Porky beagle- any diet food you'd recommend?

[ArwenTheGreat]

We got a 5yo rescue beagle just before lockdown last year. We all adore her- she's affectionate, calm, silly, absolutely devoted to us all and the most loving of animals I have ever met. A total joy. (Took some work but she knows we are here too now.)

She is also overweight (came to us like this and I have weighed her this weekend and I am failing her, she hovers around about the same weight).

Like with lots of beagles she has no recall. And so I can't let her off the lead. But it also means she doesn't get the opportunity to run, and as much as we both need the exercise I don't have 3 hours a day to walk the same calories off. There is a secure exercise field about 10 miles away so we have been there a few times but she's not interested in running games- she doesn't find fetch or anything like that exciting so I cant chuck a ball/stick about there or in the garden for her. She just looks at it and then wanders off.

So my focus needs to turn to food- she is a greedy little thing but has two small meals a day and 1 dental stick plus 2 slices of non-naice ham (she's a stubborn mule too and it's the only way I can get her to move out of her basket to go out for a wee past 8.30 PM when she likes to retire) Although will grab anything that she can because she's a beagle. Last week it was an entire home made lasagne for 8 that was defrosting on the kitchen table

This is a long waffle (basically me just loving how idiosyncratic my lovely pooch is!) But the crux of it is- I need a low calorie but filling food I guess- there are lots out there, are these ok for them? Is there something else I can do? (Other than cutting back massively on the treats, I MUST be giving her more than I realise)

TL:DR my dog is overweight. More exercise might not be the best route. Please recommend a diet food for her.

There are lots of brands that do low fat. We feed Millies Wolfheart and I know they do a low cal one. However they have a questionnaire asking you if you dog is overweight/underweight and the amount of excersise it has. It then gives you food choices based on that so it may be just a different food is needed (more protein/less carbs etc).
I changed our dogs food as he is very active and was loosing weight. The new one they've recommended has higher carbs for him and less protein.
You could also try adding veg too to give volume but not calories.
Try and take treats from her food allowance too rather than give her extras.
Good luck!

Some tips here.
caninearthritis.co.uk/managing-arthritis/weight-management/

My girl is also a ninja food thief, when i first got her, I'd find her stood on dining table hoovering up any crumps or microscopic food. It also shows up i'm poorly trained human as despite years I repeatedly forget to put stuff out of her way ( the microwave seems to be my go to).

My dogs on a mature diet which is lower cals but are lots specifically for weightloss. I make sure I weigh my dogs food rather than doing it by eye with a scoop. Hopefully being a foody she's less fussy so can add veg to bulk out meals, but also look at the way you feed so it takes longer, likimats, kongs can use mashed veg and freeze. Scatter feeding ( either in grass or those fleece rag snuffle mats) & numerous different trickle feeders on market but just watch in case they also chew them up.

If there is two people when you go to that field use her meal for recall style training where call her between you so she runs for treats, or get her to chase you about.

Hydrotherapy is great for weight loss as gives them a hard workout while supporting the joints from strain, but can be expensive.

Hello! Fellow beagle owner here

Ours put on a lot of weight after being neutered and we got told off by the vets but he's lost six kilos since last summer.

He goes off the lead most days though and loves to run. If you're in a secure field have you tried engaging him in play with a natural rabbit-fur tug? They come on long bits of string and you run around and get them to chase it.

The best thing to do though is reduce food. We cut meals down by a good 25% and stopped all human food that wasn't veggies. Will she eat things like raw carrot? Ours loves vegetables so he now gets some everyday as his evening snack.

I would also get rid of the dentastick - they are awful and full of so much crap and additives. Swap it for a raw carrot or a low fat natural chew instead - something like a rabbit ear is a good option.

No more ham either! And keep all food away from her - it really has to be kept locked up as they are master food thieves. We have a baby gate over the kitchen and never leave him in there unattended.

I have beagles, so share your pain.

Honestly, the solution is less food. As in, less than you think possible. Mine run 30-40 miles a week with me (I'm trainign the youngest to pull a bike, too) and, even with that exercise, get half a cup of kibble twice a day. Yours will need much less.

Kibble is really energy dense so a small amount is actually a lot of calories, but it swells in the stomach so ends up much more filling than it looks.

So, rigorously measure what you're giving her now, so you have a baseline. Then reduce it by 20% and monitor her weight. After two weeks, if no change, reduce it again and monitor for another two weeks. And so on.

Agree with others that the dentastick needs to go. It's like you having a giant supersize McFlurry with a flake as an afternoon snack, then wondering why the salad you had for lunch hasn't made you skinny.

Carrots are good - mine love a carrot - and they pass through largely undigested. Mine love most veg, raw or cooked or scraps. Seriously, spring green stalks are apparently the best treat ever. So you can reward her with those. You don't need a whole slice of ham to lure her - she will probably do almost anything for a square inch of the stuff.

Then put a padlock on the fridge and machine-gun emplacements on the kitchen worksurfaces, because beagles are like ninja food robbers when they want to be.

It can be done. I have skinny beagles. Good luck!

Stop the dental stick, it’s like cleaning your teeth with sweets.
Reduce her food by 25% and bulk out with veg.

My lab loves his Kong wobbler, he is exercising while eating Scatter feeding in the garden when it's nice, a snuffle mat inside. A frozen carrot instead of a dentastix. I recommend the Facebook group Canine enrichment ideas.

Yes our vet told us to cut the dental stix. He called it empty calories. I have a food stealing cocker who also doesn't go off lead currently so I feel your pain and unfortunately the answer is less food! Also worth researching which food has the biggest bulk for the calories as I think it helps them feel fuller - we are using millie's wolfheart kibble.

Tracker Mix - Millies wolfheart.

Agree cut out the dental stix and ham.

Thanks all for your help. Will be weighing her food from now on! She turns her nose up at raw veg but will try some of your other suggestions

My vet told me that Dentastix are fat mixed with chalk powder and, though not strictly true, I haven't used them for years. Cut food gradually, ten percent every week, until the dog is losing weight. Add bulk gradually too, over a week or so, ending up with two teaspoons of oat bran in each meal. Also gradual addition of raw or lightly cooked carrot (but not too much as it contains sugar and starch), ditto shredded cabbage. Don't add masses of veg to start with as he might get stomach cramps; he'll almost certainly produce vast amounts of lethal wind. Don't cut protein if you are trying to swap porkiness for muscle. No ham nor other human food. Tiny treats (Pets at Home do bone biscuits intended for puppies; they break in half easily!). Your brain is four times the size of his so you should be able to manage steady weight loss for him.

@Spanielsarepainless I break those tiny bones into 3 or 4 random shards. My dogs basically work for dust. I'm the cruelest owner ever.

Weigh the food out every single time it is too easy to be gradually increase by a couple of kibble each day. And feed her for the weight of dog you want her to be, not her current weight.

Weigh out the daily kibble ration in the morning, and take from it some for treats, and divide the rest between meals. Or find a scoop that really does reliably return the right daily amount.

If you feed wet as well, you will probably need to weigh every meal (unless the amount you need daily is an unmistakable fraction of tin or whole tin).

Also worth knowing how many calories that is per day, so if you have nice dog-friendly human food to share (DDog loves salmon) you can sort out proportions