22 replies to this topic

[lttlbloomers]

We have three cat boxes and he will only potty in them and not outside so we have to keep them down, otherwise we would cover them. It's the only time he has ever indulged himself so hopefully he doesn't continue and will actually eat his food.

[lindasue]

When Pegi was about 6 months old she also went thru this - she gets 1/2 cup first thing in the AM, then another 1/2 cup around 5. At the time she would leave the food, sometimes skipping several meals. Then she outgrew that and wouldn't eat the breakfast foot until after a long walk (usually around noon). Now that she's 2 she's settled into inhaling it as soon as it's down. The only table scraps she gets (infrequently) are small pieces of meat.

[claymike]

The first 4 days Rudy went after the food like he had not eaten in a month now this morning he ate some then walked away. Since the rain is holding off today we will be going for a nice walk. He is full of energy so not going to fret to much about it since he seems to change every time I think I have him figured out. lol

[BEARCATJER]

Our 2 year old female Cairn, Piper, has developed a bad case of obesity...at least according to a breeder/trainer where we board her when we go out of town. She is a very healthy gal, is a 24/7 energy dog and we walk her at least 4-5 times a day. Unfortunately, both my wife and i had gotten into the habit of feeding her table food morsels while we eat. We also fed her a combo of dried and wet food in her bowl ,including everything from rice, to chicken to egg. She sort of became an expert at picking out the good stuff and leaviing the dog food alone so we stopped that practice.
Piper is big for a Cairn and can easily carry more weight than the standard female, but now weighs 22 1/2 lbs and seems to not have as much energy as she used to have when we run around the house playing with her and her toys.

The last time we took her to board the breeder , who is not a Cairn breeder, told us we had to get her weight down or she would develop serious health problems as she gets older.She is now 2 years old and has really been a perfect Cairn in her behavior, socialization with other dogs...she loves all dogs, people etc, and we didnt want to be irresponsible about her weight just because we enjoyed giving her special treats etc....so....we tried to cut back on treats, food portions etc...for awhile, but then we weakened and bit by bit got back to our old bad habits.

Last week when we went to pick her up the breeder again told us she is far, far overweight and should weigh about 14lbs!!! she still weighs 22 1/2. We think she would look like walking death if she lost that much weight because she is a little larger than the typical Cairn. So we called our breeder and talked to her about it and she said Piper definitely needs to lose weight but should be fine at about 17 lbs.

So now we are giving her almost no treats, no table food and only 3/4 cup of dry food. Needless to say she is eating every drop every day. Problem is she continues to literally beg for food when we eat and we know she has to be constantly hungry just because of the contrast in what she gets now vs what she used to get in the course of a day.

i have seen other posts on this site about various weights of Cairns, but cant find them now. My wife and I hate how we have had to cut back with Piper and it is making both of us miserable. She is such a happy dog we just dont want to turn her into a sad dog because life now isnt nearly so much fun as it used to be.

has anyone on this forum had to put their dog on a big diet like we are? Any tips on how to make this less painful?.

[bradl]

There was a Cairn in the neighborhood who was owned by an elderly woman who had really lost her ability to care for an animal. It weighed 30 pounds! She eventually agreed that it could be rehomed and the Cairns new family got her down to 16 pounds in a matter of about six months. They had to endure a fair amount of pouting, but the dog is as healthy and happy as can be, and survived (and forgave) being put on her diet.

All of our dogs are on a perpetual diet - we weigh every bowl that we put down for meals and make small adjustments up or down to either put on some "show weight" or take it back off. It generally takes only a week to notice the effect of the new dinner amount.

I really don't care what the scale says, we go by body condition only. Looking from above, we want to see a waist and hips. We want to feel their ribs when lightly running our fingers down their sides (but we don't want to see them sticking out or anything that extreme).

We absolutely, positively, never -- and by never I mean never - feed the dogs not a single molecule from the dinner table, and I would go so far as to do my best to grab anything from the floor that falls before they can reach it. We do feed them from the prep counter at times, so they will definitely hang out underfoot praying for a carrot or something to hit the floor - but they do not bug us at all at the dinner table.

It is not easy to face down a dog who is working overtime to manipulate you into feeding them. We used to fast them one day a week and found that was where we reached our limit -- we just couldn't do it, even though I believe it is better for them.

We keep a bowl of Charlee Bear treats to use as an intermittent reward for coming in from outside when called, or for going into their crate while doing chores or something. But the treats are more or less uniform in amount taken over time, so while the calories count, they are accounted for in the regular adjustments to meal size.

Good luck!

[claymike]

Rudy is a grazer also, I give him 1 cup in the morning and by his last feeding at 6:30pm most if not all is gone. There are days where he does not eat very much and sleeps a lot then the next day he can't stop eating. I have always felt he is going through a growing spurt. He is now in the process of loosing his baby teeth and can rally give you that first grader smile.

[KShep]

bradl, on 24 January 2012 - 07:10 AM, said:

I really don't care what the scale says, we go by body condition only. Looking from above, we want to see a waist and hips. We want to feel their ribs when lightly running our fingers down their sides (but we don't want to see them sticking out or anything that extreme).

Cairns are really "hippy dogs" aren't they? I mean it's all muscle, but it's definitely something I've noticed on Ripley.

[cairnsby3]

Bearcatjer, I agree with Brad, you can do it. With my first Cairn I used to give him table scraps, until I found out he was allegic to almost everything, so he was cut off. He did learn after awhile he wasn't getting anything except his meals. Since I couldn't feed him from the table, my other two never learned to beg at all. However, I am sure my youngest one believes he is starving all the time! If you feel like you have to hand feed something, set aside some of the dailey kibble ration for handfeeding. Also some people have used baby carrots and green beans for treats.