How do I make my dog loose 10 pounds....?

Question

I have a 2 year old chocolate lab that weighs over about 100 pounds! Can anyone tell me how to make him loose 10 pounds, I feed him only 2 cups of food a day, 1 for lunch and 1 for dinner. I usually walk him down the road but I need a better way

Answer 1

First, have your vet run a full thyroid panel.

Second, if you don't have him on a high quality food, switch him to one. Anything by Innova, Timberwolf Organics, Eagle Pack Holistic, Orijen, Canidae, Merrick or Solid Gold is great.

Finally, up the exercise. A walk "down the road" is not enough for a Lab. I have 3 Labradors and they go out for a good 1 1/2 - 2 hours a day. I would exercise your Lab for at least one hour a day

Answer 2

It sounds unusual that a lab, especially a two year-old, would weigh 100 pounds with only 2 cups of food per day. The first thing is to ensure that the dog is not getting anything else besides the 2 cups of food: no table scraps, no treats, nothing but the dog food and water. Use a measuring cup, if you're not, you may be giving him more than two cups per day.

Large dogs, with some exceptions, should only eat once a day. You should try giving him his food at one specific time a day.

Once you have ensured that the dog is eating only once a day and eating only 2 cups of food and nothing, if he still is not losing weight, then cut down on his food intake. From the sound of your question, I think the easiest answer is that your dog is not getting enough exercise. Try walking him for longer periods of time. Take him to a dog park on a regular basis and have him chase a ball around. The increased activity will also be beneficial to you.

If all else fails, then you need to take a trip to the vet and have his hormone levels checked.

GOOD LUCK!

Answer 3

I am not sure what you are feeding him now, but they do make dog food that is a little lighter in calories for overweight dogs. Just make sure he gets enough to sustain him, or he might start eating anything, even the things you don't want him to. Above all he probabaly needs more exercise, at leat a 20 minute walk, and if you have a yard, play fetch with a ball or stick, anything to get him moving. This helps him expend energy and lose weight and it also has the added benefit of making your bond closer.
Good luck, we have a lab as well, and she isn't that big...yet, of course she is only 5 months old.



I just remembered, if time is a constraint, look into getting a backpack for your dog and fill it with some weight, it makes a short walk seem longer. We got ours on amazon for 20 bucks I believe. Good Luck!

Answer 4

There are many different diet foods made my reputable food companies. Purina and Iams are two of my favorites, both offer weight loss foods that you can get from your pet store. You can supplement this food with green beans, this will give your lab the feeling that he is full but not add on any calories. If you really want to get weight loss fast, there are number of prescription diets available only at veterinarians. My favorite is Purina OM (overweight management). They have even less calories than the pet store foods and more fiber so you can feed more without making him gain weight. Exercise is a must. Be careful if you're feeding any treats, 1 milkbone is equivalent to one cup of food. And definitely no people food not only is it high in calories, there bodies are not able to handle the large amounts of salt that we use.

Answer 5

You may need to have his thyroid checked. He may have an issue.

Another alteranative, is to change his food. If he is on kibble only read the ingredients. You want to stay away from fillers like corn or wheat. Canidae is good and so is Nature's Variety. Stay away from most of the grocery store brands... and Hill's Science Diet is aweful.
A lot of the foods have growth hormones and antibitotics and other crap in them... this will grossly affect a dogs metabolism. I would go with Canidae, but Nature's variety is really good as well.

If he likes to fetch, through the ball for him for 10 or 15 minutes 3 times a day for added exercise, but make sure he is getting plenty of nutrition as well.

Best of luck.

Answer 6

My Lab weighs 110lbs, for his size that is fine according to the vet,but when he reached 120lbs he went on a diet. Labs have a natural tendency to put on pounds. My Lab has lost 16 lbs, but he is on Wellness Diet food, only gets carrots and ice cubes for treats and gets lots more exercise. He goes swimming, on walks and plays ball at least twice a day. The Wellness diet works great and has helped immensley.

Answer 7

well first go to the vet to make sure if he needs to lose 10 lbs. and they should tell you what you need to do. If you do not want to go to the vet., than i'll tell you want mine told me... buy only organic dog food, 3 times a week cook soup for your dog (he will love it).. walk him for an hour a day.. go to the beach for 9 a.m. so he can run around without the lease ... and u will see results by next week... also here is a tip every other day crack an egg in his food (raw.. not cooked) or 2 tsp of cooking oil.. it will make ur dogs coat so soft and silky (u will see results after the 2nd time) and plus dogs love it... Hope this helped you out. Good luck

Answer 8

Something isn't adding up. You are definately feeding the right quantity of food and it sounds like the exercise regimen is good. Does the dog get snacks as well? Perhaps try running the dog like throwing a ball, etc...If none of that works I'd have him/her checked by a vet, there may be a medical problem.

Answer 9

One make sure the food you feed him doesn't have corn, 2 common sense should tell you that your feeding him too much, too many calories means to much fat, wanna lose fat, reduce calories and increase exersice.

My favorite saying is, if your dog is fat, your not getting enough exercise..


Check into a better diet, i prefer raw (www.rawfed.com) or at least a holistic food, cheapest i know of is chicken soup for the dog lovers soul, adding fish oil a few times a week is recommended.

Ill bet that hes either got too much corn or some other complex grain in his diet that he can not digest.

Labs are bad about having bad thyroids might have that checked as well, its about a $60 test but it can tell you allot

Answer 10

How long do you walk him? Take him for a 40-45 minute walk every day. If he's not used to that increase his present walking time a little at a time until you reach 40-45 minutes. Plus on top of that he should get additional exercise, like a couple of shorter walks or a good amount of time playing in the yard.