We switched our 7 year old golden retriever on to Nutriment about 5 months ago. She was on Millie’s Wolfheart and doing ok, but there was a lot of paw/nail nibbling, licking bottom and prone to ear issues. Since being on Nutriment these have pretty much disappeared - however she has put on 2.5kg - we’ve always fed 2% and have now cut this down a bit more, but the weight is not shifting - is it ok to cut more down or should we be looking at different foods?
It’s a working dog food brand & a good one at that.
I feed my 26kg lab 500 mg p/day of the salmon with chicken so just under 2%. 5 days a week he has 50-120 mins per day off lead retrieving &/or swimming for majority of that. Try cutting down daily amount, increasing the exercise or maybe try another flavour
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Hello Reggie and welcome to the forum!
If you are happy to keep her on Nutriment, then it may be useful to consider another food in the range that is lower in calories, and you may find that you could continue feeding her 2% (without hopefully any further weight gain).
Nutriment have a raw complete food called “Light Nutriment”, which is lower in fat than adult Dinner for dogs (and is lower in fat than adult Nutriment) .
Here is a link to the food in the allaboutdogfood website:
Light Nutriment dog food
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Thanks for replies. We have started restricting her food to the Turkey and also the Purine one, which are both lower in fat, so will enquire about the Light. We are fortunate to have a nearby pet shop that also stock Natural Instinct so will give their Special Diet a go as well. Having read some of the other posts it looks like cutting down a bit more would be ok (not sure she’ll agree!) and also increasing the exercise.
Hello Reggie. In the past I fed Nutriment specifically to help with weight control. Light and Low Purine was recommended and initially some weight came off. Was then advised to go to the Working products and that’s when we got into trouble.
I fed 2% of ideal body weight (that is the lower end of the RDA) but they piled weight on, particularly the older dog.
I would add that I weigh every morsel that goes into their mouth. I had to cut down to below 2% but as you point out, dogs are then not very happy. I stopped raw and went onto products with dry weight fat at 12% or lower and it works better for my dogs. I am not convinced that exercise shifts the weight as well as a suitable diet.
If you wish to continue with raw, you could perhaps talk to customer services at Nutriment and also choose meats that are lower in fat.
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I think we’ll go with that approach for next couple of weeks and if weight is not shifting, then may have to rethink. Increase in exercise - I know in studies that it is diet rather than exercise that has most impact on dogs weight - we shall increase it though. We’re reluctant to give up on raw as it has meant a halt to paw nibbling, bottom licking and ear problems - but don’t want to exchange that for another set of problems with weight gain - joint problems, out of breath etc.
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I can see your problem and it does seem that you have very good reason to stick with raw. Wondering if it would help to add low starch vegetables but I am hopeful that the light version might help. The problem I found was that there was/is only one type of light so no variety - don’t know if that is still the case. Perhaps you could have a look at other products? The dry weight is displayed clearly on the dials in the Dog Food Directory. I found that Natures Menu helped with weight control but the product I was using has now increased in fat. However, if you look on their website there is a link which is for dogs who are prone to weight gain. It takes you to their products that are suitable for such dogs.
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I’ll check out natures menu website. I have some natural instinct special diet which she’ll have next. If she continues with weight gain then I may have to look at cold pressed options as a next step.
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That is what I ended up doing albeit with a spell using low fat kibble first. I’d used cold pressed before (pre raw) and it hadn’t quite worked because of the low amount but now I’ve got it sorted and the dogs hold their weight ok. I give the bottom end of the RDA (1%) or sometimes a little less and top up with cooked lean protein plus vegetables. I divide their daily ration into three meals and usually give at least one if those as wet food i.e. soak the nuggets in water (never use boiling water) to bulk it up. It is always work in progress because I have one dog who easily gains weight.
That dog has dermatitis but has been in remission for at least six months. I don’t know if the food would be ok for your dog’s skin though - they are all so different.
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Reggie - just checked this page on the Natures Menu website and there is a section on helping your dog to lose weight. The types that they recommend to use are: Beef, Country Hunter: Venison, Rabbit, Duck or Salmon. I have fed Country Hunter nuggets in the past (before the new range) and found that weight control was ok.
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Hello and welcome to the forum. I had the same problem as my dog has become a little less active. I have reduced the morning portion and add a little oatmeal cooked with water for bulk. I also either add veg to a reduced evening portion or give a lower fat home cooked meal some of the time. It seems to be keeping the weight stable. I am hoping for a small loss this week as she has done lots of walking on holiday.
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What % of dog’s weight did you give in natures menu nuggets that worked?
Fairly new to the raw feeding - what sort of veg do you fill out with - raw or cooked? She usually has a carrot for snacks. Also oatmeal - as in the fine stuff?
TBH I didn’t weigh the nuggets but I gave less than their recommended amount. My dogs’ ideal weight was circa 8kg and I used to give 11 nuggets per day, divided into three meals. I just used to give or take one or two according to how they were doing weight-wise. Have to say that this was a very convenient way of feeding raw food.
Vegetable wise, Rodney Habib is worth following because he promotes the use of them for health benefits. He has a Facebook page - Planet Paws. There are plenty of useful videos. They are also on YouTube. This one explains how to use three vegetables. Dogs digest veg better when it is chopped. If cooked, mash or purée them and don’t overcook as nutrients are lost - he mentions that steaming is better.
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The good news is, when I weighed her last week, she had lost 1/2kg - so that’s something. I have been giving the nutriment purine which is low fat, their Turkey Chubb and also Natural instinct special diet - each one a few days at a time. Unfortunately I spoke too soon about the nail biting which has returned - so back to the drawing board on that. I did read that kelp tablets could help with weight loss so may look further in to that.
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Thank you very much for the feedback - it is appreciated. Well done on achieving the weight loss. I am sorry about the chewing of nails/feet. I had an elderly rescue dog that used to do it and it was hard work stopping her but we managed it with a lot of care and attention. Regarding the kelp, Dorwest Herbs market the product and they mention that it can help with weight control. Might be worth a try.
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Dorwest is the one I’ve been looking at. Also reading up on this forum it sounds like the nail chewing could be yeast infection - it’s a reddy color and I didn’t realize what that meant. I’ve started giving her apple cider vinegar in her food but maybe a probiotic supplement might be worth looking at also.
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We used to always wash our dog’s paws when she came in from a walk. After drying, we applied soothing cream and covered her feet with baby socks made into a kind of harness. We found Dermapaw to be helpful but other good quality cream or ointment may be useful. Tea tree is supposed to be good for fungal infections and it can be bought as a cream. Regarding a probiotic, look for a canine specific one. The one that comes to mind is sold by Pooch and Mutt.
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My dog also tends to get red paws this time of year.Washing them in plain water after a walk seems to help. If she starts to lick them we add a little hibiscrub to the water. I add a capful to her foot wash and it seems to calm things down. Failing that a few days taking lorotadine stops the itch. That is just over the counter hay fever medication. You would need to check dosage depending on your dogs weight.
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If there is a possible sensitivity to an ingredient in a dog’s diet this can manifest as the dog being itchy, and an overgrowth of yeast levels which would usually be kept in check.
Reggie you mentioned reactions on the previous diet your dog was fed, and also reactions to the more recent diet, which leads me to prompt that it may be wise to look into what the ingredients are in the foods, in case she has a food sensitivity. And by doing so you’d be trying to work out if she may be reacting to a particular ingredient.
If she is food sensitive then naturally it follows that by eliminating the ‘culprit’ ingredient(s) from her diet she should be able to lose weight comfortably, without reacting as she currently does.
Looking at Nutriment Low Purine & Phosphorus (food 1) the ingredients are: beef, chicken, salmon oil, wheatgerm, carrots, broccoli, butternut squash, bilberry, coconut oil, sesame seeds, spirulina, kelp.
The ingredients of Nutriment Turkey Chubb (food 2) are the same as Purine except chicken is substituted with turkey.
Natural Instinct Special Diet (food 3) ingredients are: beef, chicken, salmon oil, carrot, apple, butternut squash, spinach, kelp, brewer’s yeast
Logically you can see that there are several ingredients common to all the foods, salmon oil for example. There are also ingredients that are specific only to one of the foods eg. brewers yeast is only in food 3, turkey is only in food 2. And there are ingredients that are in two of the foods eg chicken is in foods 1 and 3.
If you wanted to also compare these ingredients with those in her previous diet you may get an even clearer pattern as to which ingredient(s) may be causing her to react as she does.
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