Keeping weight off a spayed GSD?

[Lakl]

I had my girl spayed around 18 months. Over the past couple months she has turned a bit chunky. I've reduced her meal sizes, but she honestly does not eat much, and most times won't finish her food. (I feed raw). She's getting exercised daily, but I cant seem to get her to thin down any. Have any of you had this problem with your spayed or neutered dogs?

[Minnieski]

I have a spayed female and a neutered male and no problems with weigh gain. In fact, my male is a bit scrawny at times. Have you had her checked out at the vet for thyroid? Sometimes problems with that can lead to weight gain/loss.

[Lakl]

I didn't think about that. Will ask my vet about it.

[Lixx]

Possible thyroid issue aside, it's generally a case of more calories then needed regardless of the apparent 'small amount' being fed. How old is this girl now? How much is she fed? What treats/bones/extras does she get as well? What exercise specifically (type & duration) are you doing each day?

[Lakl]

Originally Posted by Lixx

Possible thyroid issue aside, it's generally a case of more calories then needed regardless of the apparent 'small amount' being fed. How old is this girl now? How much is she fed? What treats/bones/extras does she get as well? What exercise specifically (type & duration) are you doing each day?

She just turned 2 years old. She was being fed 12 oz of raw per meal, but I've dropped that down to 10oz, but she often doesn't finish and the other dogs will eat whatever's leftover. Once a week, she gets a large raw meaty beef bone that she usually spends a couple days gnawing on, but is clear of meat after the first 30 min or so. This is mostly for teeth cleaning purposes. She gets walked in the morning and evenings, usually about a mile through the neighborhood. She's out with the DH now. During the day, when we're not at work, its just regular play out in the yard. Balls, tugs, frisbees, etc and play with our other dogs. We have a national park right down the road from us that I often take her hiking on the weekends as well. Before she was spayed, people often commented that she looked too skinny. Now she looks like an old momma dog. DH wants to start jogging with her.

[Freestep]

Spay/neuter doesn't make a dog fat. Too much food makes a dog fat. Just the fact that she doesn't finish her food indicates that she doesn't need as much as you're giving. If she is eating relatively little and still gaining weight, it just means you have an easy keeper--lucky you! Easy keepers are cheap to feed.

Even though she doesn't seem to be eating much, she's obviously taking in more calories than she needs, so cut back about 1/3 of her food. Once she is at her ideal weight, you can bring the ration up just enough to keep her at that weight without gaining.

[Lucy Dog]

What kind of daily exercise is she getting?

[Lixx]

As Freestep said, the fact that she's still leaving some means she's definitely getting too much.

As for the exercise - walking a mile twice daily is very little exercise, esp for a GSD. A trainer I went to used to say 'walking for dogs is like typing for humans'. Don't forget, this is a breed that should be able to go all day. How often are these days where you are not at work and engaged in other activities with her? The hiking on weekends is good. If it's just down the road, can you go there weekdays too? Jogging can be wonderful - just be sure to break her in slowly like you would yourself - she's not used to that level of exercise and overweight. At 2yrs of age, with the right balance of exercise and correct calorie intake you should be able to get the weight off easily.

[sable123]

Originally Posted by Lakl

She just turned 2 years old. She was being fed 12 oz of raw per meal, but I've dropped that down to 10oz, but she often doesn't finish and the other dogs will eat whatever's leftover. Once a week, she gets a large raw meaty beef bone that she usually spends a couple days gnawing on, but is clear of meat after the first 30 min or so. This is mostly for teeth cleaning purposes. She gets walked in the morning and evenings, usually about a mile through the neighborhood. She's out with the DH now. During the day, when we're not at work, its just regular play out in the yard. Balls, tugs, frisbees, etc and play with our other dogs. We have a national park right down the road from us that I often take her hiking on the weekends as well. Before she was spayed, people often commented that she looked too skinny. Now she looks like an old momma dog. DH wants to start jogging with her.

Are you saying your 2 year old dog is eating about 500 cals per day and gaining weight? 10 ounces of chicken is 300 - 400 calories and around 90 grams of protein. A dog this size and age should be getting 150 grams of protein at a minimum.

This is very odd. I would take this dog to the vet for blood work.

Perhaps this a reaction to being malnourished. There is no way that little food can sustain an animal this size. There is an underlying medical problem.

[Lakl]

I will definitely cut back and try to do one meal per day instead of the two. And its not so much that she doesn't finish, but more so that she's not even interested in eating. All four of my dogs are like this, and I can't figure it out. I need to video meal time, so someone else can see. I feed them a variety of raw - chicken, pork, beef, turnkey, fish, and the enthusiasm is non-existent at meal time, though it wasn't always this way. They used to spin in circles and whine while I was fixing their meals. They all just kind of sit there and stare at their bowls and try to sniff each other's bowls. I have to literally hand feed my pup to coax him to eat. The two little ones spend all their time trying to see what's in the big dogs' bowls and then will slowly start on their food. My spayed girl just sits in front of her bowl, waits for the pup to finish, and then will slowly start licking her food. She will eat a chicken leg or similar and then be done with it, but that can take up to 20 min for her to eat. I don't really understand what's going on here. The pup (7 months) gets more food than my female and he is rail thin and barely active since he just had surgery 3 weeks ago. I can't seem to keep any weight on him. She gets more exercise and less food and is a chunky monkey!