Feeding guidelines - advice needed please

Hi all,

Poppy was spayed about a year ago and our vet advised to feed her weight restriction dry food to keep her weight down. We fed her the recommended amounts as per the bag and her weight was 7kg - which should be about right for a small female pug.

We have recently been advised by our vet to try hypo-allergenic dry food. We were feeding her the recommended guidelines on the bag for about a month and have noticed her weight had gone up a little.

In order to try to keep her weight down, we reduced the amount of food by a small amount per day but she has still continued to put weight on -she is now 7.5kg.

Since being a puppy she has always enjoyed her food and would never refuse treats etc no matter which type of food she has been on.

She is an active dog and has at least 2 walks a day so is definitey getting enough exercise.

At a visit to the vet last week she said she was happy with her weight but wouldnt want her putting any more weight on - but she is constantly on the look out for more food!

I'm unsure whether we should change her food back to calorie restricted or whether to persevere with the hypoallergenic food. Has anyone else experienced this? Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Ali & Poppy x

1 Why did the vet advise the change?
2 What is the calorific density of the current food
3 What is the caorific density of the previous food
4 What are the ingredients in both
5 Are you feeding the same weight/volume of the new food as the old food?
6 If you are, is this from habit or instruction?

Are you feeding treats?

1. Poppy has had 'puppy acne' since being a puppy and we changed food inhope it would help (we havent noticed a difference)

2 & 3.not sure where i would find this information?

4. I no longer have the packaging for the food. I have googled and found if its of any use:
'Eukanuba Restricted Calorie diet trims fat but retains muscle mass to keep your pet in peak playing condition with added ingredients L-Carnitine and Chromium Tripicolinate'
and
'At James Wellbeloved we avoid using many of the ingredients renowned for causing food intolerances. This means our cat and dog food and treats do not contain beef, pork, wheat or wheat gluten, dairy products, eggs or soya'

5&6. We have fed the recommended guidelines as per the bag for both foods

Yes, she has a few treats a day - which are james wellbeloved hypoallergenic also

I found the jwb feeding guidelines excessive for my dog to the point where I was only feed ing about 1/3 recomended daily amount.
All guidelines should be taken as just a guideline. Perhaps try cutting down on the jwb for a week or so?

Many dogs act like they could eat and eat. Our Bernese will dribble and beg for food a day - he steals shoes and towels to swap for treats and is still overweight

If you want her food to last perhaps consider feeding her out of a kong or tug a jug. Adding water to the food before feeding. Or giving low calorie things to chew on such as frozen veg or a hoof or stag bar?

My 10 year old Beagle weighs 40 pounds plus and desperately needs to lose weight. I need suggestions on which food and how much. He gets exercise, so I've got to do it through diet.

Being overweight is the result of one thing (unless there is a medical condition) too much food and too little exercise, ie more energy going IN and not enough going OUT.

So you need to up the exercise and you need to reduce his intake.

You do not need a special food, you need to feed a good diet, just LESS of it!

Perhaps you THINK your dog is hungry when he looks at you with those big Beagle eyes which you cannot resist?

Scatter feed him on the lawn so he has to work for it and it lasts longer.

Put it in a kong, buster cube, tug a jug so it lasts longer.

Feed him whilst training, there is no need to feed for free ie give him two bowls of food for nothing.

NEVER leave food down for dogs to free feed, and provide some interesting things for him to do so he thinks of other things to do instead of eating.

Very good advice. Thanks. I'm starting today.

As SB says above
and
Guidelines are just that - its different for every dog based on many factors, if they are gaining weight on a food they are otherwise doing good on then they need to eat less/move more

Also try and not train then to ask you for food - often people mistake dogs looking for attention as them looking for food and so eventually the dog learns that turning the big brown eyes on you brings food
If that is the case you have to be strong because your dog is used to getting food from begging and will try harder when what worked before didnt work
Its best for everyone if a dog never learns to ask for food imo, you make sure they get enough food they dont need to ask for food

Working for food is great tho - far more stimulating than getting food out of a bowl - or worse picking at it whenever they feel like it

zoo's work on enritching captive animals quality of life by making them hunt, search, work for their food and it makes our dogs much more satisfied if we do the same for them