Is my boy too overweight?

[boxmom]

My Lucy is also overweight. I was also very sensitive to the comments, but finally realized the truth sometimes hurts, for Lucy's sake I needed to deal with it. I tried several of the weight management foods, none which worked. I checked out the wonderful resource--dogfoodanalysis.com and decided to put her on EVO lowfat formula. She has lost about 10 pounds in the past 4 months. I have switched to the regular EVO formula about a month ago. I would definately recommend this food for your situation. It is more expensive, but if you compare how many meals per bag, as opposed to just price per bag it is not as bad as it first seems. In other words, the bag lasts longer because you feed less. You feed less because the quality is so much better. Whatever you decide, good luck to you and Oz. Keep up the good work excersising!

 

[boxrmommy]

Exercise

Ugh... weight. I have to say that having an active dog keeps my energy level up to keep my weight down. I am very cautious what goes into my mouth and the pups.

Molly has always been small for a boxer. Most comments are made about her being thin. The truth is... most people are used to seeing larger dogs.

Have you tried feeding Ozzy carrots or other veggies? I have not given Cooper any food other than dog food, but Molly will eat a carrot. She thinks it is a treat.

Also, I take the dogs for walks one at a time. This gives me double exercise.

Good luck with Oz... Keep us posted.

 

[gmacleod]

...I wanna know how you all feel about Nutro Natural Choice Lite? Would this be anything to try? I dont have much selection in my area, so I need a good food that I can get from petsmart.

Personally I wouldn't choose that product. It is probably a little better than that you're currently feeding, but it's not great.

So-called "lite", "diet" or "senior" products are not normally great quality - and they're loaded with carbohydrates (which dogs don't have the digestive enzymes to actually digest - so usually end up breaking down only as far as complex sugars, which get stored as fat. In short, counterproductive).

Petsmart does not usually stock any high quality dog foods - they stock the lower quality stuff that they can shift in bulk. If you want to feed good quality, you're usually better off with feed stores or smaller, non-chain, petstores. The best most Petsmarts have to offer are Blue Buffalo or By Nature (though it's worth checking if yours happens to be one with foods such as solid gold or others in the 5 and 6* categories on DFA).

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

PetSmart also carries Avoderm which IMO is not a bad food ingredient wise and is MUCH better than Eukanuba.

On Nutro they have been the brunt of many consumer complaints that their food has killed their dogs, etc. There have been no recalls thus far (recently), however there are just too many consumer complaints for my liking and I personally stay far far away from anything that says Nutro on it.

 

[Murp.mm]

Ms. Ali is a few pounds overweight too. She's 34.2 kg or 78 lbs (I think that's the right conversion) but the vet says she's full of muscle and she's really only over by a few kg. Her boxer friend she runs with is only 50 lbs and looks so tiny next to Ms. Ali. I don't overfeed her and she gets loads of exercise so I think she's just a big boxer.

 

[Widges]

Well, if you have a Petsmart near to you there must be a Petco close by (they are usually located within a few miles of each other). My local branch has recently started selling Wellness.

 

[MiOzzyBoy]

Wow, thanks!

Well I was reading about EVO lowfat formula and it sounds like pretty good stuff as suggested by boxmom and it sounds like it worked really well I do have a petco near petsmart but haven't seem much difference in their food choices. Where can I buy EVO lowfat? I have a blehyls near by as well (its a pet food and farm supply shop)...and a few pet stores that I haven't seen it at if I remember right. Online maybe? Ozzy hasn't eaten many veggies but he did eat some green beans by themselves last night. I just wanted to see what he thought and he loved them By the way, I took him to the vet to weigh him this morning like I said I would, and he doesn't weigh what I was previously told (100 pound range). He weighs 86.8 pounds and is roughly 24 inches tall. So I'm thinking I need to get about 12 pounds off of him so he'll be around 75 pounds? What do u all think? Thanks again for all the replies!!!

****MiOzzyBoy****

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Well, if you have a Petsmart near to you there must be a Petco close by (they are usually located within a few miles of each other). My local branch has recently started selling Wellness.

Not always true just depends on where you live. We only have 1 PetSmart and Petco that are within a mile of each other. The rest of the PetSmarts are all by themselves with no plan to build a Petco anytime soon that I'm aware of (and we have like 5 PetSmarts within 20 miles of each other).

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Well I was reading about EVO lowfat formula and it sounds like pretty good stuff as suggested by boxmom and it sounds like it worked really well I do have a petco near petsmart but haven't seem much difference in their food choices. Where can I buy EVO lowfat? I have a blehyls near by as well (its a pet food and farm supply shop)...and a few pet stores that I haven't seen it at if I remember right. Online maybe? Ozzy hasn't eaten many veggies but he did eat some green beans by themselves last night. I just wanted to see what he thought and he loved them By the way, I took him to the vet to weigh him this morning like I said I would, and he doesn't weigh what I was previously told (100 pound range). He weighs 86.8 pounds and is roughly 24 inches tall. So I'm thinking I need to get about 12 pounds off of him so he'll be around 75 pounds? What do u all think? Thanks again for all the replies!!!

****MiOzzyBoy****

Well since PetCo started carrying Natural Balance, Wellness, and Solid Gold I have to say that those would be the 3 premium foods that set them apart from PetSmart. Any of those 3 are good foods.

On finding Innova Evo you'll have to go to their site and find a place that sells it near you www.naturapet.com

 

[WAT]

Natural Balance is a good choice, it is what I feed Minx. She has never had a weight problem, however Blaze could put on the pounds quite easily. He ate the regular formula Natural Balance but a smaller amount than Minx ate. He ate only 2 cups per day where Minx eats 3. They also make a lite formula. Petco sells it and Pet Supermarket carries it too.