Fat dog

izzy

I have a problem with my dog. He's a minature yorky and is very over weight. We've tried everything with him but he just can't seem to lose weight and when we take him for walks he can only go so far before he all but colapses. He's only nine and we all love him and wouldn't want him to die for such a stupid reason as being to fat. Is there anything anyone can think of that might help. And don't say feed him less cause that don't work.

seamus

As far as I know, there is dietary dog food you can get. Talk to your Vet.

Animals are exactly like humans. And there is only one sure way to lose weight:

1. Eat a balanced, proportional diet.
2. Exercise.

Although your dog may fall over after a walk, if you take him out every day, for a minimum half an hour, you'll see him get fitter and happier, and you'll be able to increase the length of the walks. It'll also do you some good too

Two killers that we always found (my dog is still fatish, but nowhere near what she used to be) -
Feeding from the table. It may seem small, but if everyone gives the dog a tiny bit, 3 meals a day, it adds up a lot.
And inconsistent feeding. My dog has this way of seeming really pathetic, and licking the bottom of an empty bowl. More often than not, someone would fill her bowl in the morning, and then she'd get a topup sometime in the evening by someone who didn't know she'd been fed already.
Fill your dog's bowl at the same time every day. After 2 weeks, he'll get used to it.

izzy

My mum dotes on all our animals and none of the others are getting fat so I don't think she see a problem with what she does with him. It's hard to make her see that he need to lose weight, she has the theory that he's just big boned. Poor little guy.

dudara

read the thread on feeding labradors. A lot of it carries over to smaller dogs when scaled down,

The key things are, I think, dogs should only be fed once a day, with mixture of nuts, presoaked in water and some meat. I wouldn't know what quantities to recommend for a small dog, but they should be on the side of the food bags.

Plenty of exercise as well, but that won;t really work until he loses some weight. Small dogs can have enough complications just due to their size without having to deal with being overweight as well

Falkorre

Switch to IAMS balanced food, and give him NOTHING else.
Tell your mom that all she is doing is shortening his life by years, cold hard fact, she thinks she doting on him an its all very cute etc, in truth shes killing him, dogs are not built for cooked seasoned human food.

B

Kalina

Look at the packageing and avoid nuts with very high protein content. And keep up the walks.

ravenhead

Originally posted by izzy
My mum dotes on all our animals and none of the others are getting fat so I don't think she see a problem with what she does with him. It's hard to make her see that he need to lose weight, she has the theory that he's just big boned. Poor little guy.

I've had Yorkie's all my life - they have a tendancy to put on weight at times - alot of it has to do with over breading.
The last yorkie that I had (before TAZ at the moment) had the exact same problem - the VET put him on Pedigree Advance Adult & nothing else. Unfortunatley that damage had been doen at that stage & he suffered kidney failure.

It would be a good idea to have a diet set out by your VET but while youre there get him to check heart/Lungs/Kidneys etc just to make sure that there isn't any damage done - Yorkie's are hardy little dogs but it doesn't take much to make them ill.

Best of Luck..

J:)