What's this about green beans... and pumpkin?

[Roobyrocks]

Ok, I've tried really really hard to condense this and keep it brief, but it's still a bit verbose... sorry!! :(

Lexie, a tweenie, weighs 16.5 lbs and needs to lose some weight, 2 - 3 lbs (she's pretty thick around the middle), but she's SO obsessed with food I'm wondering what the best approach is. She's a real chow hound who LOVES food and never seems to get enough.

We feed both girls FRR (Flint River Ranch) dry kibble:
Lexie gets 1/2 cup about 7:30 AM, another 1/2 cup about 5:00 PM. They were getting 1/2 Snausage each in the morning til they ran out a couple of weeks ago, now they've switched to 1/2 FRR Jubilee Wafer.
Rooby gets approx. 1/3 cup in the morning, and another 1/3 cup at 5:00 if she finished the morning portion (many days she doesn't). From day one we've kept them on a pretty strict schedule, feeding them as I describe above, with a few extra snacks here & there but not on a regular basis.

I suspect Lexie's 1/2 cup twice a day should be downsized, but I'm wondering if there's a healthy, less fattening filler I could add... Should she be on some type of weight control food since she tends to put on more lbs than Rooby? Any input from those of you who have "been there" would be most welcome!!

Our little Chowhound :angel:

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jan/20031316281165542136176.jpg

[doxunzX3]

Oh poor baby she's so cute! From what I have heard the beans and pumpkin are a good filler for keeping the weight down. If you cut back a little on the food intake and a little extra walking tossing the ball whatever. It should help. My dogs like veggies as treats so it is helpfull. She looks pretty good from the photo. But I understand the concern.
Good Luck for both of you. It is hard to cut them back. Begging comes so easy to doxies!:D

[Meemoo]

fruit are all good to give. Green beans are a good filler, have lots of vitamins. Get the ones with NO SALT. Pumpkin is also good but just PLAIN pumpkin, not pie mix. You could also add most fruits and veggies, NO ONIONS, but celery, lettuce, apples, oranges, broccoli, and the list goes on. If you do feed veggies make sure that they are either cooked or you juice them if you want the pupper to get the nutritional value from them. You can give raw, like baby carrots but that is more for a filler and not for the vitamins.

Good luck! It is best to keep their weight down for back problems

[Roobyrocks]

Great, thanks for the info. I think I'll start by cutting back a little on Lexie's 1/2 cup portions and add some green beans. Rooby & Lexie both love apples, oranges, bananas, cucumber, lima beans, and the list goes on...
Occasionally I buy a few jars of baby food (sweet potato, mixed vegetables, green beans) and mix a spoonful with their food. I wonder what's a better choice? Have any of you fed baby food as apposed to buying canned or frozen veggies?

Thanks again for the feedback. I'll report back on our progess.

[LisaH]

We've had great success with my mother's overweight dachsie, feeding her less kibbles and adding green beans. This is a dog who's used to muffins, bacon, Cool Whip, you name it...and she LOVES the green beans!

LisaH, Annie, and Molly

[Cindi]

Girls put on weight and maintain so easily????? It just isn't fair! I would say 1 cup is probably too much for her at her metabolism unfortunately. Once her weight is down maybe 3/4 is probably going to be her maintenance amount but her losing amount is probably going to be less. Going on human weight loss programs remember that sugar converts to calories very easily and fruit converts to sugars. Green beans and pumpkin are great *fillers*, the dogs normally love them and although not *free* of calories can be used to fill the bowl :). So what I do when my girls get chubby when I'm not looking I cut them back by at least a 1/4 of their kibble if not more (I'm usually pretty drastic and go 1/2 actually), add the amount I cut out with beans or pumpkin plus a tablespoon <g> and stick with that until they have lost a suitable amount of weight. I also cut out their fattening treats and go with *a* piece of kibble or a tiny piece of carrot (carrots have sugar) or a piece of lettuce or broccoli or grean bean instead. Also, since it is good for ALL of us, a brisk daily walk or two is good :)
OH, check the calories on the baby food. I have a girlfriend who resorts to babyfood on her senior dogs because of th calories...

[Roobyrocks]

Thanks Cindi. I agree with you about poor Lexie's metabolism, bless her heart! I replaced her 1/2 cup scoop with a 1/3 cup scoop so she now gets 1/3 cup kibble & 1/3 cup green beans in the morning & again at 5 PM. She thinks she's something because she's getting people food from the fridge!!
The green beans are serving two purposes - filler for Lexie who needs to lose a few lbs, enticement for Rooby who doesn't tend to eat much (I give Rooby 3 or 4 gb's so she doesn't feel left out).
I didn't think about the sugar in carrots... thanks for mentioning that.

We do go for walks almost every evening, weather permitting. Lexie goes beserk when we get her hug-a-dox harness out... if either dog hears velco we BETTER be going for a walk!! They both run through the house barking and Lexie grabs the harness and runs around with it in her mouth. I need to make a little movie of that and post it somewhere... very funny.

Lisa? Did I read that right? Muffins, bacon and cool whip?? LOL

[Roobyrocks]

I need help please! This is kind of long, but I'm thinking if I put it all out here maybe someone will see a pattern that we haven't picked up on yet. :confused:

After putting Lexie on the 'kibble, green bean, pumpkin' regimen that we discussed in this post, she's still managed to gain about a pound - she's up to 17.5 lbs at last vet visit May 10th (the vet even mentioned (discretely) that she was hanging over her hug-a-dox harness!!). Lexie gets 1/3 cup Flint River Ranch Lamb/Millet/Rice, 1/3 cup no-salt green beans & 1 spoonful pumpkin in the morning about 7-7:30, and again in the evening (we started feeding them later, about 7-7:30 PM about a month ago and they seem to come closer to sleeping through the night than when they ate at 5 PM). Lexie LOVES to go for walks and we go every afternoon, twice a day on weekends... (starting to go later in the evening now that it's getting so hot) and she is completely wiped out when we get home... but her walks are the only time she really is very active... the heat really gets to her so she doesn't like being outside for long unless we're walking. Another thing I want to add is we're starting to think she may have some allergies... she sneezes a LOT, she eats grass almost everyday, she has the 'reverse sneeze' problem but it seems to come in spells... if she gets real excited it'll happen and then we'll go for days where it doesn't... oh and after she drinks water she coughs... I don't want to put her on any allergy meds unless I really have to... I've been reading the posts here about the various foods and am seriously considering switching to a different brand of food for the girls - I'm leaning toward Wellness Fish & Sweet Potato.
Any suggestions or ideas on how to get Lexie's weight down and maybe give her a little more energy would be appreciated. She's so precious :angel: and so sweet I want to do everything I possibly can to keep her healthy so she'll be around for a long long time... we were told she was 5 when we adopted her in Nov '02 by the way. Thanks in advance... :)

This is her 'please don't clip my nails' look:
http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jun/20036105341345823490077.jpg

[Patt]

Hope:

Oh, this is so difficult getting weight off.... I have the same problem with myself LOL.

This will not be a popular idea because I go for the weight loss products from my vets it works for my little ones. I feed Purina's OM. They DO lose weight on it and look good. I don't know if it's available at the pet stores. Eukanuba also has a low calorie diet. I do not feed anything extra, oops exception, sometimes I will give a Eukanuba Reward Biscuit (low cal) when we leave the house. These biscuits are extremely small.

The reverse sneezing is common problem among Doxies, not much you can do for this. If it gets really bad would suggest seeing your vet. In our area due to lots of rain we have a problem with allergies. Here is a site for you to visit regarding reverse sneezing.

http://www.thedachshundnetwork.com/revsneez.htm

It will be difficult, but stick to it... no extras!!!! You will get results.

Patt

[minicooper]

I have been battling with Cooper's weight all his life and he is now 12 years old!

Finally he is losing weight!!

All I have done is cut his normal Kibble down to 1 tablespoon, twice a day, and I give him vegetables mixed in with it, and I bulk him up with All Bran cereal. I am amazed that he likes it. For the first week or so, he had bad gas, (he could clear a room) but that settled down. I started added 1 tablespoon All Bran to each meal, but now he has two tablespoons in the evening and one in the morning. He makes a little more mess in the back yard, but it is firm. He has lost over a kilo in weight, even though he has very little exercise.

For treats during the day, he has raw cauliflower or raw carrots.

Cooper has always been very food motivated, but I find that this diet works because he is not hungry.

Keep us updated on Lexie's weight loss.

[Meemoo]

to rule out any medical problems. Cushings for example can make a dog not take off weight easily. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[TessieMom]

Miss Lucy is losing weight on her diet... okay we kept experimenting until she started losing. Now she is a BIG standard girl -- but 32 pounds was too much. I think we are at 28 now and my goal is 22 or 24 (or when I can find her ribs again). She is getting about 1/2 cup of pumpkin with a little less than 1/4 Natural Balance kibble in the morning (I just increased pumpkin and decreased kibble until we started losing). At night she gets 1/3 cup unsalted green beans with 2 tablespoons of moist food mixed in and she loves it. Her energy level is higher and her attitude is better. For a smaller dog, I would feed less. Now that I am measuring everything, everyone is losing a bit of weight. Treats are Science Diet TD large bites right now -- a couple for bed time and a couple in the morning.

Rena and the Waco 8

[Roobyrocks]

Thanks for the input... I knew about reverse sneezing, just thought I'd mention it because Lexie seems to do it alot more than any dogs I've had in the past... just one more little thing that makes her so special! ;)

We had quite a bit of testing & bloodwork done after we got Lexie to make sure there's wasn't anything serious going on since her previous "owner" chained her in a backyard for god knows how long in TEXAS with NO heartworm preventative and little or no vet care! She was still intact and most likely going into heat when we adopted her (we had her spayed). Fortunately she tested negative for heartworms and the only thing we had to treat was whipworms. I'm going to call my vet to find out specifically what tests were done, but here's what's on the receipt that looks pertinent:
Basic blood profile
Basic blood screening tests
Complete blood profile
Liver blood profile
Pancreatic blood profile
Renal blood profile
Electrolyte blood profile

Maybe my expectations are out of whack... maybe she's just "big boned" and I'm obsessing too much. She's very "solid"... we call her the Moose... Here are a couple of shots we took last night... what do you think?

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jun/20036118669239747360648.jpg

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jun/20036117078537329328120.jpg

[lotsadox]

I don't think she looks too bad. Could maybe lose a pound or so. Can you feel her ribs easily? That's usually the test I use. If I have to feel around for the ribs they are too fat. Of course, I may not be the best judge as I have 2 that are really overweight. I've had them on a diet and I'm measuring all their food and I couldn't figure out why they weren't losing weight. Then I went out in the kitchen one night and caught my husband giving them kibble! :angry: He told me he was giving it to them because they were hungry. They're dachshunds, they're always hungry! Anyway, hopefully we're back on track with them now. Good luck with your girl.

[Heidismom]

If all I had to go by was the side shot, she looks good. From above, she is a bit meatier around the hips than I think is good. It is the part I call the waist - and Siglen is almost there, as well. I have never used pumpkin, but I reduce kibble by 1/3, and add that much pureed no-salt green beans. All the girls get a teaspoon when not dieting - they just like them! Julia B.

[Owen's Mom]

It's so hard to tell without putting your hands on the pupper to make a good assesement of being overweight. Sure, there are some dogs that you see pictures of and there is no question as to whether or not they're fat, but your new girl looks borderline, maybe just fine. I'd suggest walking the heck out her ;) Keep her food and treats in check and put more muscle on her if you can.

Here's Owee... I think he looks pretty good in this picture. You can see his waistline and make out his ribbing, but it's not sticking out. I was actually told by the vet a couple of months back that he was a little too thin, so I've uped his food a tiny bit and he looks like he's put a pound or two back on.

http://mediaservice.photoisland.com/auction/Jun/20036114771951993936611.jpg

[Roobyrocks]

Ohhh Owen!! He's such a studly guy! :heart:

I can feel Lexie's ribs when I do the rib check, barely... I'm hoping to get it under control though, since she's gained each time we visit the vet... :eek:
Thanks for all the advice & input - we'll keep up the 'weenie walks', which both girls absolutely love, cut back a bit more on the kibble and up the green beans/pumpkin and see what happens!