OMG weight gain!

[Emily_Babbelhund]

Are his kidneys compromised? Because if they’re healthy, he should be on a normal amount of protein. Leish does not mean low protein, it means low purine. Low protein is only for Leish dogs in renal failure.

Mmm...interesting. I've been told by multiple vets he needs to be on low protein and low purine. And yes, he's had poor (but not terrible) numbers for kidney function in all but his last blood panels. Those were from September and they finally came back normal across the board. The vet told me to keep him on low protein but to have him retested in March and consult with a Spanish vet with a good reputation for Leish treatment on next steps.

I admit I find this all very confusing.

 

[Charlie]

I think Alison meant a 5kg increase (hike) in Red’s weight was too much.

Thanks, I really must read threads thoroughly! x

 

[snowbunny]

Mmm...interesting. I've been told by multiple vets he needs to be on low protein and low purine. And yes, he's had poor (but not terrible) numbers for kidney function in all but his last blood panels. Those were from September and they finally came back normal across the board. The vet told me to keep him on low protein but to have him retested in March and consult with a Spanish vet with a good reputation for Leish treatment on next steps.

I admit I find this all very confusing.

It is confusing!

But Leish itself doesn’t mean a dog needs low protein. Compromised kidney function does mean low protein is necessary. But for non-symptomatic Leish dogs like Squidge (and hopefully Toby?), there’s no necessity to keep protein low.

The other thing is being aware of how much protein there actually is in the food we prepare. Some people think that the protein source is 100% protein, and it’s a long way from that. For example, chicken breast is only 30% protein, and white fish is around 15%. So when prepping food, if you made white fish and veg and used 15% by weight of white fish, you would end up with a diet that’s only 2% protein! If you want to work out actual protein values, you can use MyFitnessPal to help you. You just enter the weights of the ingredients and it calculates all the macronutrients (protein, carbs, fat) for the meal. It’s supposed to be for people, but works equally well for dog food

 

[Selina27]

I'm with @Selina27 that adding veggies is the easy way to get weight off

Well, in truth I did get the idea from yourself and discussions on here . It is really helpful and quite easy to do for a dog that likes to eat veggies.

Carbon looks amazing on his diet I think.

 

[M.F.]

Interesting that you all speak of protein in %. I would think that actual grams is the thing you want to know? In raw food, the percentage protein is low because of the high moisture content of the food. Dry dog food will show a higher percentage of protein compared to the other ingredients because moisture is not measured, but if you measured the grams (actual amount of protein), weight for weight the dry dog food might be lower in protein than the raw (or even home cooked) food. This article is a useful read: Raw diets: too high in protein?

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

This article is a useful read: Raw diets: too high in protein?

Thank you! Very interesting, especially this table:


I'm glad that the two main protein sources I'm feeding Carbon (fish and eggs) have the best protein availability according to the chart. The info in the article also makes me think that I could increase his overall protein from these sources while still keeping on the right side of the kidney issue.

And sorry for hijacking the original thread!

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

So when prepping food, if you made white fish and veg and used 15% by weight of white fish, you would end up with a diet that’s only 2% protein!

Excellent point - also in the linked article from @M.F. - and it means I've been way underfeeding protein in Carbon's diet. Time for some tinkering!

 

[snowbunny]

I'm glad that the two main protein sources I'm feeding Carbon (fish and eggs) have the best protein availability according to the chart.

Careful - this is fish meal - not fresh fish!

MyFitnessPal tells you the number of grams of protein in any meal. It's a great resource when you're learning

 

[Emily_Babbelhund]

MyFitnessPal tells you the number of grams of protein in any meal. It's a great resource when you're learning

Yes, I've used it a lot for myself in the past - just not for Carbon yet.

 

[Atemas]

I think Alison meant a 5kg increase (hike) in Red’s weight was too much.

Yes I did but maybe not the best word to use

 

[Atemas]

And sorry for hijacking the original thread

No need to apologise - I always welcome the discussion

 

[Shaz82]

Exactly my problem at the moment @Atemas , I weighed Maisy on Monday and she is now ... wait for it ... 34kg!

She was 31kg last time and the vet said she needed to lose 1kg.
I can see she is a little thick on the waist but otherwise she looks ok to me - where is all that weight?
People tell me she has grown taller and her chest has broadened out but surely that can't be the 4kg.
Shocking, I am reducing meals now and hope that now the evenings are lighter we can get back to the woods and she can run around more.

 

[Atemas]

Exactly my problem at the moment @Atemas , I weighed Maisy on Monday and she is now ... wait for it ... 34kg!

That’s interesting @Shaz82. Maisy is of course much taller but the fact they both look good and have put on a chunk of weight must be related to age (as well as a tad too much food in the case of Red). My friend said yesterday that Red has grown up and developed a deep chest.

i do remember having similar problems with Sky once she had had her spay and I had to work hard at getting the weight off her

 

[snowbunny]

Shadow doesn't look massively different between 23kg and 26.5kg; he'll have a little more cover on his ribs (which are a bit sticky-out at the moment) and more muscle, but he won't be a hugely different shape. It's important to me that I can see the actual definition of the muscles on the dogs' shoulders and rumps.

 

[M.F.]

Snowie has put on 2kg. It’s crept on over a year or two. We’ve seen it, but we’re no good at diets for him! And he’s on less strenuous (racing around and jumping) exercise due to his sore back. He has fantastic muscle definition in the rump and legs. But he has, what we call in SA, a boep. What people who drink too much beer get. That bulging fat tummy!! That’s where all his extra weight goes. He’s now (from two days ago) getting less at meal times. Thankfully he hasn’t noticed yet.

He weighs 36.6kg.

 

[Boogie]

Snowie has put on 2kg. It’s crept on over a year or two. We’ve seen it, but we’re no good at diets for him! And he’s on less strenuous (racing around and jumping) exercise due to his sore back. He has fantastic muscle definition in the rump and legs. But he has, what we call in SA, a boep. What people who drink too much beer get. That bulging fat tummy!! That’s where all his extra weight goes. He’s now (from two days ago) getting less at meal times. Thankfully he hasn’t noticed yet.

He weighs 36.6kg.

Just cut 10g out of each meal - it will come off nice and slowly then.

 

[Shamas mom]

Snowie has put on 2kg. It’s crept on over a year or two. We’ve seen it, but we’re no good at diets for him! And he’s on less strenuous (racing around and jumping) exercise due to his sore back. He has fantastic muscle definition in the rump and legs. But he has, what we call in SA, a boep. What people who drink too much beer get. That bulging fat tummy!! That’s where all his extra weight goes. He’s now (from two days ago) getting less at mealtimes. Thankfully he hasn’t noticed yet.

He weighs 36.6kg.

That's how Shamas gains, too...He's got a fantastic definition, just as I like to see...and a tiny pouch at 31kg. I only know his KG because of his oral surgery, but this is about 5lb higher than the vets put his ideal weight, I always know when he's getting a little up because his hernia lump shows more

 

[Lab_adore]

Just cut 10g out of each meal - it will come off nice and slowly then.

We have managed to get almost 8kg off Maxx in just over a year by reducing his food slowly. I'm sure he noticed but I'm also sure he is much happier at this weight. He is 40.4kg but he has a very big build. Like @Natalie we didn't want to cut down treats because yep, that's how things get done here too! He gets 1 cup of kibble for brekkie and dinner + treats. His Kongs are carrot or banana blended up with a bit of water. He loves them and they are very low calorie. About once a week we cook up some protein and veges so he has a change from kibble.

Now I just need to do the same for myself (lose 8kg plus about another 8). Sigh

 

[Boogie]

So do I - *sigh*