Weight Loss on Raw

Having weighed all the dogs this week, they've all put on weight. Flynn looks good with the extra weight, the collies are looking decisively porky. I've struggled with Jed's weight all his life because he doesnt run around much. The only time he lost a good amount of weight was on Chappie Complete and he went down to 24kg (he's now 28kg).

Anyway, he wont swim, he generally doesnt break a sweat and it's too warm to make him run alongside the bike.

What can I feed him that will help him lose weight? I've tried cutting his food right down but it never seems to make a difference.

He isnt overloaded with treats because he gets them sparingly only when we train and i'm even cutting them right down as we are trying to phase them out in preparation for some competition obedience.

I've thought about bulking his food out with veg but I dont feed mince or chunks, I feed RMB's and he wont eat veg on it's own. Do you think feeding day old chicks as one of his daily meals would be ok? I know there isnt much nutritional value on such things and I wouldnt want him to become deficient or malnourished in some way.

I know rabbit is low fat, as is squirrel but these are difficult for me to source regularly. I've hopefully sourced some free rabbits for the next couple of months but thats just temporary.

Anyway, any suggestions on low fat options or how I can bulk his food out without him turning his nose up at it?

When Casper gained weight, I just decreased the food and increased exercise. I didn't drop his food majorly, so he wasn't really acting hungry, just ended up feeding him about the same as Kiki despite her being 5kg less than him. Exercise wasn't a major increase either - if he usually wanted to fetch a ball 3 times at one point of our walk, I'd throw it an extra two times then carry on our walk at our normal pace. If we got to bits where we were on-lead, I'd slowly jog instead of walk. Little bits of extra exercise, and whilst the weight didn't fly off, we got a steady decrease until the extra 3kg had gone. Carried on feeding him about the same as Kiki, just a little bit extra, and his weight has been a stable 39kg. I don't think it was so much the amount I was feeding but what I was feeding, the weight gain happened when I ran low on my normal raw and ended up feeding supermarket stuff - guess the fattier packs of minces, skin on chickens, more fatty meats like lamb etc. all slowly added up.
I would perhaps look at exactly what you're feeding and see if you can change it a little - looking at your posts, you often feed lamb and pork, I'd say these are probably going to be fattier than chicken. Tripe is known for getting weight on dogs so maybe cut back on that. Could you get some minces just to make some veggie patties - see if you could get away with 1/3 mince, 2/3 veggies? Even if you just buy a pack of something like lean turkey mince from the supermarket, you can make them in bulk and freeze them.
Have you ever tried him with blended veg? I prepare raw meals for my mum's pup and she gets it bulked with veg, and despite my two not being huge veggie fans, they go made for the "veggie soup" I have when I rinse out the blender (I add water, pop the lid on, give it a shake and pour the veggie-fied water into their bowls). It does have a few bits in it, like salmon oil and the odd egg, but it's mostly just raw blended veg and they seem to love it for some reason.

I used to blend veg for them when I first started raw and they werent keen on it at all. If anything they prefer cooked veg so i'll have to rethink how I can entice them into eating it. I actually did them some veg the other day because they were eating alot of grass and even soil and Jed did eat it but begrudglingly. Jessie wouldnt touch it, she's quite fussy about things like that.

As for the exercise, thats more of a struggle than the food. The dogs get walked quite a few miles every day, all off lead but Jed just doesnt do anything. He wont chase after a ball, he wont swim and he generally doesnt run around. He does agility but it's like pulling teeth trying to encourage him faster round the course. He's downright lazy and sees no point wasting energy. Thats the reason i've always struggled with his weight and he wont change, he's a dog that takes an eternity to do absolutely everything. He's a very intelligent dog but me and my Mum have always genuinely thought that there is something not quite right upstairs because he seems pretty spaced out and is slow to respond most of the time.

But anyway, I digress! (Just wanted to explain the exercise issue I face, I think concentrating on the food side is going to get more results).

TBH, I dont feed alot of pork or lamb, lamb is way too expensive to feed regularly so they only get it on the rare occassion it's reduced. Chicken is their main meat because I get it all free.

I'll have to come up with some kind of menu plan. The other problem I face is that my Mum feeds them most mornings and her version of what they should have and mine are vastly different. I found that out one day when I discovered what was left of a 2kg bag of turkey necks. In short, they'd all had over double what they should've.

Why don't you take him out on the bike earlier in the day? I take Pip out at about 6.30, it's cool then. I would take it easy with him at first if he is very overweight though.

It's very difficult when you aren't the only person feeding them, could you take out what you want them to eat or at least Jed's, have a word with your mum about your worries. I hate seeing over weight dogs.

Could you maybe bag up morning meals in the right quantities?
Another thiing to consider is maybe blood tests - lethargy and weightgain/difficulty losing weight could be caused by thyroid issues for example.

Tell me about it! All mine put on weight on raw. I solved that by weighing and measuring. Portion control is the best answer, IMO. Just put less food out. It`s amazing how little they actually need. No waste or fillers.

Yeah, I suppose when you compare the quantity of raw they need compared to the quantity of kibble they need you see why it's easy to be too generous. My Dad is constantly remarking "is that ALL they're getting to eat?" I try to make him see their portions arent that small if they are all putting on weight...

I start work at 7am so taking him out on the bike earlier isnt an option. I'm not a morning person at the best of times and if I cycled before work I just wouldnt get through the day! I struggle with my energy levels as it is - 34 years of being a very poor eater with no fruit or veg in my diet is catching up with me.

I think the way i'm gonna go is work out a suitable quantity for Jed taking into account his low activity level and add more veg to bulk his food out. Going to go to the supermarket later when it's a bit quieter to buy some stuff.

Oh yeah, his blood gets monitored 4 times a year since he's a Pet Blood donor, all clear.

I know how you feel Leanne in terms of relying on others feeding them , mine got 2 breakfasts and lunch when I was away with work this week , normally they get 2 feeds a day am and pm. I now have asked peeps to mark up on the whiteboard in the kitchen if they have been fed or not , Bella would eat all day long if you let her ,Tom not so much so. In terms of amounts my raw potions are bagged up for the freezer with the rule one bag =one meal , dont know if that helps , hope it works out for you

Cain piled on quite a few pounds when I switched him to raw I cut his food down from 800g per day (which is already under his technical 2-3%) down to 700g per day. I measured it carefully and he dropped 3.5kg in two months Hes under what he should need by the rules, but he doesn't get off lead much so has lower energy requirements. He doesn't seem hungry. I give him a big raw carrot every day and occassional raw veg to bulk it out. He doesn't seem hungry. It was just a case of being much stricter with his food. I cut out treats and used his meal for training.

Do they check for thryoid issues though? I believe the testing for hyper/hypothyroid problems are a bit more complicated than your standard blood tests and generally are only picked up when testing for them in particular (as standard tests often only check one figure, TS4 I think, when there's about 6 to check to determine if the thyroid is working properly)
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