Weight loss

[Mrsmorton]

My 3yo Weimaraner dog weighed in at 43.7kg three weeks ago, he is very tall for his type but we've cut his good down. He has no treats (doesn't even know what to do if he's offered one!) and he weighed in today at 42.9. That's 800g in 3 weeks.

Is that reasonable for a large breed? The vet did day if he doesn't lose then we can look at low calorie food and/or thyroid test. I'm just not certain whether or not to go back so soon.

Any experience gratefully listened to.

[moosemama]

This site suggests the weight range for Weims is 50-70 lbs, which is a maximum of 37.75kg.

A quick Google and the highest suggested weight was 39kg and most said between 37 and 39 for a large male.

[Mrsmorton]

Thanks moose, he's 72cm tall at the shoulder so he is tall. I'd like to get him down to 38kg. Any idea how long it should take before we look for a thyroid problem?

[idirdog]

You need to cut down food by 5%. Make sure you weigh the food do no do it by eye.

You should be aiming to lose about 3-5% of body weight each month

I think 39Kg is massive for a Weimaraner and would suggest most are about 30kg. So he does need to lose at least 13kg so keep at it.

[idirdog]

How much do you feed him and what do you feed him - I would be looking at that and the amount of exercise he has and see if this is encouraging the weight gain.

Has he put on the weight suddenly?


If still concerned go back to the vet for a check over.

[moosemama]

39 would be the absolute maximum across the range of sizes/weights, so I think would be well outside the norm.

He's just over 28 inches then (sorry, I'm ancient and have to convert everything ) which is an inch taller than the 23-27 inch range for male Weims.

I wouldn't have thought an inch would make that much difference to his weight, so he definitely still needs to lose quite a large chunk of weight.

[Mrsmorton]

He has a mug of dry biscuits in the morning (not working fog biscuits) and two mugs at night with half a tin of meat. He is huge though, stood on his back legs he's 5ft tall! By mug, I mean normal tea mug. I haven't weighed it though.

He's losing weight doing this so I don't want to cut it down any more if this is the right rate of weight loss.

[idirdog]

What type of dry biscuits? You really should be weighing it out to make sure that he is getting the right amount for his breed and the type of food.

(It does sound a lot though) But not sure if it is kibble or just dry biscuit he is getting.

if it is mixer he needs more nourishment in the morning but less biscuit in the evening. If kibble then no need for meat

[Mrsmorton]

It's kibble. I've put a picture of him on my profile. I'm trying to put some more on but it's not letting me just now.

He gets about 1hour of running a day and is "gamekeeper" of two acres for the rest of the day.

[idirdog]

Ok if it is kibble he should not be having meat with it in the evenings. Kibble is a complete food.

Depending on the type of kibble he should be having between 240kg -350kg a day.

That is split between two meals.

However that is very general you would need to look at the actual food and the amount of exercise he is having. If you tell me the brand name I can be more specific - there should be a feeding guide on the packet you can assume that this is usually very generous.

So depending on the mug size probably 1 mug in am and 1 in pm.

But do not guess weigh out the food to make sure.

[moosemama]

Did you drop him from a great height just before that photo was taken?

Idir is right, you need to look at the feeding guide on the kibble and make sure you only give him the correct amount.

It sounds like he's getting a lot of food every day. Based on 37kg, given that your boy is tall, on my dog's food he would still only get a maximum of about 380g per day, which is probably two mugs at most and that's his complete daily nutritional intake, so no tinned meat on top.

[moosemama]

Cross posted, sorry.

[moosemama]

Not sure if it would be something you would think about trying, but I weigh my boys' feeds out and bag them up every few days. Then I can take a proportion of that food out for treats and things like kong stuffing, which makes sure they don't get overfed. It also makes mealtimes a lot quicker and easier.

[Mrsmorton]

Thank you for all your help so far. moose he lays like that all the time,it can't be comfortable! I've put another pic of him on if you're interested, it's less"splat"!!

I weighed his breakfast and a mug is 150g so that's 450g a day which is clearly far too much. I will cut out the meat as like you said, kibble is a complete food and gradually reduce the kibble so he's on 350g.

I try to make him eat more slowly because he does wolf his food and I know that's a risk for gastric bloat.

[idirdog]

You could scatter the food on the floor to slow him down a bit or put some water on it in the bowl.(but that is not that great for the teeth)

[Floralnomad]

You could also try either a ball that dispenses the kibble as they roll it around or one of those green feeder things that are on the market now to slow him down .