand of canned because they didn’t have the Pedigree I usually buy. AND, thanks to you guys’ advice, I read the label. I fed Lamb with Vegetables, which lists (following “water for processing”) chicken, lamb, and meat by-products, then wheat flour & wheat gluten, then all the preservatives, vitamins, and trace minerals. It
contains 831 KCAL per kg, and the size cans I buy provide 624 grams of product. The minimum crude protein is 8%.

That doesn’t seem awful to me. Is it awful?[/QUOTE]

I think it is awful, an awful lot of preservatives, wheat gluten and likely junk meat meal, ie scraps and not whole meat. I am having this problem with my Jack Russell and I feed Acana Pacific Fish, not found at PetsMart. Lab is doing great but Jack is not. Looking for an alternative for him so thanks for starting this OP.

[Guin]

Tribble corgi used to be fat. She has since lost weight but that’s because of more exercise since we got our new big dog.

What kept her from blowing up like a balloon: BARELY 1/3 cup of Wellness Core Reduced Fat morning and night, plus 1/4 cup of mixed green beans or peas, brown rice, and a little bit of hamburger or chicken. If you’re feeding your dog a full cup of dry food AND two-thirds of a can of canned food, she/he’s getting WAY too many calories.

[Horsegal984]

Actually, Wendy, feeding a dry kibble DOES NOT increase the risk of bloat. But we got a chuckle at work tonight from your ‘statistic’ that it kills 1/3 of dogs.

Here’s some slightly more accurate info for anyone concerned.
In the bloated stomach, gas and/or food stretches the stomach many times its normal size, causing tremendous abdominal pain. For reasons we do not fully understand, this grossly distended stomach tends to rotate, thus twisting off not only its own blood supply but the only exit routes for the gas inside. Not only is this condition extremely painful but it is also rapidly life-threatening. A dog with a bloated, twisted stomach (more scientifically called gastric dilatation and volvulus) will die in pain in a matter of hours unless drastic steps are taken.

What are the Risk Factors for Developing Bloat?

Classically, this condition affects dog breeds that are said to be deep chested, meaning the length of their chest from backbone to sternum is relatively long while the chest width from right to left is narrow. Examples of deep chested breeds would be the Great Dane, Greyhound, and the setter breeds. Still, any dog can bloat, even dachshunds and Chihuahuas.

Dogs weighing more than 99 pounds have an approximate 20% risk of bloat.

Classically, before bloating the dog had eaten a large meal and exercised heavily shortly thereafter. Still, we usually do not know why a given dog bloats on an individual basis. No specific diet or dietary ingredient has been proven to be associated with bloat. Some factors found to increase and decrease the risk of bloat are listed below.

Factors Increasing the Risk of Bloat

Feeding only one meal a day
Having closely related family members with a history of bloat
Eating rapidly
Being thin or underweight
Moistening dry foods (particularly if citric acid is listed as a preservative)
Feeding from an elevated bowl
Restricting water before and after meals
Feeding a dry diet with animal fat listed in the first four ingredients
Fearful or anxious temperament
History of aggression towards people or other dogs
Male dogs are more likely to bloat than females
Older dogs (7 - 12 years) were the highest risk group
Factors Decreasing the Risk of Bloat

Inclusion of canned dog food in the diet
Inclusion of table scraps in the diet
Happy or easy-going temperament
Feeding a dry food containing a calcium-rich meat meal (such as meat/lamb meal, fish meal, chicken by-product meal, meat meal, or bone meal) listed in the first four ingredients of the ingredient list.
Eating two or more meals per day
Contrary to popular belief, cereal ingredients such as soy, wheat or corn in the first four ingredients of the ingredient list does not increase the risk of bloat.

In a study done by the Purdue University Research Group, headed by Dr. Lawrence T. Glickman, the Great Dane was the number one breed at risk for bloat, the St. Bernard was the #2 breed at risk, and the Weimaraner was the #3 breed at risk.

A study by Ward, Patonek, and Glickman reviewed the benefit of prophylactic surgery for bloat. Prophylactic surgery amounts to performing the gastropexy surgery (see below) in a healthy dog, usually in conjunction with spay or neuter. The lifetime risk of death from bloat was calculated, along with estimated treatment for bloat, versus cost of prophylactic gastropexy. Prophylactic gastropexy was found to make sense for at-risk breeds, especially the Great Dane, which is at highest risk for bloat.

[LoriO]

I just went through having to get some weight off my senior corgi so I know the challenge

Do you have a Tractor Supply near you? Their 4Health brand of food is decent quality for the price and got good review of that pet food review site. I’ve been using that for my dogs and they are doing great on it. We cut chubby boy back to 1/2 cup of dry food morning and evening and nothing else (asides a vitamin mix) and he has lost the weight that needed to go.

I would definately cut out the canned food.

[foundationmare]

My vet also endorsed the ts 4 health line. I have switched the porker cocker to blue buffalo, also available at ts. He needs to shed 15 pounds! He is my demented mother’s reason for living, consequently lacks exercise because she doesn’t want away from her side. I have discovered that the options and decisions for pet food is at least as confusing as it is for humans. It really should be much simpler.

[Hermein]

Ms Corgi is starting to get her groove back. The first longish walk we took really wore her out. Now, only four walks later, she’s bossing the neighbor’s cows around–she went under the fence after them at a dead run, but I had to spoil her fun by calling her back. :lol:

She hasn’t lost any noticible weight yet, but she’s getting lots less to eat. I picked up some canned Nature’s Domain (Costco) Turkey and Pea Stew today, and fed her 7 oz of that along with her green beans for her dinner. This morning she got a third of a dog biscuit.

I think she got about 200 calories today.