Weight Loss foods - Are they necessary?

[Grace Erick]

I just mentioned this on another topic about if weight loss foods are necessary. A lot of vets sell low quality "prescription" low fat diets like IVD which is all potato, at least from the can that my "old" vet tried to sell me.

Is there any reason why a person cannot give their dog less food of a better quality that they should already be feeding their dog? I am wondering if there is a real answer to this or it's just a marketing tool by companies to sell low quality dog food to people who want their dogs to lose weight.

I figure it's not the food itself that got the dog fat, it was from over feeding the dog and/or the dog not getting enough excerisize, so why not limit their food?

[Amber]

Read my other post Grace.

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber,

I read your post on the other topic where you say you feed your dog very little already, so cutting down her food intake would leave her with very little to eat. I think that's okay. At least I think it's okay. I still don't see why you can't feed your dog less of what you are already feeding your dog.

I know with myself, if I don't move all day, I try not to eat so much. Even with my mom's friend that is in the hospital, she hardly eats anything, because she is bed bound to an extent, kind of like your dog, so she really doesn't need to eat much or she will gain weight until she is more mobile.

On a side note, why is your dog so scared? Was she a rescue?

[Grace Erick]

Hi Amber, who is in the picture that goes with your name? I see you have a poodle, so it's not the poodle, but the dog doesn't look like what I would think a peekapoo (pekinese/poodle?) would look like. That's a very pretty dog in the picture either way.

Bye, Grace

[Grace Erick]

I see I left out shitzu too when I went back to look at your dog's picture, which the dog doesn't look like either.

Bye, Grace

[Clair Taberner]

sometimes it's not so much to do with whats right it's to do with a dogs enjoyment.

I have poppy on a "low fat" diet. yes i could reduce her food, but then she'd have literally 2 mouthfulls. who would enjoy only 2 mouthfulls of food once a day? she can't be exercised more for medical reasons. i don't even know how long it will be before i have to make "that" decision so i try to keep her life as enjoyable as possible at the same time managing the fallout from her problems ie weight gain. for me it's a case of quality of life, hopefully that should clear a part of yr Q up:D

[Grace Erick]

Clair, I'm sorry to hear your dog is not doing well. I believe Amber was saying the same thing as you are about that to feed less is almost like feeding your dog nothing. I still wonder if it's the best way to go with a low calorie diet since they can be of very poor quality, so your dog is losing weight and getting bad quality food at the same time. You are making them healthy in one way, and taking away from their health in another way.

If a person had a leg injury and could not move for a month, they would eat less food, but not reduce the quality of the food. By eating fillers like veggies, it will not really fill you up, because you will still feel hungry because you are still taking in less calories. To me, less calories with bulk filler foods still equates to being hungry.


For example, this is what's in Eukanuba's special diet for low calorie food for dieting dogs:


Corn Grits, Chicken By-Product Meal, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Ground Whole Grain Barley, Dried Beet Pulp (sugar removed), Natural Chicken Flavor, Dried Egg Product, Fish Meal (source of Fish Oil), Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols, a source of vitamin E, and Citric Acid), Brewers Dried Yeast, Potassium Chloride, Dicalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Sodium Hexametaphosphate, Fish Oil (preserved wih ethoxyquin), Choline Chloride, DL-Methionine, Flax Meal, Chromium Tripicolinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Oxide, Vitamin A Acetate, Ascorbic Acid, Ethoxyquin (a preservative), Manganese Sulfate, Copper Sulfate, L-Carnitine, Manganous Oxide, Beta-Carotene, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Rosemary Extract, Thiamine Mononitrate (source of Vitamin B1), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Inositol, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B6), Vitamin D3 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Folic Acid, Cobalt Carbonate


This food is so bad. Perhaps you are using a better brand of low calorie food. Corn as the first ingredients is bad, by products-no good, fish meal (what kind of fish?) Then what good is beat pulp and it's high on the list of ingredients? I don't think Sorghum is good either due to low digestibility. Feeding a dog this diet will make them less healthy as they are losing weight, then you just have to go back to feeding them the same food only less again, so why not just feed less?

[Amber]

Grace,

The dog in my picture actually is Sally, and yes, she is a rescue. She went in the shelter at 6 months and I didn't adopt her until she was 1 1/2. She'll be 2 in May. She had no human contact in the 6 months that she lived with her previous "owner" (and I use that term LOOSELY!) She is in what my Positive Dog Training book calls, Learned Helplessness...she has tried everything else and has failed, so she just lays around in the shadows and does nothing. It's sad. I've bought quite a few books and I've been working with her a lot...she's come out of her shell quite a bit since I got her in November...I'm very proud of her.

As for looks, she has the watery eyes of a poodle, that's it for poodle-ness. She has an underbite like many Shih-Tzu's and Pekingese and Pekingese-like ears. Everything else is kind of a mix between the two breeds. I think the mom was a Peekapoo and the dad was a Shih-Tzu, that's how they know. A lady at my vet's office has a dog that looks almost like Sally and her's is a mix between Pekingese and Shih-Tzu.

[Grace Erick]

Amber, I feel so bad for your little Sally. She is so pretty. I know you know with rescues, you never know the whole story or sometimes any of their previous history. That was so good of you to adopt her, because she may be unadoptable, because no one wants a dog that won't interact with them. I wish there was something I could suggest to you to help her. Since you work or volunteer in a rescue, you probably have tried things to help her overcome her fearfulness already. I have heard from foster chihuahua people that some of their dogs spend a lot of time under the bed from past abuse, so they keep them since they will not come around to the point where someone would want them.

I'm glad to hear that you are making progress with her. I bought my chihuahua at 5 months and she was so friendly the day I went to look at her. I get her home and she hates my husband and won't let me pick her up. Even to this day, she does not like to be reached for. While Sally's owners were outright neglectful, even this show dog breeder woman did not do any better by Capri. She must have kept her in a pen all day with the rest of her puppies from different moms and never gave her any attention. She does not know what a toy is or chew stick or have a real need for a lot of attention which most dogs love. This breeder imprinted my dog by the age of 5 months to be the same way she is now at 3 years old, so I understand how it can take a long time for you to bring Sally along.

I still cannot just walk over to Capri to pick her up and it takes her a few times of coming near me and me reaching for her to let me pick her up. Sally may never need a lot of attention since she never recieved any like Capri, but I pet Capri more and more and she has finally come to look for affection after THREE YEARS!!!!!! Chihuahuas can be a shy breed, but I know this breeder never picked this dog up or gave her toys or biscuits or any treats. She was too busy with her show dogs and grooming them for the ring.

I wish I lived near you where I could come over and just hold Sally for a while and just pet her or brush her hair and have her relax and feel good. She really is precious. I can see why you adopted her.