All my dogs have to diet!

I took Bran to the vet yesterday and was well and truly told off as he`s gained 3 kilos in a month. That`s a tenth of his bodyweight, glared the vet, accusingly. Bran has bad arthritis so needs to keep his weight down.
Crestfallen, I slunk home and looked at the others. Daisy`s bum is definitely bigger than it ever has been, and Shamus is turning into a tank.
Razzle, however, is blooming. So obvously all the other dogs have been taking full advantage of the tripe, lamb and chicken added to the diet.
I`m now standing over them all as they eat and am introducing portion control. I have also told my sons that if they bring any more kebabs in I`ll cut their hands off.
I didn`t realise adding raw food would have such a dramatic effect. How do other people work out how much to give?

I tend to work out how much to give just by looking at my dogs, to be fair, my lot put on a few extra pounds in the winter as have I.

its harder when you have one dog that you need to beef up and three that you dont,
im sure when the lighter nights come in and the dogs are more active things will settle, that and a good bit of portion control...

same as with kibble, if they're looking porky cut em back, if they're looking skinny up it, i have a pretty decent balance now, but 3 of mine stuck weight on when we went to raw

Raw tends to be as a guide 2-3% of the dogs body weight (alter according to how 'well' they look)

I would perhaps swop the lamb element for something else as it has a high fat content, tripe is also used to help gain weight so poss stick to chicken or perhaps try turkey (lower fat than chicken but slightly higher protein content)

I can't advise, Claire, as I fought a losing battle with Roxy in her later years (The Porky Portion).

x

I feel for you Ollie is a nightmare to try keep his weight under control. Trouble is when fed smaller portions he will smell food a mile away when we are out walking and nick that.

You should see such a large dog scramble under a hedge to find a small piece of stale bread. Its hilarious.

I have 2 'good-doers' and feed by how they look, completely ignoring the portions on the packets if there are any. The minced tripe I feed is highish in fat.

I would say an idea as well, might be instead of giving mince (presuming you give mince - sorry if you don't), give them chunks of meat so they need to use more energy consuming it.

As has been previously mentioned though - with raw, you are looking at 2-3% ideal body weight. Jess is 34kg and is on between 700-800g raw per day. Sometimes I give her more, sometimes less - depending on what she has been doing and also how she feels. I also give her a no dinner day every fortnight or so, where she will only get the treats and no dinner.

It is really difficult when you are feeding one up and another one seems to survive on fresh air. My new boy was a bit lean so I was feeding them all tripe with their JWB. Even with supervision and strict portion control Dusty is starting to look like a coffee table. His portions are now miniscule

that made me laugh. Shamus looks like an over-stuffed sofa. Our dogs are becoming furniture!