Labrador Weight Loss

[LabsN'Hounds]

I was a member here under another account several years ago and I posted quite frequently but since then I have started grad school and I just don't have time to post anymore.....but sometimes I do lurk!

I am currently engaged and my fiance's dog (black Lab) was 90 pounds when we put her on a diet a year ago. He let her eat as much as she wanted and I have never let my dogs do that so when we moved in together I convinced him to change her routine and get her to lose some weight. She is now 58 pounds but the vet says she should be about 50 pounds. She told us to cut her food even more since she has gotten stuck right around 58 pounds for months now.

She is currently only eating 1 cup of Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete a day. To me that seems like it's not enough for her to get adequate nutrients in her diet since it's literally half the recommended amount for a dog in her ideal weight range. She's been cut down to the 1 cup for about a month now and she has lost some weight. I feel like we are starving her and I don't want to cause secondary issues from malnutrition. She's started eating the poop of our other 2 dogs, which makes me think that she is trying to get nutrients from them. Should we switch her to some kind of lower calorie food so she will get adequate nutrients while still eating reduced calories? Or could we add a vitamin supplement to her food? Or am I just over reacting and she's fine?

She's also 8 so getting a little older. Should we do blood work to rule out a thyroid issue?

[Labradorks]

What is in the food? Some dogs are especially sensitive to carbs, just like some people can be. You might try a food that is low in carbs (corn, wheat, etc.) and higher in protein (meat). Raw feeding has helped my chunky monkey, but there are foods out there that can meed these needs as well, I just don't know what they are. I'm sure others will have some ideas.

[LabsN'Hounds]

Diamond Naturals Extreme Athlete is not grain free but the only grain is rice. It is 32% protein and 25% fat. We feed it because our Bloodhound is very hard to keep weight on and very picky. The Labs don't care what food they eat so we basically let the Hound dictate the dining options.

[Labradorks]

If you want to stay on the food and you think the dog is still hungry, can you add green beans to her meals? I like the frozen ones -- no sodium or additives. That'll help her fill up.

[Georgia]

To me, that doesn't sound like near enough food. I also don't know if I would listen to the vet that she needs to go down to 50 pounds. Losing 40 pounds in a year is a huge weight loss. How do you think she looks? Neither one of my labs are that skinny. Sam is 86 pounds and Frank is 70 pounds. When Frank came to us from the rescue in January he weighed 55 pounds and looked horrible. You could see ribs and hip bones. Definitely not good. We have to be careful with Sam's weight. Right now he is on Fromm Gold large breed. Its 378 calories per cup. Sam is fed 1 cup kibble, a spoonful of canned and a half can of no salt green beans twice a day. He's been maintaining his weight. When Sam gained a few pounds this winter I put him on Fromm whitefish and potato. It's 360 calories per cup and Sam lost his extra pounds without changing the amount he's fed.

[Maxx&Emma]

That is an extreme weight loss in a year! It is kind of shocking to me that a vet would encourage even more loss. I would really worry about the stress of that kind of loss. I do agree that you are not feeding her enough. Find a good food that meets the desired calories and add green beans. As mentioned above, Fromm Whitefish is a good one but one cup of food a day is not enough for a Lab.

[windycanyon]

Find a food w/ lower fat. The higher protein is good as it kick starts the metabolism but w/ that high of fat, the food is holding in her gut longer so she's getting more calories from it.

[LabsN'Hounds]

I looked and her current food is 470 calories per cup. She is a very small Lab and I do agree that she still looks a little fat but I don't think cutting her food even more is the best way to get her to lose the last 8 pounds. She is the smallest Lab I have ever seen so she probably shouldn't weigh much more than 50 pounds. Unfortunately we are pretty much limited to foods carried by Tractor Supply. The closest pet store that carries the more premium grain free foods is 30 minutes away, which isn't really feasible with our schedules.

She lost this much weight by simply controlling how much she eats every day and pretty much eliminating human food. She was eating about 1 3/4 before the vet said she needed to lose more weight.

I'll give a little background on how she got so big in the first place. The last time my fiance deployed his ex wife started having an affair. The guy moved in with her and he didn't like the dog. The tied her up in the back yard with no shelter and must have barely fed her. When he returned home, she was under 40 pounds and a good bit of her hair was gone due to a skin infection. He felt so bad for her that he started giving her as much kibble as she wanted. Since he was single, he would cook her a piece of whatever meat he was having for dinner if there were too many in the package for just him. Being a Labrador, she would obviously eat all of the dog food in the bowl plus whatever human food he cooked for her. He admitted he did it out of guilt. It took me quite some time to convince him that we needed to put her on a diet. Now he's happy to see that she's more active and happy. So that is the story of how Libby got to be 90 pounds.

[zd262]

Sounds like Libby has had a tough road, but is under good care between you and your fiance now. I order my dog food on amazon. I have a prime account so that it gets here quickly and shipping is free, and it is usually a good $20-30 cheaper than if I bought it in the store. A lot of times websites will also give you free shipping if it is over a certain $$ amount. I think some of the more standard stores, like Petco and Petsmart do this.

Do you have any photos to post? I'd love to see cute Libby, and I bet some of the more experienced members could chime in on if they think she looks like the right weight.

[bett]

Sounds like an awful amount of weight loss in a year.
too bad she was ignored, and labs are food motivated ( for lack of another way of saying it)
im not a fan of diamond food but I think adding frozen unsalted string beans and feeding twice a day and a bit more food. She doesn't need to lose so much more weight and has lost a lot in a year.