Weight watchers

Zeus

I watch our dogs' weight better than I do my own.  I always tell people that I may not be able to control what I eat, but I damn sure can control what my dogs eat--both what they eat and how much.  We don't have fat dogs, thanks to portion control and plenty of exercise opportunities.  What we do have around here right now are a few thin dogs. 


I had to go into town today to pick up 40 lbs. of Zachary's raw food diet.  It's made by Bravo, composed mostly of ground up chicken carcasses.  It looks like that pink slime that they add to hamburger in processing plants.  It's disgusting, but it works for Zach, in conjunction with raw chicken backs that I buy locally, and Taste of the Wild grain-free food.  Gigi is eating some of it now as well.  Anyway, I took Zeus, Riley, and Hercules along in the van for the trip to town and we made a stop at the vet's office just before they closed today at noon. 


Zeus's vet records didn't include a heartworm test or an actual rabies certificate even though they did show he had been vaccinated.  So I got him a shot, tag, and certificate of make him official, and had a heartworm test done as well (he was negative).  Zeus weighed in at 110 pounds today.  That's down a bit from what his prior records showed, but that's good and he's been getting a lot more exercise here.  110 would probably be a very good weight for him, although he needs to lose some fat and put on some muscle.  A solid 110 would probably be perfect for him.




 

Riley

Hercules

The other two, Riley and Herc, were along just for the weigh-in. They don't need to lose weight, they need to gain it. They both weighed 66.4 pounds today. Hercules should be 75 probably. Riley, the rottie, would look great at 75-80. Both dogs have been wormed and re-wormed. Both came to me this way so it's a long-standing problem. Both are getting at least 6 cups a day of good quality dog food, and we've tried several different kinds. Both have been on an over-the-counter enzyme supplement. Both produce good quality poop. I wanted to get a weight on them today because it's time to get serious about addressing this problem. I have a tub of the pancreatic enzyme supplement and that's probably what we'll try next, and probably a trip to the vet for some blood work or other testing.





Riley, climbing up to give me a kiss

A picture of Herc without his ball is
not a complete picture of Herc.