Time for senior food?

MellowYellow

MellowYellow

Poppy is now seven years old, and while definitely not a senior, nonetheless she is more sedate than she used to be, and consequently uses fewer calories, although she is still active and gets around 2 hours walking a day, together with training every weekend. Since her spay two years ago she has become even greedier than before, and has a tendency to put on weight, so she is on a constant diet, poor love. We feed twice a day; raw in the morning and kibble in the afternoon. She gets less than half the food that Merlin does, which means he gets a full cup of kibble and she gets about 1/3 of a cup in the afternoon... She seems constantly hungry. Recently she has even taken to sneaking off into the woods on walks and eating deer poop!

So my question - do you think it would help if I started her on senior or reduced calorie kibble for her second meal? I'm thinking that if we could give her more food but with the same amount of calories, that it might help keep her weight down while leaving her feeling more satisfied?
 
kateincornwall

kateincornwall

Location
Cornwall , UK
Does she eat veggies Karen ? I remember in Sams final months, he became less active but was still hungry so I loaded him with veggies as well as his food .
I think Labs are considered senior at around 7/8 years old , so it wouldn't hurt to try the senior food , bless her x
 
MellowYellow

MellowYellow

kateincornwall said:
Does she eat veggies Karen ? I remember in Sams final months, he became less active but was still hungry so I loaded him with veggies as well as his food .
I think Labs are considered senior at around 7/8 years old , so it wouldn't hurt to try the senior food , bless her x
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Yes, she gets loads of vegetables Kate. Her morning meal today, for instance, was a chicken wing and a tablespoon of beef mince, with around a cup of mixed boiled veggies (carrots, brocolli, fennel, courgette), with a glug of fish oil. When she is really bothering us for a treat she often gets a raw carrot, and she loves a bit of raw apple too.
 
M

M.F.

I assume low calorie veg like cauliflower, broccoli and cucumber must be filling. Snowie eats tons because that’s what we eat and he’s constantly begging! He’s 7 yo and eating the same as he ate before. But he’s still intact so I’m guessing that makes a difference.

But... tons of roughage veg = big squishy poos! My mom makes her own soup stock from various green tops—bitter as!! We’re staying with her at the moment, and Snowie loves the cooked soup stock veg when the stock liquid has been drained off. Which has resulted in lovely green squishy poos!
 
Granca

Granca

I’ve recently changed Wispa’s food to the senior variety as she’s now seven. It seems to suit her well, so I’m hoping it will help to keep her trim too. I was giving her less of her usual food, but still struggling to keep her weight at a reasonable level.
 
MellowYellow

MellowYellow

FayRose said:
I'm sure you'll check thoroughly @MellowYellow but I had a shock some years ago when I switched our previous lab onto the senior variety of the kibble he was on.
From a relatively few good ingredients in the normal variety, the senior ingredient list read like the contents of a chemical store ! I didn't continue with it needless to say.
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Goodness! What brand was that, Fay?
 
Beanwood

Beanwood

Administrator
With Casper, I didn't change to a senior recipe, but to a lower fat version of the existing brand (Millies Wolfheart), The carb content is low, while protein is high. Fat percentage is from memory around 8%. He gets additional good quality fats in the form of salmon oil, the odd raw egg, sardines and homemade treats. The overall calorie content is lower than most at 326 kJ per 100g, but has the right nutritional mix in terms of fats/carbs/protein that he needs :)
 
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