My doxie & his weight

Question
I have a 8 year old standard daschund - Buster.  He is a very loving and faithful member of our family.  His weight is awful and has always been that way.  We adopted/rescued a daschund/pit mix about 5 years ago, who is now 12.  The mix was diagnosed with Diabetes about two years ago, so he is on a special diet that Buster has adapted to because of the cost of the food and us not wanting to have two different types of food in the house.  The new food the Purina OM (Overweight Management).  They both get food for a 15-18 pound dog each day which my Vet said is appropriate, she also said I could give them 1/4 to 1/2 cup of dry food as well, but we do not do that.  They split a dog biscuit in the morning after the rescue dogs gets his insulin shot, then before bed they get a small "Dingo" rawhide bone.  They are both walked 30 minutes in the morning, and 30 minutes in the evening EVERY DAY!!!  Buster is active, but is 31lbs.  He has not lost any weight and I'm very concerned about his "gurth".  After two years of this special diet I had expected him to lose some weight.  Any advise on how to get my "chunky monkey" fit would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Hi Cheryl-

Getting dogs to loose weight is always a challenge! At this point, I do have some suggestions for you.

1) Have the dogs had their thyroid checked? This is a very common problem in dachshunds, and could be attributing to his weight.

2)Are you feeding wet or dry every day? How much exactly are you feeding? (1 cup twice a day, etc)

I looked up purina overweight management formula's ingredients, and I would like to share those with you:

Ground yellow corn, soybean meal, soybean hulls, corn gluten meal, beef and bone meal, pea fiber, wheat gluten, animal digest, cellulose, dicalcium phosphate, beef tallow preserved with mixed-tocopherols (source of Vitamin E), defluorinated phosphate, salt, choline chloride, calcium carbonate, zinc oxide, ferrous sulfate, vitamin supplements (E, A, B-12, D-3), manganese sulfate, niacin, calcium pantothenate, brewers dried yeast, riboflavin supplement, biotin, pyridoxine hydrochloride, copper sulfate, thiamine mononitrate, folic acid, menadione sodium bisulfite complex (source of Vitamin K activity), calcium iodate.

The first four ingredients, which are the most important and appear the most in the food, is ground yellow corn, soybean meal, soybean hulls, and corn gluten. All of those are completely indigestible to dogs, who are not meant to process grains. The reason that this food is considered "light" is because its essentially feeding your dog sawdust. Lots of fillers, but no nutrients, and no real protein. Fed over a long period of time, I would expect this food to do some real damage on a dogs digestive system. I'd like to also mention to you that vets spend less then 2 weeks on nutrition in 4 years of vet school. I'm a second year vet student and I was appalled by what was handed to us. Science diet and purina are shoved down our throats as students because of the amount of money donated to vet schools. Most prescription diets are actually very unhealthy. You may want to consider asking diet questions to a canine nutritionist, and not a regular DVM.

So here would be my suggestion for a new diet. First, throw out ever scrap of food you have from Purina except for 1 weeks worth, so you can switch the dogs over to a new food. Visit www.dogfoodanalysis.com and take a look at their 6 star foods. Choose a product with no grain in it, and a good protein level. My choice for you would be Innova EVO, or Wellness CORE. Both of these foods are very high in protein, but low in fat and fillers. But feel free to look around at some of the other food options. Again, stay away from diets loaded with grain and fillers, and stay away from diets like Science diet, Purina, IAMS, etc. If you are in an area where Innova and Wellness can't be found, try Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which is available at all petsmarts!

Now that you have your new food, its time for some serious discipline. If Buster is 31 LBS, but should be 15, he should be fed the average amount for a 10-15 LBS dog. I would suggest 1/4 a cup of dry food twice a day, and only 1, or 1/2 of a light biscuit. I would also cut out his dingo rawhide, which surprisingly has a LOT of fat, salt, and preservatives in it. Its like us ending the day with a big candy bar.

Along with 1/4 a cup of dry food twice a day, its time to introduce him to some HEALTHY!!! fillers. Green beans are the most popular, and probably work the best. They are low calorie, delicious and healthy, and have a ton of water and vitamins in them. I would top off his 1/4 a cup of dry food with half a can of green beans. You can even nuke them to make them seem more delicious and more like forbidden people food ;) For a bedtime snack, try a raw bone. Take a RAW rib bone, cut most of the meat off of it, and let him go to town. Its very healthy, cleans his teeth, and also burns calories while he chews. You can also try carrot sticks if you are uncomfortable giving your dog raw bones.

It will take about a month for the fillers and unhealthy preservatives to work their way out of your dogs bodies, but once they do you should notice them feeling a lot better. They should have more energy, be more excited about play time and exercise time, and you should notice Buster loosing weight. It will take some time- I am still working with a golden retriever we had come in that weighed over a hundred pounds, but he is now down to 65 and doing MUCH better. It's been almost a year, but he has lost half his body weight!

Good luck, and feel free to ask me any more questions you may have- I am sure Buster will feel a lot better shedding those LBS!