Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Katy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:56:18 GMT

When I worked in practice we put a 70kg lab on Yarvitan. Highly recommend it, as it worked.

The company that make it are also super helpful if you have any questions.

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Royalsuper_fairy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:31:07 GMT

Don't tempt me! I may resort to that.

I am planning on phoning them at least once a week to check up and if it doesn't happen then I will just stop.

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Caro Laithwaite VN — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 17:28:11 GMT

Give them a leaflet from the crematoruim tell them is easier than a weightloss prog as they seem unable to stick with it and you do not want to waste your or their time.

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Royalsuper_fairy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:46:53 GMT

I may try that with my porker! My plan is to sit and type all my stuff up for her tonight

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Vicky RVN — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 10:56:10 GMT

[quote user="Doolally"]we had a bag of obesity (free from royal canin when we told them about fatlab,hurrah!) that we kept at the practice, the owner would come in weekly for a weight check and we'd weigh out a weeks worth of food and give the owner that and the instructions that he was to feed that and nothing else. It worked well[/quote]

That sounds like a fab idea!

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Kathryn Welsh — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:10:52 GMT

[quote user="Doolally"]we'd weigh out a weeks worth of food and give the owner that and the instructions that he was to feed that and nothing else[/quote]

What a fantastic idea!! May be stealing that. I've got a cat i'm batteling with at mo - small cat should be 3-3.2 kg....its 4.8 so not a huge amount but O being trying for a yr with r/d lost and got to 3.5 so a new nurse thought it would be ok to go back onto hills senior light, i saw it this week and in a month its back to 4.7!! So thats not working! Put it on rcw obiesty and shall see what happens in 2weeks for reweigh!!

Good luck with labby x x

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Doolally — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:03:01 GMT

where i used to work we had a 70kg 'short legged lab' come in....umm no its legs aren't short its just fat!

Is she feeding a prescription weight loss food? we had a bag of obesity (free from royal canin when we told them about fatlab,hurrah!) that we kept at the practice, the owner would come in weekly for a weight check and we'd weigh out a weeks worth of food and give the owner that and the instructions that he was to feed that and nothing else. It worked well

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Maisy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 18:41:15 GMT

I think you need do need to be blunt when patients get like this. Had a Lab come in before who was around the 60kg mark and the owner refused to believe the dog was obese and insisted he was big boned. I've had 'big boned' Labs myself who were 40kg and they were big solid dogs, not fat at all but wouldn't want them to go over that weight!!

Just remember that the weight loss will be slow for it to be effective, and remind the client of this so that she doesn't lose interest if the dog doesn't lose drastic amounts of weight. For dogs with such a lot to lose it would be worth trying to get her to swap the diet onto somethin like RCW Satiety diet, as cutting a Labs food down to the amount he needs to diet, is likely to increase scavenging etc. Satiety is really good stuff and have had some great results with obese dogs (and cats!) losing steady amounts of weight on this.

Kongs/Buster Cubes are all good-put some of the daily amount of food in here and the dog will love the game forever-typical Labrador

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Royalsuper_fairy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:56:31 GMT

Thanks, am planning on scare tactics and the vet in charge of the case agrees with me. Going to spend a few hours tonight writing some stuff up for this woman. She's not in till Friday so got a lil while to get some bits done.

Re: Weight loss programme for 60/70kg Lab...

Sarah Nicholas — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 15:41:44 GMT

Hiya,

Having a chubby lab myself (nowhere near 60kg though thank god) and many fatties o my clinic's books I tend to advise walk - very gentle in this case perhaps! - before meals and then making the meal into a game ie. feeding ball or my dog likes it when i hide portions of it around the garden and he has to dart around trying to find them. Basically anything that makes them work for their food.

Obviously this kind of stuff is difficult in a very unwell obese patient, but little and often with various exercise can help alot. I play fetch, tug games etc with Buddy and also really encourage him to swim and run but again he is not so big as your patient.

I have a similar problem in an overweight diabetic cat and the biggest problem by far is the owner's lack of compliance. I do feel that sometimes scare tactics are the only way to make them understand but then you'd think the dg colla[sing would be scary enough?

Good luck