Overweight dog help. Please! - Page 2

[shannon0218]

Yeah, I'm always looking for something new too, I'm glad to hear someone else had troubles with Solid Gold, Havoc was originally on it but as a young working dog I just couldn't keep weight on him with it and his energy level wasn't great, he failed his endourance test for schutzhund, when I put him on Innova he went up to 98 lbs which is his perfect weight and passed his endourance test with no issues, he didn't even seem tired when we had to do the obedience routine after the bike.
I used to really like Natural Life's performance food, my shepherd before Havoc was on that and she did great, kept her a nice weight and super well muscled in spite of the worst hips most vets had ever seen. With that food, shark cart, and glucosamine she managed to get titled to a French Ring III (which involves some pretty serious jumping) She never limped a day in her life-then when she was 6 she managed to eat a bottle of my percription anti-arthritics that the cleaning lady had knocked down on the floor adn she died
I haven't heard of Karma before, a new one I'm seeing lots of here is Natures Balance but I haven't looked into it. I have to start looking for something new, Havoc is hardly eating anything and he just keeps getting fatter. For the last couple weeks he's been getting one cup of Innova Senior and 1 cup of a raw veggie slurry I make him with broc, spinach, carrots, beans and a tiny bit of sweet potatoe, haven't seen any improvment though and their coats aren't what they used to be.

[Destinye]

Originally Posted by shannon0218

I haven't heard of Karma before, a new one I'm seeing lots of here is Natures Balance but I haven't looked into it. I have to start looking for something new, Havoc is hardly eating anything and he just keeps getting fatter. For the last couple weeks he's been getting one cup of Innova Senior and 1 cup of a raw veggie slurry I make him with broc, spinach, carrots, beans and a tiny bit of sweet potatoe, haven't seen any improvment though and their coats aren't what they used to be.

Thats so sad about your previous dog. Karma is organic and made by Natura and have a few people mention it to me but no direct experience. The veggie slurry sounds great! I have not tried Natural Balance except the cat food and my cats did ok on it. My dogs however really liked the little meat based sausage type food they make as a treat! I don't know why it popped into my mind and am sure you have had it checked but how is Havoc's thyroid? Maybe his metabolism is just slow because he is older (and I know how that goes lol)!

[shannon0218]

Yeah, his thyroid is borderline low. We put him on Synthroid anyway and even on supplementation he's still borderline low (although a little higher than without) On the thyroid though, when he was a year old, he was really lethargic and loosing some coat etc, we tested his thyroid and it was VERY low, 3 mos later I retested him and it was a little high, so I lowered his dose, I kept lowering his dose and redoing the blood work until he was no longer on meds and his thyroid function was perfect, it was very strange.
Anyway, he is on thyroid supplementation, along with Solid Gold Seameal for a natural boost, but he's still a fatty He gained the weight when he ruptured a disc in his back. He was completely down and nobody wanted to do surgery on him because of his size, I was getting ready to ship him out to Steve Lane in Colorado (I used to work with him when he was in Ontario) but eventually something started working-we were doing chiro, accupuncture, massage and had him on pred. It was a long road and I have no idea which treatment actually started to work, but he did walk again and as long as he sees his chiro every other week now, he's fine.