Lost Weight At Last!

Jed has always been on the larger side even though he gets minimal food, only treats when training and gets long walks. However, he's a plodder when we are out, not a lunatic like Flynn who wouldnt know the meaning of a sedate walk! Therefore he doesnt particularly get aerobic exercise and he gives up very easily when playing fetch etc.

He's always hovered around the 30kg mark (may seem very heavy for a collie but he is a big lad all round). He'd been to the vet who suggested cutting his normal food down by another 15% but that didnt work and when I weighed him 2 weeks ago he'd gone up to 31.3kg.

Anyway, this prompted me to really do something about his weight as people were commenting on his tubbiness! I went to the local pet store and they recommended he go on Nutro Light as they'd had good results with other fat dogs. The assistant also said to give him 80g in a morning and 120g at night.

Anyway, he's been on this diet for 11 days and I thought I could feel his ribs so I took him back to the pet shop to be weighed. Lo and behold he's lost exactly 2kg!

I was extremely pleased as this is the lowest he's been for a while now and he seems to be more energetic as well (which is evident at agility because now I have to run to keep up with him!).
I dont particularly have a target weight, i'm just going to play it by ear but I think another couple of kgs need to be lost before i'll be able to tell.

Just wanted to share it because his weight has been causing me bother for many months now and this is the most progress we've made.

Ahh thats great he is on the way to a perfect bod!!lol

I was so proud when my Vixie lost weight, I felt so guilty when the vet told me she was obese!

Your under the same vets as me.
When i had to reduce tobs food they said go down by 10%,
But have they said anything to you about testing his thyroids?
Tob was tested and how we found out about him having under active thyroids, since starting the meds and measuring out his food, hes lost 12 kgs in a yr.
He was very happy plodding, and still does but generally fitter and more active.
I do find depending on which vet you see they all say different with weight.
But well done for getting some off.

What are the instructions for feeding? with Burns it's 10grms per kg of bodyweight....this is bodyweight they SHOULD be not what they actually weigh, this is where I went wrong many years ago with my Daisy....a cocker spaniel weighing in at 17kgs!!! so I was giving her 170grms.....what I should have been feeding her was 120grms for a 12kg dog.....when I changed it over, the weight literally dropped off.

It's great when you find their ribs and waistline again isn't it.

Nutro does that whole "if you're dog weighs x amount, feed between x and x grams" so it's quite vague. I did ask the lady at the pet shop whether I should feed him according to what he is now or what he should be and she said go by the current weight. He was always fed on the lowest guidelines anyway.

Leo:
When Jed went in for an op to remove some fatty lumps, I did discuss his weight with the vets then. They did various tests for the purpose of his op and they said they didnt find anything which would medically explain his weight.

It may have stemmed from his puppyhood. Because he needs to be occupied alot due to his breed and also because he was destructive when young, I used to give him lots of chews to entertain him and then we had him neutered at 7 months old so that probably didnt help neither.

I think it's purely down to what he ate when younger but he's trimming down at last so i'm happy about that. Just got to make sure I dont fall off the wagon and give him treats for losing weight!