[HarryDresden]

I have Newfoundlands, and one of them has gotten quite fat. Her name is Breezy, and she's an awesome brown Newfie. We got her as a rescue when she was 2 years old and recently spayed. She gradually put on weight until now she needs to drop about 20 pounds. She's currently 140 pounds, and I'd like to see her around 120 pounds. My boys are all at their proper weight, ranging from 130 pounds to 150 pounds.

Feeding details - we used to feed our dogs Nature's Domain from Costco, but about 3 months ago we switched to raw feeding. The response from our dogs has been outstanding, which was a relief. My wife and I had discussed the possibility of feeding raw for a couple years, but were a little nervous about it. The guides I found said to feed at about 2-3% of the dog's ideal body weight, and to adjust as needed. We started everyone at 2%, since Newfies aren't tremendously energetic dogs, and kept a close eye on their weight. This amount seems to be ideal for my boys, as their weight remained about the same, and their energy level actually got a little higher. We've been feeding Breezy less than the boys in an attempt to trim her down. The boys get about 3 pounds per day, and Breezy gets about 2.4 pounds. She hasn't put on any more weight, but has only lost maybe 1-2 pounds. I'm not in any rush to trim her down, but I'd like to set up a schedule to get her weight under control in the next 6-12 months.

For exercise, she does a lot of wrestling with the boys and us, and takes walks indoors (it's hot where I live). She's only 4 years old, but I want her at a good weight for when she gets older. Any advice on food portions or ways to get the battle of the bulge under control would be appreciated.

 

[BostonBullMama]

Hey there!

I can relate to your struggle with weight, but I can also say that if you're doing it right - it won't take 6-12 months for her to drop back down, and can actually be dangerous to her health to lose too much at once.

How are meals broken up in your household?
Is she fed once a day, twice a day?
How much per meal?

I would break her meals up to be 3 times a day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. Dinner being the smallest portion and breakfast - the largest. So if she is getting 2.5 pounds per day, I would see to it that she gets 1.0 in the morning, 1.0 lunch, .5 dinner.

I would also increase exercise.
I know this can be difficult with the weather being warm - I'm in Ontario and it's been quite hot this summer for us too, my bully boy doesn't do well in the heat either. We take 45 minute walks in the morning when it's still cool out, and again in the evening. If it's been cooler and there's a nice breeze - I may even sneak off to an off-leash park to really let him run since we used to jog daily (I'm now pregnant and cannot continue that specific form of exercise). I've found that increasing exercise even just a little bit, can make all the difference.

Give it a few months, and you should begin to see a drop in the scale. If not, cut back her lunch to .5 and monitor her weight to make sure there's no sudden drop in her weight.

It takes time, and a lot of effort, and I wouldn't recommend dropping her food below 2lbs/day as she is a big dog with big nutritional needs - it's of dire importance that these needs are met. But you can continue to increase exercise SLOWLY because it could be a simple case of - she's just not getting enough.

Good luck!!


We started our weightloss journey in March 2014, and to compare the photo's from then to photo's now - it's unreal.

http://www.dogforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=156866&stc=1&d=1438816258

http://www.dogforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=156874&stc=1&d=1438816488