I am in the process of putting my dog on a lite diet for weight loss however looking aroung the pet shops today I am confused as to what is best. the choices are endless every brand seems to do a lite version except the brand I am using at present which is James Wellbeloved. I just dont know which one to go for that will be as good as JWB, the shopkeeper said Hills but that is very expensive, the other choices were Beta, Bakers or Nutro. Can anyone help me with this dilema please.

we give our mal Iams dry food, I think they do a light food in it. Khira our mal loves it, she prefers it to any other dry food. We tried all sorts with her and thats the one she liked. I would get some samples from the pet shop and try them with your dog and I would say what ever your dog likes thats the best food.
sarah

Hi Sandie

My middle aged crossbreed needed to lose weight, and I ordered Wafcol Rite Weight. It seemed effective and she lost the desired amount of weight. It doesn't seem overly exciting taste wise, and that probably helped her to lose weight too, as she didn't like it loads.

Kat

Could you cut down the amount of the JWB that you feed and supplement it with Green beans??

Wendy

Is it really neccessary to feed Lite Diets? If mine are overweight I just reduce their food and increase exersise until they are the right weight again!

We have so far reduced her diet down from 350g to 150g per day and increased her exercise with no results. We cant reduce this anymore she is not a big eater anyway which is probably a good thing but since she was spayed she has just ballooned and she looks so uncomfortable. The lite diet is the only other way we can think of as we have tried everything else.

Does your vet clinic hold weight clinics? Ours does and I think they're free clinics - loads of great advice (from what I can see when I've seen the dogs come in) and very supportive. Might be worth having a word with the vet.

If you've reduced her food by over half and had no results it makes me wonder if either someone is sneaking her food (or she is sneaking it for herself) or that there might be another underlying problem.

Wendy

What breed is she. I have had mine on as little as 100g when needing to loose weight (they normally get 200g) and they are 20kg as adults, but northern breeds seem to exist on fresh air!

Hi, she is a 2 year old ESS, she is quite small but stocky. She weighs about 20kg which is ideal for a ESS but as she is small its to much for her and she looks to heavy. I have today put her onto JWB Senior Light as its near to her usual she's on JWB adult maintanance. Hopefully this will see some changes in her.

As she is similar size to my dogs, if she doesn't loose weight on 150g of the lite I would cut it down to 100g, but add vegetables/bran to bulk it out. It took my bitch 3 months to loose the weight my father got on her in two weeks! She had gained about 7 pounds!

I tried that with my cocker Westie Lover but she was very unhappy and begging food all the time (stealing if she got the chance ) but she seems to enjoy her Beta Light possibly even more that the Beta Adult and it seems to satisfy her. We are making steady progress so its something that I feel is worth trying if you have a dog that is quite fond of their food

Hi Westie Lover,
Sometimes the amount of food needs to be cut down so substantially that the animal is permanently hungry - if you've ever been on a diet yourself you'll know how nasty that is, the hunger pangs and the associated nausea can be very distressing.

The dog will need something to fill her up without adding loads of calories. Sometimes with older, poorly or recovering dogs as well their mobility and therefore exercise possibilites are limited.

Can u feel her ribs and does she have a waist line? If so then I wouldn't think she need to lose weight. But if u can't then yes.

I had Taz on weight control Iams lamb and rice worked like a charm, He went from 161 pounds to 141 pounds over a period of time and exercise which is short little walks (he's 9 and a half and has hipdysplaysia and arthritus), now I have him on Nutro natural choice senior and he seems to be doing good. He now has a waist line and I can feel his ribs, but he still has a big belly don't think he will lose that, just happy to get some of the weight off him. He eats about 5 to 6 cups a day I still leave it out for him, he only seems to munch in the morning and at night I take away at 8:30pm. Sometimes he doesn't eat or just eats about a cup or 2, then eats better the next day. He has always done that, but am bringing it up with the vet when we go in.

ttfn

Oscars offer an excellent service - deliver to your door too. Thye cater for many dietry requirements, including 'lite'. They have after sales service / advice line too. see www.oscars.co.uk