Fat Lab!!

Know I know I wouldnt be the first to have a weight problem with my lab!

My problem however is this.
If you cut her in half (obviously hyperthetically- sp!) her back half looks fine.
I can easily feel her ribs and can see them from some angles, lol. Her bum looks muscly not fat.
But she has recently started to look quite fat up on her shoulders, upper back and neck.
I dont know if anyone has answer for my problem but any replies appreciated

She has a lot of off lead exercise, is not fed a great amount, hardly any titbits. Have tried "light" food she wont touch it!
The thing is she looks perfect around the belly now (she had put it on after being spayed) but its just the front end now!

my springer looks like that from the back she looks lovely and slim but from the front she looks huge

Can I ask how old she is? Sometimes when dogs get older their metabolism slows down a bit and despite of getting loads of exercise, she may get more prone to putting on weight. I also assume that she is not fond of “light” food because many have a reduced fat content but also a reduced protein (=meat) content. Less meat and fat means that the diet is not as tasty as a normal diet. Therefore you may want to try a diet that has a reduced fat content but still a good amount of animal protein to help with the taste.

You don’t say how often you feed her. If you only feed her once or twice a day, it may help to feed her 3 or 4 times instead by keeping her daily allowance the same or reducing it slightly. Feeding little meals more often should help to speed up her metabolism and burn off all the calories.

To keep track of her weight, you could start weighing her regularly, most vets don’t charge for a weight check and often the scales are in the waiting room, and they may even have a record of her weight from last time they saw her.

Thanks for the reply.
She is only two, lol, so not middle age spread yet!

She gets two meals a day.
And the last time she was weighed she had actually lost weight, thats the weird thing she looks bigger now because of the fat on her neck and upper back but like I say I can see her ribs on her belly!

Maybe three very small meals would be better?

I would definitely try her on three small meals and see how it goes.

She might actually weigh a bit less now because she may have lost a bit of muscle mass. Muscle mass weighs more than fat. The fat on her upper body may be the aftermath of her ‘fatter’ days and if you continue to exercise her as you do, her front half should soon look as good as the back.

If you find that after a while feeding 3 small meals a day has not made much of a difference, it can help to feed a diet with a high content of animal protein and low or moderate fat level (if you are not already doing so). Protein is very important for the maintenance of the muscle mass. A handful of dog foods available also contain a vitamin-like substance called L-Carnitine that helps to burn fat and support a lean muscle mass.

She is very cute by the way (if that's her on your avatar).