8yo rescue neutered now fat!!

[fidola13]

I everyone! I adopted an 8 yo male yorkie in Oct last fall. He had been a stud dog in a womans breeding kennel then retired. He was neutered and had most of his teeth pulled in September, At the time I got him he was 6.3 pounds. He then has surgery in December for an anal polyp where the surgeon noted his prostate was large but not unusual for unneutered dogs and would probably shrink a bit a few months.

I have him (and my 13yo) on Natural Balance LID formula 1/4 cup 2x daily. 1 tablespoon of canned NB LID 1x mixed in with dry, a baby carrot chopped up since he only has 3 canines, 1 to 2 NB chicken & legume treats, and a small 1/2in strip of beggin strip b4 bed.

I admit im sure I probably overfed him to start with but the recommended amounts didn't look like much Im partly disabled so its difficult for me to walk right now maybe when weather is better.

Any suggestions? Thanks sara

[Yorkiemom1]

What about indoor activities? Ball chasing? Bottle Rolling? Hamster Ball Chasing (those clear balls that you put hamsters in to roll safely around the house)....."Fun Fishing"? These are all indoor games I use with my dogs when it is too nasty to go outside and play....these games provide activity and exercise, both mental as well as physical......

I hate it when we have to start limiting food....I have lived on a diet my entire life and I HATE having animals running around even THINKING they are hungry! It is soooooo tough for me to "cut back on food amounts"...especially since in MY mind, 1/2 cup a day for any dog over 5-6 lbs, is not enough (this is/may be in my OWN mind and is not really accurate!!) I supplement amounts of prescribed dog food, with "low calorie" stuff....green beans, cooked carrots, etc....I think a calorie is a calorie......5 stalks of Green Giant asparagus spears (long) are 4 calories per spear.....1/2 cup of green beans is 20 calories and they dont get 1/2 cup, so we come in at about 10 calories.....1/2 cup Le Sueur sweet peas is 50 cal (I dont give but a tablespoon of these!!)....I dont5 have any carrots to get calorie count....but you can see you can supplement their meals with plenty of these lo calorie additions.....I forgot cooked cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, etc...all very low calorie!) either in addition at meal time or between meals to keep them from going hungry! I lost all my stored information on my computer when it totally died on me last October....I had calorie intake recommended for each of my dogs, according to weight and activity level....it is work, but you can get all that information on line and calculate it out for your own baby....there are canine nutritionists that will be more than happy to do all this for you, I could not work one into my 15 dog kennel budget so I had to sit and do it myself!