Fat Puppy

[lurchergrrl 1,441]

Sooooo we're always banging on about pups and their need to be 'fat' and healthy right?

 

Well mine is just over four months old now and he's fat. I'm mean proper FAT. He's on a raw diet, eats three meals a day and mostly has chicken carcass/skin/bone/offcuts, as well as tripe, lamb mince, rabbit, pilchards, yogurt, eggs ... whatever. He gets loads of exercise. But his fat back actually wobbles when he's running around

 

Is this something I should worry about or just let him carry on eating as much as he wants at this stage? I've never had such a fat puppy and that's saying something considering I once had a golden retriever

 

People keep telling me he can't possibly be a whippet because he's 'too stocky' (I suppose that's the polite thing to say when one is a fat ass ).

 

Thoughts?

[Rainmaker 7]

Cut back the amount of food slightly. A fat pup isn't a particularly healthy pup, it's just un-necessary strain on the developing joints and system. How are you feeding? How big are the meals? I don't mean particularly how MUCH is in a meal, but how BIG is the item? Feeding a meal of whole carcass or raw meaty bones bigger than the pup's head will encourage chewing, ripping, tearing and gnawing which in turn gives a good workout.

 

Dogs fed this way tend to stop when they're full, rather than just 'hoovering' up a bowl of mince or kibble just because it's there. With that in mind, if you haven't already perhaps switch to large meals which can be taken up when the pup's had his fill, put in the fridge (in a bag!) and offered later in the day as required. So you could offer a whole chicken or rabbit over the course of a day, rather than three or four quarters, for example.

 

Drop the skin, bare bones, mince and yoghurt entirely - they not required and can actually CAUSE problems. Keep the fish to once a week as a treat, and perhaps a whole raw fish rather than tinned (I'm presuming you're feeding canned pilchards here). Ditto eggs. You don't want him going skinny, but you should cut back to the point where you see a reduction in weight to a more healthy margin. A slightly leaner (lean, not bony!) pup is always preferred health-wise.

 

By sticking to simple, whole carcasses and LARGE raw meaty bones with the odd bits of organ meat, heart etc you'll see a major improvement I'm sure. Got any pics? ATB.