We rescued an nine-year-old yellow Labrador Retriever, Bonnie a year ago. At the time she weighed in at a massive 44 kilos! She could barely walk, let alone run, and sat down every few feet when out walking. She is now a much healthier 32 kilos and it is wonderful to watch her running and swimming along with her friends.
Bonnie has been fed for the last year on a dry veterinary diet food, which has obviously been successful, but the problem is that she poos for England! Four or five times a day she delivers a pile of solid waste often strung together with grass, of which she scoffs copious amounts. Our spending on poo bags is astronomical! Does anyone know of a diet that would make this easier?
Chris Pace, by email
Science Diet is very high in grains, which adog can't digest. What they can't digest comes through and you end up with vast quantities of poop!
ReplyDeleteTry to find a food with less grains and fillers and, not only will you have to feed less, but you'll have less coming out of the other end too!
www.dogfoodanalysis.com is a great site that reviews different dog foods. Try one of their 5 or 6 star foods and you'll notice the difference!
Try Burns - if she still needs to lose weight try the High Oats variety, and feed for the weight you want her to be rather than for the weight she is.
ReplyDeleteSadly, Hills really reward vets for stocking Hills, there are so many better foods out there for our dogs.
Hi Chris,
ReplyDeleteWell done for taking on an older, overweight rescue & working to get the weight off her. As I'm sure you know Labs often have problems with their hips & elbows so you are doing a good job.
There are lots of dog foods that are available in "lite" that can be just as successful in getting the kilos off & are healthier too.
As I understand it a dog digests what its body needs & anything not used is waste, so if huge amounts are being poo'ed there may be a lot of unnecessary fillers in the diet.
When a dog is on a good diet & does small poos you will know it is getting all the nourishment it needs.
Good luck with Bonnie
Both of our girls are fed natural food (BARF). Meg used to get Wafcol years ago, would poo for Britain & it used to smell bad. After a week on BARF her poo became small, had a good consistency & smelled sweet. As an avid "poo sniffer" I can tell when either of the dogs need some extra tlc early on, and the diet gives me the flexibility to firm or soften up poo by changing the amounts of either root or above ground veg.
ReplyDeleteI have also found that due to the variety of foods they get in their diet that when there is an emergency and I have to give them a tin of something they are not used to there is never any diarrhoea as there would be if they were on a "complete" meal.
Some people have concerns about BARFing. Meg has been eating it for 7 1/2 years & is fit & healthy. Heidi has been on it for over a year & it has, I'm sure, contributed to her recovery from cancer & heart disease. There are ways around the bones if that is of concern, but I am convinced that it is the ultimate diet. You also get little poos!