My Dogs Are Overweight

During a recent vet visit, it was determined that two out of my three dogs are overweight. Now this isn't a surprise, I had noticed it myself and had already been researching some weight control dry food. If you've had an overweight dog, then you know the frustration around "diet" dog food. Oh your vet will recommend one, that they have in stock for much more than its original cost. More often than not, that original cost is still quite expensive (the things we do for our pets).

Dice and Star are my little fatties. Well, Star has been a chunky monkey since her very scary female emergency (found here). It made her very...lazy and more into sun tanning than running. She has been 56-58lbs since then and hasn't had any other issues. She gets 1/2 cup of food twice a day, so a cup total each day.

Dice is what we call the Family Scavenger. He will find every crumb you drop, any type of food that you leave on the counter or close to the table edge, and will always find that once piece of garbage to chew when he's outside. He loves to run and often does laps in the yard. He is a solid 68lbs, with a very beefy chest. He gets almost a cup twice a day, so almost two cups total.

I finally found a weight control dog food that I can live with for now, a Purina Pro Plan chicken-first-ingredient dry food. Normally I feed my pups a variety of different Nature's Recipe food which usually contains sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. so they get a pretty good palate. This food is not so exciting so I was a bit worried they would refuse to eat it. They've done it before, and I'm sure most of you can relate to that!

After the usual "slowly work in the new food" time period, this morning was their first day of full on diet food:

I won't lie, it was rough in the beginning. I tried adding this and that because they were just looking at me like "We know it's different and we don't like it"; a few banana slices, some blueberries, a little oatmeal... You know what ended up working? I kid you not, simply adding in some water to make it a little soupy. That was IT! I laugh at myself now when I think of it.

Here's to losing some doggie weight!!