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  1. #11
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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    He doesn't look overly heavy to me. I would stick to just feeding the dog food. The prescription dog food is usually good for giving the diet a jump start, and it's actually probably better than Pedigree. Ask the vet if the have food scoops available. Here in the states, most of the vets seem to have branded food scoops for the food they are selling. I have several from Prescription Diet when I had Hudler on a food called Metabolic.

  2. #12
    Senior Dog POPTOP's Avatar
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    Hello and Welcome!

    Balboa does not look obese, maybe a little overweight.

    Our Mardi is 11 and weight control in a senior is important. I find that kibble topped with no salt, frozen or canned, green beans help fill the tummy. I watch her to gauge if she is gaining and adjust amount of kibble accordingly. She is limited in her mobility so extra exercise is not an option.

    Cut out all extras, even those little tastes or left overs from the table. Treats can be fruit or veggies; do not give grapes or raisins, they are toxic to dogs. After a complete vet check up and the paw problem resolved, exercise. At first short sessions several times a day. Slowly build up exercise tolerance and amount of exercise. Swimming is a good option.

    Please keep us updated.

  3. #13
    Real Retriever Kain's Mommy's Avatar
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    Kain's on a weight loss plan right now. His nutritionist recommended the Royal Canin diet food. I've been giving that to him because we got the trial bag. I did for the last month or so cut him down to 1 1/2 cups of food a day with the rest being something like carrots or green beans and I found that to be very helpful. I also I kicked up his exercise. Maybe take him to a track or somewhere soft to run might help.

  4. #14
    House Broken monsterpup's Avatar
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    If he really is getting six cups a day, that sounds like an awful lot for a dog who is not too active. Our six year old gets two cups a day, plus treats, and he could even stand to lose a couple of pounds.

  5. #15
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by monsterpup View Post
    If he really is getting six cups a day, that sounds like an awful lot for a dog who is not too active. Our six year old gets two cups a day, plus treats, and he could even stand to lose a couple of pounds.
    Maybe he is not overfeeding the dog.

    With lower quality dog foods, you have to feed more.

    Here are the feeding instructions:

    PEDIGREEĀ® Dry Dog Food | Adult | Complete Nutrition | DRY


    So, let's say that Balboa is slightly overweight and that his ideal weight should be 35 instead of 40 kg. Thus, a 77 pound dog should eat 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups a day. So, the dog needs to lose weight, let's try feeding him 3 1/2 cups, which makes 28 oz, which is 794 grams. The OP is feeding the dog 100 grams less than recommended already.


    I would be really concerned about possible health issues.
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    July 12th, 2006. - May 25th, 2023.

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  6. #16
    House Broken monsterpup's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berna View Post
    Maybe he is not overfeeding the dog.

    With lower quality dog foods, you have to feed more.

    Here are the feeding instructions:

    PEDIGREEĀ® Dry Dog Food | Adult | Complete Nutrition | DRY


    So, let's say that Balboa is slightly overweight and that his ideal weight should be 35 instead of 40 kg. Thus, a 77 pound dog should eat 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups a day. So, the dog needs to lose weight, let's try feeding him 3 1/2 cups, which makes 28 oz, which is 794 grams. The OP is feeding the dog 100 grams less than recommended already.


    I would be really concerned about possible health issues.
    I totally agree all things should be considered, and perhaps first and foremost potential health issues.

    But I find feeding instructions on bags to be way off in most cases. And I think it does a disservice to less experienced pet owners (and I'm not directing that at the OP, as I have no knowledge of their experience, although it seems the OPs parents are the ones currently with primary care of the dog) who think they are doing right by their dog when feeding according to the recommended guidelines.

    According to Fromm I should be feeding 4 1/2 to 5 cups a day, whereas two cups suits Gunner quite nicely. Any more and he gains the pounds pretty quickly.
    Daily Feeding Recommendations
    Weight of Dog Weight of Dog Cups per day* Grams
    5 - 15 lbs 2.5 - 6.5 kg 1/2 to 1 1/4 47 to 118
    15 - 30 lbs 6.5 - 13.5 kg 1 1/4 to 2 1/3 118 to 219
    30 - 50 lbs 13.5 - 22.5 kg 2 1/3 to 3 1/4 219 to 306
    50 - 70 lbs 22.5 - 32 kg 3 1/4 to 4 1/4 306 to 400
    70 - 90 lbs 32 - 41 kg 4 1/4 to 5 400 to 470
    * Standard 8 FL.-oz. measuring cup



  7. #17
    Senior Dog 4Thelove's Avatar
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    nothing more to add, just want to say welcome to the board and good luck

  8. #18
    Senior Dog Georgia's Avatar
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    Welcome to the board! I don't think Balboa looks obese. Sure, maybe he could lose a few pounds but he's not that overweight. My Sam has been on a diet since April. He weighed 99 pounds (44kg?) at his yearly checkup and our vet wanted us to put him on a diet. As of now, we have him down to 94 pounds (42kg) and I think he looks good. We accomplished Sam's weight loss so far by cutting back the amount of food we feed, stopping most treats and more exercise. Sam eats Pro Plan Focus large breed. He gets 1 cup of kibble twice a day, plus a quarter can of Pro Plan wet food twice a day, and half a can of low sodium green beans twice a day. For treats, we switched out his medium size biscuits and now use ones for small dogs. We try not to give too many biscuits. We give Sam treats like baby carrots, apple slices, bananas, cantaloupe, watermelon, etc. We're lucky because he happily eats anything. You mentioned Balboa has a paw infection. Did the vet look at his nails. They look a little long. Maybe if they were trimmed he could walk better and/or for longer periods. Sam likes to walk so that helps with weight loss. We also like to take him swimming. Even chasing a ball in the back yard helps. Good luck. I hope you figure out something that works!
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  9. #19
    Senior Dog smartrock's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Berna View Post
    Maybe he is not overfeeding the dog.

    With lower quality dog foods, you have to feed more.

    Here are the feeding instructions:

    PEDIGREEĀ® Dry Dog Food | Adult | Complete Nutrition | DRY


    So, let's say that Balboa is slightly overweight and that his ideal weight should be 35 instead of 40 kg. Thus, a 77 pound dog should eat 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 cups a day. So, the dog needs to lose weight, let's try feeding him 3 1/2 cups, which makes 28 oz, which is 794 grams. The OP is feeding the dog 100 grams less than recommended already.
    I'm not sure your calculations are correct. A gram is a unit of weight, not volume. The food I'm giving weighs 3.8 oz per cup, or about 108 grams. If I feed 2 cups, the dog is getting 216 grams of food per day. The food MonsterPup feeds, according to her chart, weighs about 100 grams per cup also. Although the Pedigree doesn't state how much a cup of the food weighs, you can kind of calculate it from the calorie info. 3400 Kcal/kg= 3.4Kcal/gram. If each cup has about 311 Kcal, 311/3.4=~91 grams/cup. Does that mean Balboa is being fed 7 cups of food each evening? That's why I asked for clarification.

    The food monsterpup feeds suggests 400-470 grams per day for a 32-41 kg dog. The food I feed suggests 378-432 grams for dogs 35-40 kg (77-88 lbs). Both of us feed closer to half the recommended amount. If Balboa is truly getting 600-700 grams of food per day, in addition to rice/lentils/eggs in the morning, that would be a huge amount of food, even if the quality of food requires you feed a bit more.

    I hope the original poster will come back and help us figure this out!

  10. #20
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Smartrock, look at the feeding instructions on Pedigree's website. They say "1 cup =8oz".

    When I fed kibble, I also don't remember ever feeding more than 400 grams, but my dog's ideal weight is 30 kg and he is very active.

    But if Balboa was my dog I would switch him to something better than Pedigree. Too much carbs, maybe he is gaining weight from that.
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