What is the best dog food for my very overweight golden lab/retriever mix?

What are you feeding your dog now? Include EVERYTHING. People and dog food and portions you give. How much exercise is your dog getting? How old is your dog?

Ruby's right. You can't just look at the dog food. You have to look at the age of the dog, the activity level, general health and ALL food intake. Generally speaking, cut out all extras (including dog treats, chews, etc), ensure the dog gets lots of exercise (especially a lab mix) and, if you must use food as a reward, try baby carrot slices or a piece of the dog's own dog food and reduce meal accordingly. If the dog is on an appropriate dog food for it's age and body type (ie: large breed dog food if it's over 50 lbs) and you are following the recommended feeding regimine as well as getting adequate exercise and very little of the 'extras', then it shoudn't be overweight. If this is the case, I would speak to the vet about it at your next annual check up, to rule out health issues.

Didi

I am glad you recognize the problem and are planning to correct it. If it is way over weight, just cutting back could leave it short on vitamins, minerals, fat, etc. If they have a weight control or even a senior version of what you are feeding, that would be the best thing. If not, see if a competing brand with a similar formulation does. If you are feeding say a chicken and rice formula, find a weight control chicken and rice. Here is a link to a great guide to determining when she has reached her ideal body condition, LongLiveYourDog.com (http://www.puppychow.com/products/popup_body_condition.aspx)

Yes, I agree, cut out everything else.

My dog is 7 yrs old and isn't very active, although I try to get her to go for walks with me. I walk an hour a day myself, but when Abby goes, she is usually drooling and panting something awful by the time we get back. Yes she has seen a vet and is in good heath accept for her weight. She seems to me to act like a much older dog than she is and she is quite grey already too. She eats 2 heaping cups of dry food a day and very little table scraps, but my husband feeds her lite ham as a treat in the a.m. I am trying to get him to quit, but he cannot stand her big brown eyes. I told him he was slowly killing her, so he is trying. We have recently cut out table scraps and she only get Lean Treats as a reward. We have never had a regular brand of dog food, but have tried many weight-management kinds. I just wondered if one or two were better than others. Thanks for your responses!

You really need to choose a chow and stick with it. The more protein sources a dog eats, the harder it is to work around it is it ever develops allergies. I see dogs thriving on many different brands, so I am not going to suggest an particular brand. I am suspicious of those that promotes some of the more expensive brands. I suspect that some of them are selling the brand as a side line.

Purina has changed their site again. The link I gave you didn't work for me this morning. I fell back on

http://www.photolocker.net/images/Labman/proplanc.jpg

You can also add canned green beans or pumpkin to an overweight dog's diet. It provides them more bulk to eat without giving them any calories they can use. I am not sure it does much more than make the owner feel better. Half a can of beans would be better for Abby than a slice of ham.

2 cups a day of dry dog food doesn't sound like too much, but some dogs are very efficient.

I have tracked down their new version, but I think I liked the older one better, LongLiveYourDog.com - Life Span Study - Rate Your Dog (http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx)

If Abby is overweight to the point where she can't walk with you for an hour without so much discomfort I really think you should take her for 2 half hour walks a day and cut out all table scraps and the Lite ham. :)

Her weight is probably what is causing her to age so quickly. My Sam was part lab and husky. At 7+ years old she would run by my bike for miles, play hard with the Bernese Mountain Dog pup, chase rabbits and grasshoppers in the field and more without showing any signs of tiring. Weight puts undue stress on the heart, lungs and kidneys on both people and dogs. It will pre-dispose her to diabetes.

Again, it depends upon the kind of dog food that you are giving her, but I will tell you this. My Bernese Mountain Dog (who is 125 lbs.) eats just less than 4 cups a day and my very active Chocolate Lab (62.5 lbs) eats 3 cups of the large breed dog food. So, unless your 2 'heaping' cups ends up being 2 and a half or 3 cups, it really doesn't sound like Abby is eating excessive amounts of dog food. If you aren't overdoing the treats, I suspect that she is getting a little more than lite ham from your husband! :D

All kidding aside, I encourage you to slowly increase her daily activity level by ten to fifteen minutes a week until she is doing the one hour walks with no difficulty. This will be great for her heart. If she likes other dogs, I would try to have her spend time with other dogs at least weekly. If you don't know anyone with a dog, then maybe there is a doggy daycare near you. Play is an excellent form of exercise!

I also agree with labman regarding picking one food and sticking to it. It's just too hard on the dog's system to switch all the time. Her body may get accustomed to not having to work very hard for one food, then you switch to a food with more fats and her digestive system takes longer to kick in for the change and you could be seeing the results of it now. If you pick a good dog food and stick to it (and I am not saying the most expensive) then you get larger less frequent bowel movements (Bonus! Easier clean up!), it's less stressful on the dog's digestive system and the size of your feedings can remain constant so there's less risk of over-feeding.

I would also say that at 7 years of age and considering her weight, you should definitely switch to a senior dog food.

Good luck to you and Abby!

Didi