Has anyone else had to cut the portions of food down to their dog. My GSD got a bit portly and we have over the past 3 months reduced his food intake. He is on a good quality food and looks really well, shining coat and eyes etc. The weight loss has done him good, he is more energetic, can get in the car easier now etc but poor soul, he is starving hungry all the time. Hes taken to scavenging out of the kitchen bin, raiding the cat food, and horror of horrors eating his own poo. I have read up on this horrid habit and its quite normal apparently in that dogs eat it for the extra nutrients and its really a human thing to be horrified!

Just wondering how long it takes to for him to adjust to the lower portions, I have never had a fat dog before. Vet is really pleased as he is within a couple of kilos of normal weight range for a GSD now.
Problem arose when I had a bad shoulder and leg and could not exercise him as much as normal, the hips (his and mine began to spread) plus my older dog had pancreatis and towards the end his appetite was very small, so boyo snook extra food whenever he could.

Hi estweyn,

My dally got a little porky recently (I can't stand seeing fat dals so was horrified!) and decided before she got fat I had to do something!

Upping her exercise by trying to teach her fetch was one thing - I can't run so had to make her run somehow! She'll run with other dogs but if we don't meet other dogs she just does a normal trot.

I've also lowered her food intake and yes, she's been hungry. She scavenges anyway - being a dalmatian, but it's the crying for food that gets me!

I've decided to put her on a lower fat diet with more cereals in as these are supposed to fill them up better with (obviously) less fat intake.

Chappie has been recommended to me but it's great for dallies, not sure about GSDs. It's low in fat and has lots of cereal in to fill them up - I never thought it was a good quality food but the vets have recommended it.

Maybe try asking your vet for either a weight control diet from Royal Canin or which complete foods contain more cereals to fill your dog up?

Suppose its like when we diet we are starving too :hihi: I had a dog that got quite chubby she was the same poor thing scrounging and in the bin, she once ate through the pocket of my coat to get at some treats I left in there :rolleyes:
Keep going with it obvioslt your dog feels better for it, I wish someone would stop me eating so I lose weight :sad: you know your doing the right thing.
You could try feeding her carrot or other veg to fill her up and as a treat mine love that :)

I'd be careful with feeding a food that has a lot of cereal in it, its not very good for dogs..

I'd be careful with feeding a food that has a lot of cereal in it, its not very good for dogs..

I don't know how much cereal chappie has in it but it's the first ingredient - the idea being they get their energy from carbohydrate sources as opposed to protein sources as carbohydrates are easier to digest and make use of the energy.
It's lower in fat and lower in protein which is always good for dallies who shouldn't have too much protein in their diets due to being predisposed to urinary crystals and bladder stones. (Hence I said I'm not sure how appropriate it is for GSDs)

You will notice that most performance dog foods have carbohydrate sources listed further up the ingredients list than protein sources due to it being better for keeping up energy and condition as well as not letting them get as hungry.

I'd much rather feed a quality food with cereal listed before meat than one with meat listed first but from an unnamed source where the chicken could be from a terrible source and of bad quality.

we always give our dogs cooked wholewheat pasta if we are reducing food intake. we use it couple of meals a week to replace dry food.

Well Molly has eaten the mattress today, my normally tolerant girlfriend was taking some foster kittens to the vets with flu and we think she did it then.

Bad books for Molly:rant:

PS Molly is a German Shepherd also.

You will notice that most performance dog foods have carbohydrate sources listed further up the ingredients list than protein sources due to it being better for keeping up energy and condition as well as not letting them get as hungry.

I'd much rather feed a quality food with cereal listed before meat than one with meat listed first but from an unnamed source where the chicken could be from a terrible source and of bad quality.

Actually, it's the other way round :) Protein and fat is what dogs use the best, and performance foods have more protein and fat in them than normal foods, like this one http://www.nutro.co.uk/dog/adultp.htm I feed mine with the adult food from this brand, been very happy with it.

For the original problem, try adding rice or pasta to his diet to make the dog feel fuller. We feed our dogs rice with every meal so they feel that they have got more than they actually have :) They gain too much weight easily as well.

My apologies, of course you are right. I'm not sure if I've mixed things up since she explained it to me or what.

Carbohydrate is a longer running source of energy and cereals provide that as well as filling them up without causing extra weight gain.

So yes, I probably have got muddled up - whilst protein and fat is used more easily, it doesn't last them as long as carbs do.

helmi- that's one of the first performance foods I've seen with meat listed first! I looked for one for ages!

We used to feed pasta to Takara just to fill her up a bit because she was always so hungry!!

Thank you all, pasta it is then! We had a GSD who ate the chair, then the conservatory suite, was a houdini in the fridge, got locked in the bathroom and ate the door, ate the door of his state of the art outdoor kennel with double glazing etc, but he obviously did not like it, stole chicken joints from under the grill without burning his nose, NIGHTMARE