Home Forums Dogs Dangerously overweight dog

Dangerously overweight dog

Published on: February 25, 2024 • By: gyoriandrea20 · In Forum: Dogs
Author
Topic
gyoriandrea20
Participant
February 25, 2024 at 07:18pm
Hello all! We have a 3 year old neutered border collie male. He is on the tall side (61.5 cm/24in) and he is severly overweight(49.8kg/110lbs). We have ben running tests for a good year now, but everything is comming back normal. So far we have ruled out: diabetes, cushings, thyroid problems, cortisol levels and have taken him to an endochronologist. Everything came back perfect . He gets a good amount of excercise (as much as he can do in this condition), eats diet and hypoallergenic food (calculated in grams for a dog that is 25kg, as the vets reccomended), and is otherwise healthy and happy say for the weight. The only thing that was ever a problem was that only one of his testicles did not descend, but they succesfully took it out during his neutering. Some vets keep saying he needs less food and more excercise, but we are not willing to give him even less food as he is already eating such little amount, and as for excercise he can only do so much at this pont. So the vets are stomped and so are we, and would appriciate any type of help or ideas on what else could we do or look into. (We adopted him so don't have any backround on genetics) Thank you in advance! (We are from Budapest, Hungary)
Report
Author
Replies
Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
February 25, 2024 at 10:17pm
Hello - I hear that your dog is eating hypoallergenic dog-food, as calculated for a dog of a certain weight.  I think that it may be worth being pedantic, having the vet check the packet, the instructions on the packet and the amont that is fed, because pet food isn't as well regulated as human food and packets can be extremely misleading.  They should also watch you measure it out to easure that the quantities given are appropriate.  Also make sure that the frequency of meals (meals per day) matches that which is expected by your vet, and if there are several people who feed the dogs in the household, that double portions are not a possibility.  Is your dog eating or drinking anything else at all except tap-water?  Is that absolutely certain ie there isnt a gate to your back garden that a dog can be fed through by 'helpful' passers-by?  They dont have a secret visitor that you don't know about?  They aren't slipping a bit of human food at breakfast time or a biscuit or two with supper?  They arent drinking orange juice, or high calorie drinks, or finding someone else's food on their walk?  Noone in the household is breaking the rules?  Its worth checking every possibility; a lot of people dont understand that a biscuit to us can be the equivalent of a large burger to a dog. It's worth adding that just because a food is described as 'hypoallergenic' on the label, does not mean that it is healthy or that it isn't full of saturated fat.  For this reason, your vet might reccommend a food that they know they can rely on.   More to follow
Report
Author
Replies
Liz Buchanan BVSc MRCVS
Keymaster
February 25, 2024 at 10:19pm
It might be worth checking what a 'small meal' looks like to your vet nurses and to you, because we tend to get into habits with feeding and sometimes cross referencing (how much of what do your friends feed their dogs?) can be helpful.
Report
Author
Replies
Pips
Participant
April 13, 2024 at 12:58am
hi. im sorry as i don't know if non-vets, even worse, non science understanding people are allowed to comment / ask questions. i hope i am not breaking rules. i have a medically complex dog. weight is an issue. i know nothing about these questions i am asking, other than wondering if you have asked them and if so i would love to learn from you.  do you mind sharing if he has had any notable abnormal results, like LDL or really anything?  I have been trying to understand metabolic disorders beyond the endocrine ones and ones that may be inclusive of genetic variants / mutations and anything related to proteins, enzymes, peptides, cell stuff  and wondering if anything related to that has been explored/discussed. a couple things i have run into but don't get that are more specific are things like 'Metabolic Syndrome and Dyslipidemia', and specific things that i don't get that i frequently see in articles i dont get are things like interluken 6 and then things related to inflammatory conditions- i don't think this forum is probably for others to learn things from posters (so i hope im not double breaking rules)- but do you mind sharing if the weight gain was gradual or sudden or accompanied by other symptom types? i have nothing to share that is helpful i fear. more just things that could be things to ask about.  have you done a full hormone panel? my dog is a girl dog, but frequently hormone panels are suggested to me, though unavailable where i live- just tossing that out. sorry, i feel that this has been disjointed in many ways- but lately i have been trying to learn about metabolic disorders beyond the ones that seem to be the 'main' endocrine ones. i hope that i havent broken rules and that maybe something is helpful (and if there is some place where i can see rules to make sure i am ot breaking any i would be thrilled)
Report
Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

You must be logged in to create new threads, or access some of the forums

Log In
Register

Registration confirmation will be emailed to you

By joining the Forum, I agree that I am aged over 18 and that I will abide by the Community Guidelines and the Terms

Or

Report a Thread or Reply

Thank you for your help. A member of our team will investigate this further.

Back to forum