Hello there! My Lab + Coal is overweight, he's been having hip probelms and I have a feeling that may be due to the extra weight he's carrying. I left home for 6 weeks and my parents looked after him. He was on a high calorie diet because he was so active, and it totally slipped my mind to cut it down while I was gone! They didn't even walk him while I was gone, and while he has free roam of 5 acres, it apparently wasn't enough exercise while I was gone because when I got back he was like a little furry table!

It's been two months now, he's been getting most of his outdoor activety during the weekends because by the time I get home from work it's too dark and cold out to walk him, plus I've cut his food down to a cup in the morning and a cup at night.

It hasn't seemed to help at all!

I'm going to try training my younger pup Linkin on the treadmill just beacuse he's so high energy and there's not enough daylight hours, plus because of the cold, to get it out of him. I'm wondering, should I try training Coal on it too? I'm not sure how well that will go over though... when he was a puppy he leapt onto it when my mom was using it and went flying off, so he's not the biggest fan of the treadmill!

Can anyone give me some suggestions to help Coal lose those pounds? I know because he's got lab in him, he's prone to obecity as it is... He's always been very active, it's just the past few months things have changed (since I went away and have been working more).

I also don't want to push him too hard too fast, so if I'm able to train him on the treadmill, what would be the sujested speed and time limit to start him at?

it is good that you realize not to try to overdo it with him, as that could cause all sorts of health issues. are you sure you're not on the weekends?

how old is he? has he had a blood panel done & check up at the vets for a possible medical problem?

I've never used a tread mill but common sense says a very slow speed & of course stay right there with him & I'd think start out with 5 minutes a couple times a day & work up from there.

what exactly are you feeding him? you can mix some fresh green beans, apple slices or carrots into his food for volume with no calories. what is he getting for treats? are your parents giving him table food?

JMHO but this was certainly not a time for you to get another dog, especially a puppy!

I would also immediately get Coal on glucosimine, chondroiten, msm for his hips & knees, available at WM or any drug store. here is info on what it does.

Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM information and product

Thanks for the advice so quickly!

I've already got another dog, he's a puppy still but he's 11 months old. (more info about them in my introduction post under "New Dogs on the Block")

I'm going to try and get him into the vets ASAP to rule out any health problems.

On the weekends I let them out and they run and play in the snow for about half an hour each day (sat and Sun)... depending on the weather. Last weekend they were out only about 20 minutes because it was so cold. Could that be over doing it? Should I maybe take them out one at a time instead? Linkin is extremely high energy so he can get Coal pretty worked up, but usually Coal gives up chasing him pretty quick and tends to just check out the scenery or play with me instead after that.

As for extra food... I've made it strict he doesn't get anything extra, and what he does is closely monitored and in very small portions. He use to get table scraps a lot, but he gets them maybe once every couple of weeks now, and only a little bit.

Adding things like apples is a good idea! I never thought of that. He's fed "ProSource" kibble which is... 26% crude protien and 15% crude Fat... which I hadn't even realized until now *blushes*, that seems pretty high to me. It's also a "Chicken and Rice" formula, if that helps... I live in a pretty small town so dog food selection is quite limited. You basically have a choice of high quality crap or poor quality crap foods.

He also doesn't get any treats because I train without them.

are you sure about the name of the food? there is nothing listed & I wanted to see the ingredients. who mfg's it? are you in the US?

I agree that is very high protien. altho puppies need higher protien yours should have been on adult food long ago. yes, I knew you already had the puppy, I just don't think it was well thought out, sorry but if you don't have time for one dog during the week you sure don't have time for two.

do you have a health food store, feed store, or a petsmart anywhere around?

I have time for them, it's just that during the winter it's harder to exercise them. And no offence, but it seems strange that you'd jump at the idea I shouldn't have two dogs when you don't even know me or my lifestyle really... seems a little too assumptious if you ask me.

No, I'm not in the US, I'm in Canada. Yes, the brand is ProSource, and I've only ever found it sold at Overwaitea which is a foodstore only in B.C. I'm not sure what the MFG is.

Linkin's not on puppy food, it's adult food.

I have time for them, it's just that during the winter it's harder to exercise them. And no offence, but it seems strange that you'd jump at the idea I shouldn't have two dogs when you don't even know me or my lifestyle really... seems a little too assumptious if you ask me


that is my point - you said it is to dark & cold to walk Coal during the week when you get home from work, & I understand that. it means that now you have 2 dogs that you can't walk because you can't be there when it is light.

I even tried the actual store web site but they don't list anything at all for pets. you may already know this but any form of corn will pack weight on altho I will never understand how since it is not digestable to anything. thats what birds are picking out of the cow paddies.

you may have to try several types of apples until you find one he likes

Coal loves apples! I sometimes give him a whole apple to chew on (supervised of course, once he gets to the core I take it away cuz I don't want him eating the seeds).

So just because I currently don't have enough daylight hours for the next couple months means I shouldn't have two dogs? That seems like strange logic to me... besides, I'm moving in Feb so I won't have the same job, I'm going to be training dogs instead so I'll be able to make my own hours, as well as take my pups to work with me

Overwaitea isn't about pet supplies, it's a grocery store, so I wouldn't really see why it would have anything about pet supplies on its website. I know it probably sounds like I'm making it all up but I swear I'm not LOL When I was in Salmon Arm half the people in my class didn't know what Overwaitea was either... When I asked my mom about it, why no one seemed to know what it was where as I've grown up as it being the ONLY grocery store, she said that everywhere except B.C. it's known as something else... I can't remember what she said though, I wana say Shoppers but I don't think that's right...

that will be great when you can set your own hours.

yes, I looked at the website of the grocery store - they had several departments listed, of course pet dept wasn't one of them

then I tried using their search engine for dog food - nothing, looked under groceries - nope so I finally gave up

be sure to look into that combo for his hips

Yeah, I think I'll look into finding a new brand of food. I always thought it was good quality but the more I learn about the ingredients in it, the less i think it really is... but it is really the best quality you can get in this little village! There's a town about 45 minute drive from here that my mom tends to be in at least once a week... so if I can find anything better sold there, I'll have to look into buying from there.

Gah, the vets are closed until Tuesday! I swear, they always have the worst hours, when I wanted to get Linkin neutered it took me two weeks just to get ahold of them (several times i couldn't call because they were closed, and several times all I got was the machine... it's a very small clinic), and then when I did make an appointment I had to wait two and a half weeks for it because they only do S/N's on certain days! I think I'll just have to use my calling card (because it's long distace) at work on Tuesday to make an appointment for Coal, I think that's the only way I'm going to be able to get ahold of them!

if you want - tell me the first 6 or 8 ingredients off the bag.

do you know what stores are in the other town? I will look at the food they have & help you with it if you want me to

Chicken, brewers rice, ground corn, wheat flour, chicken meal, poultry meal...

and I'm not too sure about which stores are there... I'll have to look into that...

Originally Posted by StinkeyMoles

Chicken, brewers rice, ground corn, wheat flour, chicken meal, poultry meal...

and I'm not too sure about which stores are there... I'll have to look into that...

if I repeat something I said earlier, please excuse. I do so much of this it's hard to remember what I have told who.

ingredients are listed in their order of weight in the food - same as people food. however there are a lot of tricks used too.

in this food it shows chicken first so one would think that it is mainly chicken. not so - just "chicken" means that it is 70% water, when that is removed - not much chicken left so it drops way down the list.

brewers rice is a waste product of the beer industry & a filler of course flour is a filler

corn & wheat & soy are known allergens. we have poulty meal - the difference is this would include beaks, feet entrails, eyes & eggs

just some things to look for on labels.

if you find out if there is a petsmart or what ever in that town I will try to see what they carry.

Thanks for the info!

I fed BARF years ago, but don't remember a whole lot from it, it's been a while since I've researched food for dogs.

I know they don't have a PetSmart (in fact, I thought that was a US store, but I could be wrong), in fact I know they don't have any pet stores, just grocery stores. I think there's two different grocery stores there, but I'm just not sure what they're called.

There's a city 2 hours from here that has a few pet stores (one of which is PetCetera which is where I shop mostly for my pet needs). Unfortantly because this city is 2 hours away, we don't go there as often as we would need to buy dog food. :???:

never thought I'd live to say this, but is there a WM in the closer town? they've have a new brand that is made for them & its not bad - Maxxumum something or other

Originally Posted by suebgone

never thought I'd live to say this, but is there a WM in the closer town? they've have a new brand that is made for them & its not bad - Maxxumum something or other

A What What? lol I'm not sure what a WM is!

I FINALLY was able to book him an appointment for this wed (Dec 19th). Fingers crossed the Vet can help us out and that there's nothin too serious with his hips!

I was able to get him on the treadmill. Started training him on it a week ago, and he actually took to it a lot better than I expected. Still taking it easy and slow though.

lol WM is WalMart. be sure to read the info on the link I provided about the glucosimine combo.

before you go on Wed I'd suggest reading up on Rimadyl so you can decide if you want to use it or not because that's probably what the vet will suggest. personally I think the combo is much safer & I know its cheaper.

OKay, thanks for the info and advice! If I have any more questions I'll let you know, and I'll keep you posted for what happens at the Vets!

Oooh, WalMart, okay. No, V-hoof doesn't have a WalMart, I know PG does but again, that's 2 hours away and if I went there for food I might as well just buy it at a petstore there lol

Well, Coal went to the vet yesterday...

He is prematurely aging... which explains why he got a grey muzzle at the age of 3 and a half. He has arthritus in all of his legs, apparently his front "wrists" are the wrost which I hadn't even noticed anything wrong with those ones! It's not in the bone yet, just the cartilage and what not... we got him a bottle of Glucosamine that the Vet sells and recommends, he said HE takes the stuff and it seem to work pretty well... it's 90 bux though!
Wigmore (the vet) said his early aging could be cause from genetics, type of food he ate as a puppy, or too much wear and tear on the joints, or all of the above. I've done agility with him since he was a year and a half but it wasn't never too streneous, or at least I thought it wasn't. Now I'm not too sure and feel like I hold some of the blame... if I'd known his food and activity would do this to him, I would have deffinatly made changes right away.

We can do tests to find out what exactly is going on, but it will cost around $500 and Wigmore doesn't recomend it yet at this stage because it's so early and a lot won't show up.

He's still got quite a few years in him, but it's really broken my heart... I asked the Vet if I shouldn't let him and Linkin play, and if i should end his agility career and he said that it's the debate of Quality vs Quantity... he believes that if a dog can't run and play and enjoy life like a dog should be able to do then there's not much point keeping them around. I have to agree with this, but I want to keep him for as long as I can, as healthy as possible AND as happy as possible. So I think for Agility he won't be trialing ever again, but if he's feeling up to it next summer I'll let him do easy things like the tunnel and stuff like that... but no jumping. And as for playing with Linkin I'll let them play as long as it doesn't get carried away, and they don't play for too long, so a lot of supervision. Wigmore said that forward motion stuff is good for him (and to help get the weight off) so lots of walking, just not jumping or twisting (which is what a lot of Agility is all about).

Oh sweet mother of God! how many pills for $90? what a rip off unless it's several hundred pills.

here is the info on the combo & I would highly recommend using all 3 not just the glucosimine.

Glucosamine Chondroitin MSM information and product

sounds like the rest of your plan is good