"You Can't Always Get What You Want"

I can't stress enough how important it is to have a CBC(complete blood count) and a Thyroid T3-T4 run on your dogs each and every year. Also a stool and urine test is important too. Before you begin any diet program it's always best to check with your vet to make sure there aren't any underlying medical problems causing the weight gain or interferring with the weight loss.

It's gonna be more a new way of life for your dog, as opposed to a diet, so think of this as a long term program. You don't want them losing more than 1/2 to 1 lb. a week, anymore than that and it's not good. You will also want to weigh them once a week, we usually do this on Sunday mornings, just weigh yourself, then pick up your dog and weigh the both of you, then subtract the difference. I keep this recorded on a calendar on our fridge. If your dog is too heavy to lift you can always run them to your vets office every few weeks or so for a weigh-in. They don't charge for that.

Charlie *B* is our 15" beagle, let me tell you a bit of history about him. He is why I got involved in this whole nutrition thing in the first place...

We adopted him from a local shelter at 10 mths. old. He was malnourished, underweight, had some scars on him, a few scabs too and was obviously abused before we got him. He was afraid of literally everything, shook all the time. The vet told us to keep him on a good puppy food till he reached 18 mths. He felt he really needed the extra fat/protein and high calories found in puppy food. We also found out he was wheat intolerant and that he has a stomach disorder. If he doesn't eat every six hours he will produce too much bile and vomit. He was not a good eater when we first brought him home, we had to teach him to like food. Very strange for a beagle considering they can literally eat themselves to death. To make a long story short, by the time he had reached 18 mths. old we had his vomiting under control, he was not as fearful of things and ate like a horse, or should I say pig, and he was a whopping 39 lbs. Now the vet says put him on a diet and get that weight off. Not an easy task.

When we switched him from puppy formula to the adult, he lost 3 lbs. right away. That was good. We went from 2 & 3/4 cups a day down to now 1 cup per day. Remember, he eats 4 times a day so that's only 1/4 c. at each feeding. It was a long gradual process slowly decreasing his food down like that. We also put him on the reduced version of his food. That helped a lot. He got no treats. At the time of this weight loss program we were feeding him "Sensible Choice" chicken and rice reduced calorie dry kibble. This is a great food because it does not contain any of the known allergen causing ingredients most common to dogs. There is no soy, whey, dairy, wheat, corn, chemical preservatives, etc. I highly recommend it.

I also give him carrot chunks in-between his meals sometimes. They are very low in calories and he loves them. Great for cleaning his teeth and keeps his breath fresh too. Very rarely I will give him a little piece of cooked plain white meat chicken, or a very little piece of scrambled egg. When I say small I mean the size of my thumb nail. Believe me it's enough to satisfy him. I also give him a small piece of apple or banana when I'm having some.

Also try feeding your furbaby a few times a day as opposed to just once. Slowly decrease it by 1/4 of a cup. Try that for a week or two and see if he/she doesn't lose. If not, try another 1/4 cup until you start noticing a drop in weight. It may take a few weeks to notice, but with patience and perseverance, that weight will come off.

If your dog doesn't lose weight on their regular formula of food, try getting it in a reduced (sometimes called senior) formula? Charlie *B* used to be on the maintenance formula and it was 15% fat. He didn't really start losing weight till we put him on the reduced version which is 7% fat. After he lost the bulk of his weight loss we put him on a 50/50 mixture of regular and reduced. He remained on the mixture for almost a year, and he's successfully lost 11 lbs. He is 28 lbs. now and has maintained that weight for about 10 months now. He's doing really well. Charlie *B* also came to us with an elevated Thyroid T3 and T4. After we introduced "Missing Link" into his diet, within 3 months time, we had his Thyroid checked again and it came down within normal limits. His thyroid had been elevated prior to that for almost 2 yrs.

We recently started him on the "California Natural" chicken and rice, almost 2mths. now. I liked the ingredients a bit better than Sensible Choice. Right now he is getting a slight mixture due to the fact that he is still in the transition stage. So it's about 1/4 of the 50/50 Sensible Choice mixture to 3/4 California Natural. He still gets only a 1/4 cup at each meal. I also give him a tsp. of "Innova" canned, smashed up, and with his 6am/6pm feedings he gets 3/4 tsp. of Missing Link, and with all his meals he gets 1/8 tsp. of "Prozyme". The Missing Link and Prozyme products are completely all natural and aid in his digestion, and allow him to reap the benefits of his vitamins and minerals and nutrients from his food, as well as a miriad of other beneficial pluses. They are not vitamins. With all the food I have just mentioned, he has still maintained his 27-29 lbs.

Try to find as pure a dog food as you can, you don't want things like corn and soy because they are mostly fillers and don't do that much nutritionally for them. Also no table scraps or biscuits till you see some positive results. I really don't recommend table scraps, sometimes high in fat, and can turn your dog into a finicky eater. Also a bad habit to get into, besides you might give your dog something that he could be allergic to or have a hard time digesting. You'd be surprised how many extra calories your dog will accumulate during a day while your throwing him/her a tidbit here and a tidbit there. I don't recommend meat bones either, can cause choking by getting lodged in windpipe or throat, or can splinter and cut them on the way down. Check the fat content of the food/treats your dog is getting now. You want to stay around 6-7 % of fat on a treat, some are much higher. Your gonna have to get used to looking at labels too. You don't want foods high in fat content, nor do you want things like sugar or salt. Also whatever kibble your dog is getting, check the fat/protein/fiber levels. For the reduced you want to stay around:

If you switch over to a reduced kibble please check these levels, they should be on the bag. Just because a food says it's reduced doesn't mean it really is. If the fiber content is higher than 5% it will be mostly carbohydrates in his/her food and that will not help him/her to lose weight. Hopefully the caloric total will be on the bag but I've yet to come across one. If you feed canned food, there are some brands out there that offer very low protein/fat/fiber content. There are also some canned foods out there high in fat, etc. Just be aware and read labels.

Be prepared to listen to your furkid moan, to flash you that sad look, as if to say "I'm withering away to nothing here" and to spend most of their time in the kitchen looking for food, just like Charlie *B* did. But be persistent, it will pay off for you, and your furbaby will win out in the long run. This is where carrots will come in handy. You can also substitute green beans for less kibble. I stick with carrots and green beans, but you can use other vegetables. You could try a bit of celery too, but peel it first. Just be sure if you use veggies, and can't find raw, get frozen or if all else fails, use canned, but buy the No Salt version. Don't load your dog up on carrots and celery though, one is high in sugar and the other is high in sodium. Moderation is the key here. Also I buy organic whenever possible. Another thing I did was I bought Charlie *B* a smaller food bowl so visually he would think he was getting more food.

Whatever you decide to do for their weight reduction PLEASE do it gradually. I can't stress this enough. If you change their food abruptly you could cause stomach distress, diarrhea, soft stool or even a pancreatic attack. Just slowly introduce the new food in with the old food over a 2-3 week period until they are getting only the new food. I generally take 4-8 wks. with my changeovers. The slower the better. This includes vegetables and fruits too, go slow.

We store our 20 lb. bag of food in Rubbermaid type airtight containers. They look like a large jug and hold about 4 lbs. each. This way there is little chance of the food spoiling or getting moisture in it. With the foods I buy, they must be kept as fresh as possible due to the fact that there are no chemical preservatives in them. I store them in the pantry, and on our countertop in the kitchen we have a 3 glass jar (much like for cookies, etc.) cannister set and they have airtight wooden sealers on them. They sit in a wooden tray. This setup provides for easy daily access to their food, I just keep a stainless steel measuring cup in them. I recommend measuring out the food, this way your sure of how much they are getting so you can monitor their weight easier. It's also good to designate one primary feeder, to avoid overfeeding. ;c)

Activity is really important too, so exercise when you can. If they are not used to it, you want to be sure to start out slow, they can get out of breath just like we can. In the summer months you may want to go in the early morning or after dusk, when the air and the ground is cooler. That pavenment or sidewalk can get pretty hot and *Burn* their footpads. Let them tell you when they've had enough. Start slow and gradually build up their endurance and pace. Watch for sore muscles, they can get those too. A good body massage afterwards will certainly be appreciated.