losing weight for my dog

[charlieinthehaystack]

long story really but not a pleasant one either; about 4 years ago we rescued a chihuahua (he is a bit odd for a chi so may be bit crossed he has short and patches of long fur no papers) he came from a puppy farm, the man was later prosecuted but the dog was supposed to be a stud dog but as he was no good at his job so to speak the owner tried to unalive the dog with a blunt instrument. we accept Moo has issues but he has no nasty bones in his body. we know he has continence issues but deal with it with pads and its hard to catch him/ put leads on him but managed to sort it by opening door to house then van door so he hops in no problem then when out just leave van door open in he pops when he has had enough!
anyway husband is a bit fond of treats for him but he is way over weight apart from the exercise i dont know what to do is there any special food that would help? he normally has half a dish of caeser or a third of a can a day we dont have a great deal of money but usually get supermarket on but i am desperate to get his weight down so will find money for special food
ive enclosed a few pics of my darling moo

Well done for recognising he needs help. You need vet support for this. Don’t do it yourself.

An adult human is at liberty to neglect and mistreat themselves as much as they like, because they are the one who bears the consequences. A morbidly obese adult is in fact killing themselves, and their GP may well tell them so that bluntly, but at least the consequences are primarily theirs.

Letting a dog get into this state is cruelty to a dependent creature. And it will hugely shorten lifespan and reduce quality of life.

If I am overweight its my fault, if my pets are its also my fault.
When DDog needed to lose 2 kg on the vets advice we started weighing out his food very carefully and no treats at all

Moo is such a beautiful boy. My dog has been over weight, she had a thyroid problem so need meds for that daily. Is it possible that Moo has a thyroid issue? see a vet and ask to test for that if you can and also stop with all treats. Weigh him very regularly and record his weight with vets receptionist. Put him on a low fat diet and exercise what he can manage, month by month that weight will come down. My dog is on purina ha hypoallergenic dog food its expensive about £29-£30 for 12 tins of food. I spend over £100 a month on food and her thyroid meds cost £42 a month. I dont know what your vet will recommend for Moo. Also my vet said under feed my dog according to her weight, so say she weighed 26kg feed her for a dog the size of a 20kg dog.
Best of luck you and beautiful Moo can do this (please come back and let everyone know how you are doing) xx

Poor boy. Why the fuck did you do this to him. Shameful. I hope you sort it out.

This is abuse. Terrible state to allow a dog to get to. This didn't happen in 5 minutes.
First a vet visit to rule out underlying issues.
Then you need to change to a decent food, like raw, and feed 2 thirds of the recommended daily allowance for the dog's target weight.
Replace the third with boiled mixed vegetables.
Hydrotherapy is advisable, as are several short walks a day at this point.
Your dog's joints are at risk from carrying the excess weight . Your dog's heart is under huge pressure because of the excess weight you have allowed to happen.
No treats at this point.

That’s an overly simplistic and misguided comparison.

You, and the OP won't either, might not like that fact the OP and her dh are guilty of cruelty to an animal, but it is a unavoidable fact and letting it go until the dog is in this state is sickening.

She obviously needs it spelling out to her with the obvious state the poor dog is in and that it needs vet intervention, somewhere I expect the animal also hasn't been for a check up for a long time, to make sure it is done safely for the dogs health - there are risks of under nutrition, overwhelming the liver if done too drastically/too quickly, muscle loss if wrong type of diet, unknown health issues that could be impacted by significant weightloss, dental health, small animals are more prone to low blood sugar and/or have faster metabolisms and this needs to be taken into account with any new diet plan, she will need education on feeding and safe exercise for a severely obese dog.

We need a mounjaro for dogs thread 😂

yes as pp said feed him less he won't like it (who does) but the benefits will be amazing and well worth it. You will feel proud and he will have a new lease of life!

Go to your vets and ask to enrol in the weight loss club. Most vets run them and you will get supportive advice rather than judgment.

This is great advice . You also need to be able to put a lead on him otherwise he’s probably not getting anything like the exercise he should be, although at the moment too much would likely cause him harm . You obviously love him and mean well but you and your husband really need to get on top of this now as it is neglectful to carry on as you are . Prior to getting to the vets you need to stop all treats and scraps immediately , and also get him on a good quality , preferably dry food so you can scatter feed or feed from a scatter ball so he is working for his food . If you want to buy from a supermarket Tesco do Vets Kitchen dry food or Lilys kitchen which are both better quality than the Caesar .

Hi OP,
I don't think you intended to be cruel to moo by overfeeding him and letting him getting into this state but you have, you can't change what you have done but you can change what you do going forward.
This is unintentional abuse in my opinion however this is not good for this dog, he will die, his organs are under pressure, his joints and bones - just like in a human.
First things first
Limit his food and cut down his portions,
Short walks - however frequently during the day on lead so you can monitor what he is doing.

You must take him to the vets, you need guidance and he needs a check up for anything untoward going on.

This is abuse, OP. I'm sorry, but it is.

Make an appointment with the vet and arrange for a vet-controlled diet. The longer this goes on, the more damage you're doing.