Advice please to help reach a healthy weight

[Cassandra & Honey]

Hey everyone, hope all is well

If anyone remembers i've been on a pretty big mission for helping Honey lose weight.

Lately, it just doesn't seem to be happening, she looks, to me, just as big and just as unhealthy.

I changed her diet and increased exercise, but it's not making any difference. She's been checked over by the vets and doesn't have any medical reasons to be so over weight.

Does anyone know of any extra help i can muster up for helping her? anything i can add into her food?

Honeys exercise/ food

Everyday:

I go for a nice long walk with her in the morning - usually takes us an hour and half, depending on how fast we're walking.

Another walk in the evening, which osh comes on. Usually just around under an hour, because ocea's still young.

Extra:

about 4 times a week we go for a bike ride

and about the same usually we go to the beach as well, where she swims, runs around and plays with other dogs.

And some nights if shes still bouncing off the walls, i give her about 25 mins of walking time on the treadmill.

food

she's on a raw diet. She gets chicken wings, quarters, legs and offal.

And when i can't get her meat she has science diet biscuits the light ones for overweight dogs. science diet isnt the greatest, i know, but we don't have much in the stores around here.

Can anyone recommend different biscuits, ones which i can order online , but don't cost a fortune.

She doesn't get much in the way of treats. I try to limit what the gets as much as possible.

I tried introducing a starve day into her routine, it worked fine for a little while, but the last couple of months she won't stand for it. And it felt really mean making her not eat, but ocea and the little guy got their food .

I make sure to never overdo anything with her and exhaust her, but it seems even with this much exercise, it's not making a difference. She initially lost a little weight. And last was weighed in at around 23 kgs - which isn't giant for an adult husky i know.

She is a little short, has anyone got shorter husks that look fatter, but are just chunky from being short?

I can only guess she came from a puppy mill because my sister got her from a pet store, so i do not know what her parents look like, or what any of her brothers and sisters look like.

Which could have been helpful.

Could she genetically just have a bigger build?

I will get some photos of her tonight to help give everyone a better picture.

Sorry if i'm sounding too judgemental on her, but she just looks so huge compared to everyone elses huskies.

Thanks so much for any help in advance.

[Rosemary]

Cass, Ozzy and Micah are two total opposites. Ozzy has shorter legs and looks more chunky than Micah who has long legs and a defined waist line. He picked up a lot of weight after he was 'fixed'. He is on a raw diet and gets no more than 540gr raw per day which includes any treats he may get. I don't feed doggy biscuits or any processed treats - their treats are chicken necks, gizzards and the odd small block of cheese. He has lost quite a bit of weight and is now looking great, but definitely does not look like Micah.

I think a non-working female on raw should not be getting more that 460gr per day (?)

I am sure the more experienced husky owners will be able to give you better advice, this is just from my experience. I think you are doing an absolutely amazing job with Honey. She is a lucky girl to have you looking out for her

[sutsibe]

There are some that just are - chunkier! I have several that are a larger, blockier build, and there's a genetic aspect to it. Sometimes will skip a generation - or even two or three! - but I can usually look back and say that this dog looks a lot like such and such back a couple of generations. A lot of the show Siberians here in the US tend to be heavier built than many of the dogs on the forum, here, and there may be something like that in the background of your Honey. Can you feel her ribs easily?

[Cassandra & Honey]

thanks for the replies

Lol rosemary, Honey does have wee little legs! It's funny when her and Ocea are walking side by side, it looks like honey is missing a section of her leg, Oceas so much taller than her already. Poor little honey haha.

I can feel her ribs, definitely a lot more than i used to be able to, but i wouldn't say easily.

it must just be the line that she comes from then making her shorter and stocky. Just trying to get my head around it. I feel bad for her when i see her, she's so wobbly and the massive neck flab that hangs down just gets to me everytime i see it.

I've tried to get some photos of her, but she just wants to sit everytime i try and get a photo, she's waiting for treats.

These photos don't do it justice, she looks very fat rolly and seal looking in person.

[Rosemary]

Ozzy and Honey seem similar in color and build. I don't have any photos of my two standing nicely together so that you can see the comparison properly. It seems that a lot of the Sibes with their coloring are stockier than any of other color combinations. It may be in their genes as Gigi says.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

she still reminds me of skyla, yet ive come to the conclusion that skyla is just a chunky girl shes always been chunky n i think shes always gonna be, she looks a similar build to your honey too

[dygosamikita]

Honey looks to be built a lot like Sampson, he is a short chunky little guy. Sampson used to be rather svelte when he was younger but after he was neutered he seemed to get a bit wider. It sounds like Honey is getting lots of exercise, it might just be that you need to cut her food back a little bit. Maybe try having her wear a pack when she is running, provided it is not too warm.

[Cassandra & Honey]

Honey looks to be built a lot like Sampson, he is a short chunky little guy. Sampson used to be rather svelte when he was younger but after he was neutered he seemed to get a bit wider. It sounds like Honey is getting lots of exercise, it might just be that you need to cut her food back a little bit. Maybe try having her wear a pack when she is running, provided it is not too warm.

I think, after honey was desexed she definitely changed her shape a bit too. She's always been a short legged little thing, but was very slender.

I think my next step is a backpack!

Does anyone know how you go about using the back packs? the amount of weight that you need to put in? or how you calculate it per the individual dog?

and can anyone recomend a back pack ?

[Kells xx]

honeys build and shape is the same as my girl daughtry,

she is fed the right amounts and gets lenty of exercise and play but is a lil chunky bugger....she looks healthy to me hun

[Cassandra & Honey]

honeys build and shape is the same as my girl daughtry,

she is fed the right amounts and gets lenty of exercise and play but is a lil chunky bugger....she looks healthy to me hun

thanks kell. Shes a beautiful dog. I just worry for her, she's getting older and i thought she might have lost more weight by now. But i think we just got another chunky fun sized girl on our hands! haha

[siberian_wolf]

I agree with everyone else, Honey look like she is just a chunkier sibe

Without pysically seeing her its hard to tell if she is overweight or just a bigger build. I remember reading ages ago that sometimes where their coat is so thick and dense it can add a few pounds onto their overall weight and often leads to them being called overweight when they are not.

IF she is overweight and you are looking for other methods to help her loose weight then how about these suggestions:

Hydrotherapy

Agility

Doggy Dancing

Taking her to a doggy daycare centre when you're at work, etc so she can interact and play with other dogs

[Cassandra & Honey]

I agree with everyone else, Honey look like she is just a chunkier sibe

Without pysically seeing her its hard to tell if she is overweight or just a bigger build. I remember reading ages ago that sometimes where their coat is so thick and dense it can add a few pounds onto their overall weight and often leads to them being called overweight when they are not.

IF she is overweight and you are looking for other methods to help her loose weight then how about these suggestions:

Hydrotherapy

Agility

Doggy Dancing

Taking her to a doggy daycare centre when you're at work, etc so she can interact and play with other dogs

i think as well as having a bigger build , she has a few extra bits of flab on top that she could possibly do without. I've been measuring her with her wobbling ripples as she walks. She used to be lke a tidal wave of flab, but it's getting down to little ripples and less overall movement as she walks. (that possible sounds incredibly stupid haha)

i know she's not giant, don't get me wrong!

There is a vets where i live that now has the only under water dog treadmill on the coast i think. Would that sort of hydrotherapy do? other than that, i don't think there are any dog pool places i could take her.I have a pool in my back yard, but a have a family full of people that prefer swimming without dog hair .

do horse places allow you to take dogs if you book it in? i wonder if there's any of those around here.

What is doggy dancing?!

I'd be nervous about a daycare centre. if she got loose or if she got too grumpy with another dog. But i think something like that would be fantastic.

But i actually might not need that soon. I'm moving out with my friend to our own house in a couple of weeks and she has her rotti and poodle as well, so we will have quite the little play group.

great ideas!! thank you so much

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

i think as well as having a bigger build , she has a few extra bits of flab on top that she could possibly do without. I've been measuring her with her wobbling ripples as she walks. She used to be lke a tidal wave of flab, but it's getting down to little ripples and less overall movement as she walks. (that possible sounds incredibly stupid haha)

i know what u mean lol, skyla used to waddle and her belly would swing when she walked, its not as bad now lol and she doesnt waddle at all

[siberian_wolf]

i think as well as having a bigger build , she has a few extra bits of flab on top that she could possibly do without. I've been measuring her with her wobbling ripples as she walks. She used to be lke a tidal wave of flab, but it's getting down to little ripples and less overall movement as she walks. (that possible sounds incredibly stupid haha)

i know she's not giant, don't get me wrong!

There is a vets where i live that now has the only under water dog treadmill on the coast i think. Would that sort of hydrotherapy do? other than that, i don't think there are any dog pool places i could take her.I have a pool in my back yard, but a have a family full of people that prefer swimming without dog hair .

do horse places allow you to take dogs if you book it in? i wonder if there's any of those around here.

What is doggy dancing?!

I'd be nervous about a daycare centre. if she got loose or if she got too grumpy with another dog. But i think something like that would be fantastic.

But i actually might not need that soon. I'm moving out with my friend to our own house in a couple of weeks and she has her rotti and poodle as well, so we will have quite the little play group.

great ideas!! thank you so much

this is doggy dancing, but when I mentined it I was meaning like the training classes for it

ZPGUN-WCYxk

I was thinking of swimming pool hydrotherapy. I beleive this one may be in your area http://www.dogoverboard.com.au/swimming.htm not sure if the horse hydrotheray places would tae dogs too, would be worth a phone call Im sure

If not a day care centre perhaps someone you know and trust who is available would like to be with her and do something fun with her maybe take her out to your local park to interact with other dogs/people and if you have a long enough line/lead they could throw a ball around.

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Hey hon! She just looks fluffy to me! LOL Bless her! She actually looks alot like my Nukka shes a mild red little shorty aswell! LOL Nukka is also on RAW and she gets 200gms per meal two meals per day and will usually do about 3-5 miles a day exercise with me. She weighs about 19kgs and is as yet unspayed although this will change at the end of this month so will let you know if she puts any on!

For dog backpacks.. I have this one ebay which is great coz its fully adjustable! it has little sort of saddle bag type things... I bought it for my boy as he just seems to go on forever exercise wise so was hoping to tire him out a bit. What I did was first of all was let him wear it home from the shop empty just to get used to it, then I stuffed a couple of rolled up blankets in it to make it feel like it was full without very much weight, then I put a water drinking bottle (like a 200-300mls) in each pouch and went up from there really just did it gradually and made sure he was comfortable at each stage before moving on.

Good luck!