Weight gain - which food is best for weight control?

[MilliesMum]

hello everyone, i have a female yorkie called Millie and shes 2 in december. shes supposed to weigh about 5-6 pounds but is infact 8 pounds at the moment she has begun to be abit of a pudding in recent months but im not sure why. she is constantly running around the house playing with us and my other larger dog and goes on walks alot and goes running with my fiancee' about 3 times a week.
she has a small meal in the morning for her brekfast and a slightly larger meal (abeit still small) for her tea in the evening. i live with my parents who spoil her rotten and give her tit bits all the time even though i have stressed that they cant carry on giving them to her for her health. the only "human food" meal that i allow her to have is a small (yorkie size) sunday roast (veg, meat and gravy) instead of her evening meal, only on a sunday.

i do try to make her eat healthily and make people stop giving her tit bits but as alot of you know - its easier said than done.

does anyone know any low fat wet-food avalible in the uk that would suit her?

[LuvTaycieGirl]

I would look up threads on here about Pancreatitis. It is very scary and although it can be caused by a numerous amout of things, yorkies, and people food is something I would not be messing with. It can be very scary.

As far as weight loss, how much are you feeding? Taycie gets 1/3 cup twice a day. I don't do treats I just use pieces of her kibble as her treats. She is on a special diet so I am very careful with what she eats. She will beg occasionally but I NEVER give in. The consequences IMO far outweigh a tasty treat.

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by LuvTaycieGirl

I would look up threads on here about Pancreatitis. It is very scary and although it can be caused by a numerous amout of things, yorkies, and people food is something I would not be messing with. It can be very scary.

As far as weight loss, how much are you feeding? Taycie gets 1/3 cup twice a day. I don't do treats I just use pieces of her kibble as her treats. She is on a special diet so I am very careful with what she eats. She will beg occasionally but I NEVER give in. The consequences IMO far outweigh a tasty treat.

I would put an end to the Sunday special dinners. Pancreatitis is a huge concern, as is the amount of salt that is likely in that meal.

Put an end to the treats too. Substitute green beans. The frozen, no added salt kind seem to work best.

Portion control is essential.

It is tempting to overfeed our little pups because it is fun to see them happy with food and treats. As you already know, obesity causes many preventable health problems in dogs, from joint problems to diabetes. Overweight dogs have shorter life expectancies.

It's good that you want to get this under control now because the problem is only going to grow worse if your Yorkie continues to eat this way.

[jadabug]

Even tiny treats thoughout the day will pack on the weight. Yorkies have small tummies and it doesn't take many extra calories to add up to added lbs. I made that mistake with Jada when we first adopted her. I never allowed her people food, but gave her treats and added stuff to her kibble to entice her to eat. She was up to a little over 7lbs and she should weigh no more than 5.8ozs. I got most of the excess weight off of Jada by feeding her the smallest amount for what she should weigh and adding frozen no salt green beans as a filler. It took almost a year, but we finally have her down to where she should be.
As far as treats go, we give her bits of her kibble and green beans.

[Ellie May]

It sounds like the weight gain is explainable. Calories from little bits of people food can add up quickly. I agree about cutting the roast and gravy out.

Only you and your family know how much people food she really is getting. If you don't believe that she is getting enough to cause this, then bloodwork would need to be done thyroid testing.

[MilliesMum]

we dont feed her huge portions, her bowls are cat bowls so are very small and her roasts consist of a small potato, abit of stuffing, a tiny bit of carrot, abit f brocoli and a small bit of meat with a little bit of gravy on it, its no bigger portion than her usual amount and we never give her food after it.

my parents are the worst culprits for giving her human food titbits as they "cant resist seeing that little face" looking up at them, even though i have begged them to stop feeding her.

we dont usually give her that many treats apart from one or two of her dog food biscuits when i do some training with her.

we have decided that she needs to get more walks (even though i take her most places i go with me) but she needs to stretch those legs!!

cant wait for the yorkie tantrums to come when she dosent get her roast dinner anymore lol
thanks for the help yorkie talkers! i will keep you updated on how she goes. x

[ritapatt]

Ziva and Lucy get a lot thinner in the summer when my DH goes to work at boyscout camp. He is always giving them what he eats, and he is sneaky but occassionally I see what big pieces of food he gives them. Lucy, the wheaten Never has a digestion problem when he is not giving her people food! Yesterday the new pup had loose poop- he let her drink the milk from his cereal bowl! It is soo hard to convince them not to "love" our dogs this way- Good Luck!

[MilliesMum]

tell me about it!! my dad babies her so much, he wont even let the other dogs upstairs yet takes millie to bed with him for a cuddle lol he always calls her "Grandad's Girl" men eh?

any way, ive been looking for a new complete food for her on the net and came across this:

Royal Canin Adult Complete Dog Food for Yorkshire Terrier 1.5kg (Online Only) | Pets at Home

would this food be anygood for her as at the moment we feed her on various wet foods and give her a literally a few of our other dogs kibble biscuits for abit of crunch.

has anyone else got any suggestions for a good food for yorkies?

[chachi]

Roast and gravy is very fattening. When my husband is on a diet he wont eat anything with gravy.