Advice welcome

[Sus]

I had a bit of a shock on Fri when I called into vets to weigh Biddy properly and found she was 3.6kg not 3.3 as I had thought. Obviously weighing her wrong
It was really hard last year to get her down to 3kg as advised by the vet and took many months but that was when she was quite scared and traumatised and I did not want to deprive her too much where food was concerned
I asked to speak to someone for advice but was told there was no one available and to make an appointment
I came home and put her on a diet straight away and as the weather has been better, walked her more
I cut out all her dried food as I was told it was higher in calories and am now feeding her 65gms gms of Forthglade twice a day. She still has occasional fresh chicken and salmon but I deduct the weight of this from her daily allowance
I walked her 2kms on Sat, 4kms on Sun,2kms Mon and 5 kms today, am trying to gradually build up after a lazy winter
However since I have stopped the kibble I have noticed her dragging her bottom on the grass twice and her poop is a bit softer since only having wet food.
My 3 questions are, am I feeding her enough? How much exercise is too much for a small 9 yr old dog? and should I be concerned about her scooting ie her anal glands.
I know if I take her to the vet they will say she needs them dealing with whether she does or not. We only have the choice of 2 vet practices and both of them are very money and profit orientated
Would welcome any suggestions

 

[JudyN]

Do you think she needs to lose weight? What is the vet basing his advice on? Can you feel her ribs easily, and does she have a tucked-up waist? Checking online, chihuahuas should be 2.5-4.5lb, and she's within that. If you could get a clear photo of her standing, from the side, and another of her standing from directly above, we might be able to give our opinions on whether she is overweight - though ideally you do need to get your hands on the dog and have a feel.

I can't remember - did you ever try her on chicken wings, and would she eat them? They could really help firm up her poos and keep her anal glands clear.

But the answer might be to go back to dried food if that worked for her before. It's only higher in calories because it doesn't have water in, which means a same-calorie portion looks less. If she seems really hungry you could bulk it out with veg, or feed it in a slow feeder bowl to make it last longer.

Remember, we are only talking a little extra weight here, so there's no need to drastically cut back on food or up her exercise. I would let her be the guide to how far she can walk - 5km should be fine for a healthy middle-aged dog, but go at her speed and let her sniff, admire the scenery and so on.

If her anal glands need doing, they need doing, but if she's going to find it stressful, I think I'd try to fix them by going back to the dry food (and/or introducing raw chicken wings - I can't remember if you've tried these before).

Bear in mind that for her, mental health is probably more important than peak physical health and 'ideal' weight - your vet may or may not be taking this into account.

 

[JoanneF]

You can get a fibre supplement that might help, and I've heard of people adding things like bran but I'm not sure how many more calories that would add. She's a Jack Russell, isn't she? So if you build up her exercise gradually she could probably walk three miles a day or more, with no problems.

You could also ask if a vet nurse could empty her anal glands, a nurse appointment is usually a lot less than a vet appointment and they should be perfectly capable.

 

[Tinytom]

Think she is a Jack Russell X chihuahua.....
Could you give her one meal kibble and one meal wet food .....

 

[Sus]

Thanks for all your replies, she is a jack russel /chihuahua as far I know.
On her very first visit to the vet last year where she had quite a lot of problems one of them being her weight, the vet said that for her size he would like to see her at 3kg
At the moment, I can feel her ribs and her waist does go in if you look from above but she has got a lot of belly underneath, but then she is middle aged
Personally I do not think she needs to be 3 kg but am just going with the vets advice, even if I just get her to lose a few hundred gms I will be happy
I think I will go back half dry and half wet food again if it will firm up her poo and prevent her having to have her anal glands expressed. That is a good idea one meal kibble and one meal wet food as I used to mix them before but will be easier to moniter amount if I serve them separately. She has got beef bones to gnaw at the moment but I can certainly add chicken bones as well
I do not mind making vet app for her but I do not want her to go through the procedure if she does not need it. She has gone through a lot in her little life so I do not want to add extra trauma
Walk wise, it is me that has to decide how far to go as she will just keep going, doing plenty of sniffing and exploring along the way. I feel it is when she is at her happiest (that and eating)
Think I will keep her at 4 kms now weather is getting better so that I can eventually add more treats to her diet
My biggest fear is not feeding her enough and that is hard to decipher as she always acts as if she is hungry when I know she would eat 10 bowls of food if I put them down and would not know when to stop

 

[Hemlock]

Sounds odd, but it helps to use a smaller bowl. Helps us as we don't feel the dog is going short, and the dog sees the bowl empty and thinks she's finished her meal.

 

[Sus]

Thanks Hemlock, I have different size bowls so will use only the small ones in future