Ok guys, with Isis passing recently, it made me start thinking how hard it would be for me to lose Axel, and in which turn got me thinking about his health, which is good, but lets face it, he is fat. Like, I love him so I'll admit it, he is planetary hehe. But the thing is he doesnt eat much, he doesnt pig out or anything, he just, is very picky and he is a danm scavenger. Trust me when I say he is picky, I can get a pound of hamburger meat and put 4 pieces of dog food in it, and he wont eat it because of the dog food, he really really wont. You could get a t bone steak and smear soft dog food on it and he wont eat it. So does anyone know good diets for the likes of him? I was suggested by the vet to start him on dry food instead of raw but have had no luck, EVER, getting him to eat it. I tried mixing it with pretty much everything thats edible with no luck. He walks everyday with me for a total of 2 hours, so any ideas or suggestions are very much welcomed and needed!

Oh my gosh he is a big guy! Lol, we can just call him extra "fluffy." Although, I don't really know what to recommend myself
Lycus is 70lbs at 9 months and he eats EVERYTHING! But he isn't actually fat! He's just kind of tall.
Hopefully somebody can give you some good advice!

lol yes he really is a big boy, the thing is, is he is such a scavenger, I crate him during dinner time, NOT because he takes food but because he will haunt, and I do mean HAUNT the kids and I in the shadows in the background and once someone drops something, no matter how small, he eats it, and Ill record it hopefully today, but when I let him out after everyone eats, OMG he RUNS around in a frenzy looking for anything I may have not swept up. He is worse than a vulture.

Haha, that literally made me laugh out loud. Lycus knows he's not allowed in the kitchen so he will just sit where the kitchen divides into the living room and lick the floor a little hoping he will get a taste. I hope you can record a video of him, that would be funny to see!

do you just need to change up the raw that you are feeding him? maybe its to much? sorry if he will not eat kibble i dont know much about raw.
but good for you on trying to trim him down, i know what that is like as i had to do that when we adopted sierra!

What are you feeding him now and how much?

he gets in total a day about 3lbs of meats (elk, fish and rabbit and when I can get my hands on it sometimes buffalo) grinded up with about 1lb of organs, puree veggies with fruit mixed in, and he will have a bone sometimes from cow and sometimes from pig. Is this good for him? Everything I go through with Ax is a first time experience for me so if this is a bad diet for him let me know

OH and sometimes he will be a good boy and earn an ostrich egg with his food.

ohmygod. Those pictures are so bad, I have to get my boy in shape, I know the day will come when I lose him but I will be god damned sure that when that day comes its not because of anything I could have prevented.

Do you know how much he currently weights. I would get a starting weight for him and set a goal for what he should weight in the end..
I weight my two every couple of weeks or so at either petsmart or at the vets to validate that they are not eating too much..

Sounds like you need to cut down on how much he eats to start with.

good luck I do not feed raw to mine everyday but once in a while they get some.

I wonder if they do that at petbarn? I didnt know petsmart did it either I always assumed you either need to have a scale or go to the vet and have him weight them! Ive tried to get Ax to sit on the scale but he fidgets alot, the last time the vet weighed him, he was 87lbs and his vet had told me that he should eat 13% of his weight and that he needs to eat a total of 11lbs a day of meat/veggie/fruit. It seemed like much to me though...

Wow that is a lot.. about twice what my two weight. You can weight you dog at bansfield at petsmart has the scale in the front or the area or at least the one I go to does.

Ill call and ask petbarn, theres a petbarn right here close by and I really want to find out his exact weight so know his starting weight and what his goal is to be.

4lbs of food a day?! That seems like a lot to me! Check this out: http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

Axle is such a pretty dog I am glad you are going to work on getting him to a good weight.

Also His collar looks good..

ljelgin wrote:

Axle is such a pretty dog I am glad you are going to work on getting him to a good weight.

Also His collar looks good..

He is my baby boy, he is the first dog I have had in over 12 years and I have to do everything I can to keep him around for a long time still, his weight isnt good and he doesnt have health problems, so I want to keepit that way. I love his collr, but somehow he always manages to slip the tag off for some reason.

SaraB wrote:

4lbs of food a day?! That seems like a lot to me! Check this out: http://www.raw4dogs.com/calculate.htm

1.74 pounds (27.84 ounces) per day total no wonder he is fat jesus christ that is alot isnt it??

Are you feeding him for what he weight now or for what he should weigh, if he is 87 pounds and should weigh 70 maybe you should feed him what a 70 pound dog would eat.(I am not sure what his "Goal Weight" is.

Umm, yeah 4 lbs a day is a LOT! My boy is 50 lbs and he eats 1 lb of food (raw) per day. I consider 3+ lbs in a single day a gorge and tend to skip feeding (or rather do a very light feed) the day after. Raw fed dogs typically only need approximately 2% of their body weight per day. Keep in mind also that certain meats are higher in fat content and heavier (take beef or lamb for example) than other meats and will put on weight faster even if you were to feed the same amount as a lighter meat (such as poultry or fish).

Huskyluv wrote:

Umm, yeah 4 lbs a day is a LOT! My boy is 50 lbs and he eats 1 lb of food (raw) per day. I consider 3+ lbs in a single day a gorge and tend to skip feeding (or rather do a very light feed) the day after. Raw fed dogs typically only need approximately 2% of their body weight per day. Keep in mind also that certain meats are higher in fat content and heavier (take beef or lamb for example) than other meats and will put on weight faster even if you were to feed the same amount as a lighter meat (such as poultry or fish).

wow, its just crazy now that I know how much he is being over fed! I really want to come up with agood diet for him, from the type of meats to the amounts, first thing in the morning Im going to go take him for a walk to petbarn and get his exact weight!

Yeah Christina, 4lbs a day is way way too much food. Use more chicken and less fattier meats (IE no beef lol) venison has little to no fat really. I would cut him down to at most 2lbs a day. See where that takes you...

:p heehee Axel is going to be so pissed. I am going to definatly cut down his food and change it up, he isnt picky as long as it is only raw foods, he just wont eat dog food. I am going to make a diet thread for him soon here. keep track of everything and update on progress and such, gotta get my baby boy to healthy weight!

go slowly with the weight loss don't try to take it all off too fast. He sure is gorgeous!