For full disclosure, anyone who knows me, knows my dog Riley is like a child to me. He is pampered and cared for more than I could explain. People always look at me weird when they hear how “spoiled” he is. In my eyes he is not spoiled, it’s my way of showing him how much I love him. And it’s no trouble at all to me.
I don’t mind heating his wet food every day.
I don’t mind making him homemade biscuits.
I don’t mind refreshing his water bowl practically every time he takes a drink.
I don’t mind sacrificing my bed or couch seat for him because I just love him so much.
With that, I also reward him with treats WAY too much. If you ask my husband, he’ll say Riley will get a cookie just for “looking cute.” And while that is true, I’m ashamed to admit, it’s now my fault my poor Lhasa Poo is five pounds overweight. He should be about 25 pounds, but is now tipping the scales at 30-ish.
Call it pregnancy hormones, call it being a little dog-crazy, but after our vet appointment yesterday, I cried the whole way home and then some when they told me Riley was overweight.
Riley hanging out on the hearth.
Anyway, I’ve always fed him organic natural dog food since day one. I’ve looked at him as my experiment, to see if natural dog foods really do stand the test of the time. Riley has NEVER had a food that has scary product names in it. Trust me, I do research constantly on dog food.
Well, the vet sent us home with a brand of food that I am not comfortable feeding Riley. It wasn’t even expensive, it’s just that the entire ingredients list was basically crap, pardon my language.
So, right now as that bag of “vet-recommended” dog food sits in my pantry, I’m scouring the internet looking for a great, natural weight loss dog food.
Here are the ingredients and definitions of the first few ingredients listed on the bag of food my vet wants me to give my dog. Yuck!
The AAFCO (Association of American Feed Control Officials) sets guidelines and definitions for animal feed, including pet foods. Below are their definitions.
Whole Grain Corn: Corn (or corn meal) simply serves as a low-cost filler. Corn passes right through a dog, providing little to no nutritional value.
Powdered Cellulose: Purified, mechanically disintegrated cellulose prepared by processing alpha cellulose obtained as a pulp from fibrous plant materials.
Corn Gluten Meal: That part of the commercial shelled corn that remains after the extraction of the larger portion of the starch, gluten, and term by the processes employed in the wet milling manufacture of corn starch or syrup.
Chicken Liver Flavor: Nothing is listed on The AAFCO’s definitions for pet food on this one.
Chicken By-Product Meal: Consists of the ground, rendered, clean parts of the carcass of slaughtered chicken, such as necks, feet, undeveloped eggs and intestines, exclusive of feathers, except in such amounts as might occur unavoidable in good processing practice.
Soybean Mill Run: Composed of soybean hulls and such bean meats that adhere to the hulls and such bean meats that adhere to the hulls which results from normal milling operations in the production of de-hulled soybean meal.
Chicken: The clean combination of flesh and skin with or without accompanying bone, derived from the parts or whole carcasses of chicken or a combination thereof, exclusive of feathers, heads, feet and entrails.
Has anyone had any success with a natural weight-loss dog food? Please tell me your story and brand that you’ve used.
I don’t have a dog, but my dog “nephew” is on a diet and we have to be really careful of what he eats. Good luck!
My Lambchop was overweight when she was older, but I let her eat whatever she wanted at the end. She always turned her nose up at green beans. She was fat and happy!
Your doggie is adorable!!! We don’t have a doggie YET, we plan to get one soon. Thanks for all of the great info!
My dog is FAT, she doesn’t even try to be sneaky anymore. She will jump on the table and steal food while I’m sitting right there. My vet recommended giving her green beans (canned or frozen, she preferred the frozen) mixed in her food and baby carrots as treats.
He is such a cutie!! I don’t have a doggy so I can’t offer my advise, but I am sure other people will have answers. He is adorable!
I am very careful about what I feed my dogs as well. We do holistic dog food too. Have you ever thought about trying a raw diet to get his weight down?
I have thought about the raw diet, just wasn’t sure if he’d lose weight on it. But thankfully there are some great brands to choose from!
awww, what a cutie he is! I don’t have a dog, so I don’t have any tips for you…but good luck! I’m sure you’ll be able to figure out a way to get his weight down to a more healthy range.
Before worrying about weight-loss food, I’d focus on other ways to encourage his weight loss, like feeding less and exercising more! That way he keeps eating healthy food but will lose weight. Good luck!!!