# Overweight Beagle



## BeagleBailey (Dec 24, 2007)

Does anyone have any advice on what to feed an overweight female beagle? We've had her on OM for awhile and recently switched to Natural Recipe and it seems like she's just gaining more weight. We currently feed her twice a day and mix a turkey burger into her food. She's only 2 years old and is over 40lbs. We had her thyroid checked and it was fine.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks


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## Willowy (Dec 10, 2007)

How much do you feed her at every meal? The main cause of overweight in dogs (or anyone, LOL) is too much food and not enough exercise. Once health issues are ruled out, of course. Try cutting back a little bit on the dry food. It's OK to feed less than the label recommends, if that's what it takes to get your dog in good condition.


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## ACampbell (Oct 7, 2007)

I agree with Willowy - I have a basset and he's a pig, plain and simple. He got over 70 lbs...so he went on a diet. I just cut back the amount of kibble he was getting per meal and that did the trick within a few weeks.


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## hattrickinc (Nov 23, 2007)

70 pounds?! that is a pig!!!


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## ACampbell (Oct 7, 2007)

Bassets run from 50-60 lbs on average...that's about 10 lbs overweight....
Remember, it's just a BIG dog with short legs...not a small breed.


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## Durbkat (Jun 26, 2007)

How much exercise does the dog get?


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## UrbanBeagles (Aug 13, 2007)

BeagleBailey said:


> Does anyone have any advice on what to feed an overweight female beagle? We've had her on OM for awhile and recently switched to Natural Recipe and it seems like she's just gaining more weight. We currently feed her twice a day and mix a turkey burger into her food. She's only 2 years old and is over 40lbs. We had her thyroid checked and it was fine.
> 
> Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks



Most normally active Beagles who weigh around 25-ish lbs should be getting no more than 1 cup of food daily ... in my experience it's better for their digestion & weight management if the meals are broken up into two daily feedings. So, half a cup in the a.m. and half cup in the p.m. 

Another thing you need to consider is the carbohydrate and kcal content of the food. For this girl, find something under 400kcals per cup & whose carb content is 30% or less. 

Premium Edge has a great weight loss diet, which is very high protein, low carb. It's probably the only weight loss diet I'd recommend, because others have a tendency to omit high quality meat based protein and replace them with carbs ... figure that one out, lol. Healthwise by Natura is about 30% carbs and their lamb formula is much lower in calories. Blackwood makes a Lamb & Rice formula that is very highly digestable and also much lower in calories as well. 

Keep in mind though, she will not loose weigh without exercize. You may also want to consider doing a full 24 hour fast, which will enable this dog's digestive system to "clean house" and therefore speed up metabolism.


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## BeagleBailey (Dec 24, 2007)

She's getting more than 1 cup of food per day. Probably at least 2 cups. We'll cut that in half. I'll also look into the Premium Edge food as UrganBeagles suggested. As far as exercise, she gets one long walk per day. We'll try upping that to two. She's gotten so heavy that it's hard to get her to take a brisk walk.

Thanks to everyone for your comments.


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