What do you feed your (slightly rounded) labrador, please?

[WoodenPegs]

Would love your suggestions about what to feed ddog. She is a 15 month old dustbin labrador.

I'm slightly concerned that with her dustbin like appetite she is likely to become a little portly if we are not really careful.

She was on Arden Grange large breed puppy food before, but it has now run out and I'm not sure what to go for next.

It has to be dry food, and reasonably priced as finances are quite tight at the moment.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We give ours a mix of expensive light, dry food and supermarket own brand - it depends what's on offer in the supermarket.

She will eat pretty much anything (she could digest nails, I am sure), and doesn't seem to care (or even notice) when we change brands.

As this photo shows, though, she is often too weak from lack of food to hold up her head! And in no way was she begging for whatever do was eating!

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

Oops - wrong picture!

[MooseAndSquirrel]

Labs will always eat as much as you give them they can get their paws on she wont grow out of it mine gets worse the older he gets as hes better at stealing!!
I use burns, my lab loves it - isn't tubby & its recommended by the vets. Highly recommend

[TPel]

My chocolate lab is fed on Royal Canin Labrador Retriever. She is not over weight at all.

[babyblackbird]

I think the key is to weigh out there food. My lab is on Millie's Wolfheart utility which works out cheaper than the Arden Grange sensitive he was on. Weighing it out means you know exactly how much they are getting as just scooping can be very deceptive.

[babyblackbird]

Their not there.

[LilCamper]

Mine is fed on Nutrivet Atlantic Fish variety. He has a lovely shiny coat and a defined waist.

[notarehearsal]

My pretty rotund Norfolks are fed on fish for dogs. ( one handful) That's it, once a day, very rarely treats and no left overs. They are now an ideal weight but it's taken a long time to get the weight off the male. He would actually just eat and eat.

[patterkiller]

As a wise old lady bet once told me 'if they look fat feed them less, if they look thin feed them more' I do up their intake during the summer months as I tend to walk further and more frequently. Labradors will always look at you will disappointing hunger eyes no matter how much you feed them.

[DorynownotFloundering]

Agree with weighing out the kibble. Tip I was given was to weigh the total for the day & divide into 2/3 for breakfast &1/3 for supper . Take a handful out of breakfast for training snacks & only use that, no extras.

Remember Labs are bellies on legs lots of exercise needed!! 😃

[daisydotandgertie]

Get her off puppy for sure. They don't need it for more than the first 6 months.

My labs and all my litters are fed on Simpsons premium - it's a reasonable quality food and has turned out some fabulous Labradors

[WoodenPegs]

Arrrrrghhhh! You're not all suposed to suggest different things, now I've got even more choice that I had before .

Unfortunately I don't have the freezer space for 'real' food, so it has to be kibble.

The last one ate whatever was on special offer at the supermarket. I was trying to give this one a really good quality start.

Being a dustbin she isn't fussy, so swapping and changing food won't ever be a problem. In fact, as she would happily eat cardboard, I suppose any food is an improvement nutritionally on that.

Interesting to hear about the grain thing and weight. Will have a look and see if I can cut down on that.

Already weigh out her days food but thats reminded me to get some decent 'days food' storage containers sorted so I can bulk weigh a week at a time.

[Chrisalice]

Our older collie is a good do-er even when working hard and has always had a sensitive stomach. I've tried all sorts of expensive feeds over the years. Both her weight and digestion do well on Burns weight control, the portion is relatively large compared to a high protein feed and she seems satisfied even on a permanent diet. Its also reasonably priced which is a bonus.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We use a cup to measure the dogs' food - we know that two-thirds of the cup is the right amount for them, normally - and I top it up with at least a cup full of water, per the Dogs' Trust's advice when we got ddog2.

Usually ddog2 is on normal dog food - she is, we think, a lab-pointer cross (she's a rescue dog, and the Dogs' Trust said lab cross - people with pointers see pointer in her), and she's normally a very active dog indeed - happier running than walking.

Sadly, last November, she ruptured both cruciate ligaments, and had two lots of knee surgery in spring, to mend those - necessitating 15 weeks cage rest - and was just getting back to a normal level of activity, muscle power and stamina this autumn, when she dislocated her knee cap, and needed a third orthopaedic op (to move the bony prominence the muscle holding the kneecap in place attaches to) - and that meant straight back onto cage rest, 11 weeks ago. Supposedly for 6 weeks, but the bone hadn't healed as well as they'd like, so they said another 4 weeks - then last Friday, on examination, her kneecap was more mobile than it should be, so she is still on cage rest, and will be until her next lot of x-rays and appointment - on January 8th!

Oh - and just to add to her woes, the anti-inflammatory they put her on, when she dislocated the knee, gave her a stomach ulcer!

As a result of all this, we have had to cut down on her food intake, as she is having very little exercise at all - so she is on the light food (so she doesn't feel hungry), and a bit less of it, too.

I tend to judge it by eye - both dogs look healthy - both have nice waistlines, though ddog1 is a more solid looking dog, even at her most ideal weight - big head, broad shoulders, deep chest - so she is never going to have ddog2's supermodel figure!

Mine both like raw veg and fruit - I give them the ends of carrots, when I am chopping them up, or the end off the cucumber, cabbage leaves, or the outer sticks of celery, apple cores - stuff like that (though less of the fruit, because of the sugar - that is very occasional) - they think they are getting a treat, and I know it has little in the way of calories, so it's a win-win.

[Hatethis22]

Mine aren't labs but love carrots, cucumber , peppers, broccoli, cauliflower ... Basically no leeks, onions, garlic, tomatoes, grapes or raisins. Everything else is fair game. I measure their kibble but use veg (leftover cooked or raw) as treats. They also love apple (no core) and berries

[PurpleFrog]

SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius - be careful with apple cores. A work colleague lost his Newfoundland a couple of years ago after an apple core got stuck in his intestines.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I will remember that - thank you Purple.

Hatethis - I thought dogs could have tomatoes? I read somewhere that half a can of tinned tomatoes a day would stop their pee turning the lawn brown?

[Chrisalice]

Does something stop them turning the lawn brown???

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

We did try ddog1 on tablets called Greenums, that are supposed to help (I guess they change the pH of the urine), but she has very dilute wee anyway (a side effect of being spayed that some labs have), so doesn't turn the grass brown anyway. Ddog2's wee does, but we are so not lawn-proud people (house proud, but for lawns), so we haven't bothered with the tablets for her.

[Chrisalice]

Thanks thats interesting, tried the 'dog rocks' but no difference, sorry for interrupting thread, getting desperate lawn is now very threadbare and in danger of turning into mud like everywhere else!

[murphys]

Labs will always eat as much as you give them

Agree with this 100%. Our old boy is battling to get up and down a bit now, and we have to feed him less now according to the vet as he is a bit portly and its just more strain on his hips getting up and down with a bit of extra weight.

But it is difficult to resist those big brown eyes looking at you and drooling, if you so much as even try to eat a bit of chocolate or a biscuit in the same room as him.

Our boy has been on various types of dry food, and now years down the like, no matter what he eats, his coat is shiny and he is healthy, not quite as mobile as he used to be, but he is healthy and happy. I do boil up some potato skins every now and then to put in the kibble, and i also give him left over veggies sometimes too.

I cannot think of anything that he wont eat, oh wait, lettuce.... I think that is the only thing that he wont hoover up given a chance. He eats anything, I just saw him the other night when ds took his plate to the kitchen and the melon skin fell off onto the floor. That was gone in a split second, and then he looked for more.... . The first time he had brocolli was quite hysterical.... i think he thought it was alive and he kept nudging it and then got brave and started to throw it around. He did eat it after all the rough play.....

Enjoy dlab, they are such wonderful dogs.

[SDTGisAnEvilWolefGenius]

I have done a quick google, and apparently it is the nitrogen in the wee that causes the problems, and the site I was looking at reckons that tomatoes are useless - it isn't a pH problem.

The recommend either watering the patch where the dog has just wee'd, to dilute it, or making a little toilet spot, dug out and filled with mulch, and training the dog to just go there.

[Chrisalice]

good idea, I should make a toileting spot, though you'd think with all the rain it'd be washed away without further watering. Bring on the snow!!

[Hatethis22]

I think it's the plants that are the danger. All the green bits. They'd need a lot of the fruit to be ill but it has (rightly or wrongly) made me have wary about the advice to give tomato purée or juice to dogs to stop the lawn burning. Our lawn is utterly wrecked