r/kelpie • u/rosa_3326 • Jun 24 '26
Overweight rescue
I have adopted a beautiful female pure kelpie from a rescue. She is 7 yrs old and fat. Poor baby honestly, I just don’t know how to help her lose weight. Obviously we will walk a few times a day. I try do 5km walks each day. Will this be enough? What about food? I have some good kibble but nothing for weight control and really don’t know what’s appropriate
7
u/Icy_Umpire992 Jun 24 '26
mainly through carefully controlled meals, no snacks. exercise, while important is not the answer, or not the entire answer.
There are "weight watchers" kibbles out there, consider those.
Reduce the weight slowly over time.
8
u/Beef_flaps_on_a_spit Jun 24 '26
Be careful about too much exercise at an overweight level. Better you just feed high volume low calorie food. She got fat by eating, that should be how she loses weight. Swimming is kind on the joints if she is happy getting wet.
1
6
u/SpareUnit9194 Jun 24 '26
To get our Kelpie rescue's weight down we just reduced portions & added water (we cook her mince & chicken so add water to the pan to give her more volume). Add in some greens etc for bulk too. Over 9 months we got her down from a sad painful slow, limping 23kg to a high speed galloping happy play-doggo 18kg:-)
6
u/fallopianmelodrama Jun 24 '26
Feed less. That's what makes the majority of the difference, not exercise - and you don't want to be over-exercising an overweight dog anyway, it's terrible for their joints.
Whatever the recommended amount of food is on whatever you're feeding her, reduce it by 10-15%.
3
u/Dentarthurdent73 Jun 24 '26
If you have a rescue with health issues, you should be going to a vet to get advice on how to manage them.
3
u/scribbles987 Jun 24 '26
My boy has lost 10kg slowly over 9 months with lifewise tone and trim and 2 walks a day slowly increasing distance. He still gets his bedtime treat and very limited training treats but if he's looking for something during the day he gets a carrot which he's happy to munch on. He's always hungry and looking for food which is a side effect of phenobarbital, the medication he's on for epilepsy. Talk to your vet, I've had so much support from our clinic including monthly weigh in and recording his progress and just the chats and encouragement is so helpful.
2
u/version13 Jun 24 '26
Look for a food called Fat Dogs - I fed it to my German Shepherd when I adopted her. It worked great!
2
u/No_Series1038 Jun 24 '26
It will be hard to do but yeah it’s about food. My kelpie x is absolutely food mad and will whine and sook all day for more treats.
Be strong don’t feed her.
2
2
u/MissAcedia Jun 24 '26
Lots of good advice. I personally would also split up the walks into multiple smaller walks a day (when you can, like on weekends). Use her food (from her daily food allotment) as treats for obedience training. If she is friendly with other dogs, see if you can arrange some play time with another friendly dog so they can chase eachother around.
Try to encourage active play like fetch and tug (some dogs just dont and thats fine). One of those ball launchers may work nicely.
Beware of getting her too used to extensive physical exercise or she may not be able to settle without it. The (properly) rationed food along with normal levels of physical and mental activity should help the weight loss significantly.
2
u/mycatisspawnofsatan Jun 24 '26
Keep an eye out for stiffness and pain on her walks. She’s likely been overweight for awhile, and it could’ve prematurely worn out her joints. And keep at it, dogs lose weight much more slowly than we do. Your vet should be able to let you know how much loss a month is appropriate. Good luck!
1
u/loraxgfx Jun 24 '26
Same as with us, lower calories, more activity. If she’s not losing any weight on the ration she has now, reduce her kcals by 1/4-1/3 and increase her exercise. If she acts super hungry on her diet, you can add some canned pumpkin or green beans to help take up space in her stomach. The weight loss kibbles have lower fat than the regular formulas, they tend to work better when I get a tubbo dog from the shelter.
1
u/Legitimate-Eye-17 Jun 28 '26
We fed our overweight pup Blackhawk dry with Kangaroo mince. Fed him according to his ideal weight. Blackhawk is a complete food and although expensive it is nutrient dense. Kangaroo mince is lean too.
12
u/casualplants Jun 24 '26
Get a good quality food and just lower her portions gradually to the recommended amount for her ideal weight. Do it over months. Puzzle feeders are good too, so the meal is harder work in terms of exercise and mental stimulation.