Back in July of 2008, Delilah had what we referred to as an episode, it was the first of three. I won’t write about it here because it’s quite lengthy, but you can read it about on the page titled “Delilah’s Health,” which is nested under the “Cast of Characters” page. I warn you now, it’s not my best writing, but I haven’t yet had the time to go in to make it presentable.
Eventually with the help of a wonderful Holistic Veterinarian, Dr. Kevin Landau, we determined it was not seizures as our vet suspected, but a pinched nerve due to her excessive weight.
The date was March 31, 2010 and she weighed 96.5 pounds.
You can see how heavy she is in this photo, (this was after Dr. Landau’s treatment.)
To help her lose weight Dr. Landau suggested the raw food diet. Sampson was heavy as well and there was no way I was putting one dog on raw food and not the other.
This photo of Sampson was taken in July 17, 2010 he weighed 107 pounds.
At first expense was a real issue, so we started out feeding the dogs one raw meal per day, with the second meal being Taste of the Wild, a grain free kibble.
I also set up a rigid schedule of walking at least 30 minutes per day and longer on the weekends. It helped that the field at the top of the street gives them lots of off-leash running, which helped the weight come off.
When Delilah went for her annual exam in June of 2010, she weighed in at 94.8 pounds. Sampson’s annual exam was in October and he weighed 103.4.
In April of 2011, we went totally raw and we’ve never looked back.
That June, Delilah weighed in at 77.1 pounds, in October of the same year Sampson weighed in at 86.5 pounds.
We took Sampson with us when Delilah went for her annual in June of 2012 (moral support) Delilah weighed 74 pounds and Sampson weighed 89. Our vet was over the moon. She told us what a great job we’d done and said, we’ve probably given them 2 to 3 additional years of life.
Music to my ears and fuzzies for my heart.
They look great, but even better, they FEEL great. You can see their increased energy and they run like puppies, which is amazing to see in dogs that are 7 and 8 1/2.
We are incredibly lucky in the fact that the distribution facility where we purchase our food has a dog nutritionist. Based upon Sandy’s calculations we feed them for what we want them to weigh, in this manner the weight comes off slowly and is more likely to remain off.
Normally their treats are carrots and a couple of grain free cookies, but I think we’ve been a little indulgent with the cookies, so I’m cutting their food back a teensy bit.
Here’s what we feed them.
Chicken necks with Welactin on them and about 1/8 to 1/4 cup of canned pumpkin for breakfast.
Ground turkey with veggies, a tablespoon of coconut oil, a probiotic and 1/8 to 1/4 cup of yogurt for dinner.
For snacks and training they mostly get baby carrots, but I do have banana chips and some chicken and brown rice sticks that I buy at Trader Joe’s.
At night they get the stuffed white bone (more on that for Tasty Tuesday.) I did buy a bag of treats at the local warehouse and I think Hubby indulges those a little too much, hence the reason I am cutting back a bit on their food.
It’s hard to get a picture of their waists
Especially Delilah with her dark coloring. I can see them clearly defined but it doesn’t show well in the pictures.
Can you see the cut in? She kept trying to sit down, which is why I’m holding her back-end up.
Maybe it’s a little bit clearer here.
Sampson was a little bit easier, but that’s only because he is so barrel chested.
He kept sitting down too, in his case I think it worked to my advantage.
I can’t see their ribs, but I’m working on that! I love these two like crazy and want them with me and healthy as long as possible.
This is a year-long blog hop hosted by Dawg Business, I will be back when the hop is over with a recap on how well we did losing those last few pounds.
You can see how others are helping their dogs become fit and healthy, as well as getting some awesome tips to help your pups lose weight by clicking on the links below.
Many thanks to Jana for creating and organizing this event.
So apparently, Mom isn’t the only one who is dog-weight-conscious! She weighs me every week, and if I get bigger than 22 pounds, she cuts my treats down for a few days. It seems mean, but I know it’s for my own good. If I get fat, my tiny toothpick legs won’t hold me up!
Love and licks,
Cupcake
Your mom is very smart Cupcake, not only won’t your legs support you, but it leads to weakening of your joints as you age and will give you owies. It can also make your heart work harder and cause so many other issues. I’m glad you found a mom who cares so much about you!
One of the best blog hop ideas we have heard about. That is an incredible amount of weight you’ve managed to get off both of them – so impressed! It’s the one thing we always think you have to be on top of as excessive weight can cause so many problems.
OMD yes it is. There are so many overweight dogs, I blame it mostly on over feeding and all the crap that is in some dog foods.
I’m pretty pleased with their weight, it’s a lot of weight!!
Sampson and Delilah look fantastic! So glad this diet is working well for you. Thanks for sharing the details. People often just don’t realize that over feeding can do such serious harm to dogs.
Best regards,
Debbie
Thanks Debbie, I think sometimes the feeding guide on the dog food bags is too much as well. For my dogs they were recommending far more than what they are being fed now.
Jodi, you’re wrong about the picture of Delilah…I can definitely see her waistline! Maybe because I’ve spent so much time and money on keeping Callie and Shadow at healthy weights; and watching their waistlines over the years. With all that beautiful, Golden hair, keeping an eye on their waistlines is no easy task.
Thanks Sue, I imagine with Goldens it’s a lot harder to watch their waists. I’m glad you have them at healthy weights.
Wow Jodi…I never knew that they both had, um, waist issues in the past. You’d never know it to see them today. Nice job. Actually….awesome job! Congrats.
P.S. Toby says to tell you he is in fact quite jealous of Sampson’s first photo, and wishes I would allow him to eat like a god too. 🙂
Aw thanks Donna, I wish I hadn’t let Sampson get so big, and Toby’s very lucky that you care so much for him!
I can see Delilah’s slim waist line and I think I see ribs too! Congrats! We had to feed Cali some Science Diet low calorie food several years back because her weight we up to 90 pounds and we couldn’t get it to budge (she is 76 pounds now) and it was horrible! She was starving all the time, I wish we had access to a good nutritionist at the time and raw food but we didn’t. We feed her Taste of the Wild and she has maintained her weight since then – nice work!
Taste of the Wild is a very good quality food Julie.
It is very hard with dark dogs (as I’m sure you know) to get good photos, sometimes the way her fur lies I think I can see ribs, and she is probably at close to a very good weight for her.
We kinda wish our MOM hadn’t seen this… Just sayin…
But you aren’t overweight Frankie, your mom takes very good care of you!
Wow what a difference…Clearly you’ve done well and both are looking fit and trim..Your diet changes and hikes like the one at Belding yesterday are really paying off for you
It’s tough some days, they probably would lost a bit more if I factored in their treats, which is why I’m cutting back a tiny bit on there food.
And we all love our walks. 🙂
We had a foster dog who was morbidly obese once, and complications from that ended up leading her to a very early demise. The couple who adopted her from us kept her on the weight loss plan and they did everything right for her, which made it more of a heartbreak for me when she died. Her back had been through too much trying to support her frame. It was a warning for me to never let our dogs get overweight, and so far we’ve stuck to that with all of them. Now they’re helping me to get into better shape!
That is so sad and I’m sorry for your heartbreak.
I worry about that with Delilah, but anyone who ever saw her run and jump would never know she’d had back problems. I just hope the damage hasn’t been done.
It’s certainly more fun exercising with them, isn’t it?
I am thinking I should put My Vickie on a raw food diet. What do you think?
Bert
They do have raw food diets for humans Bert. 🙂 I’m not sure Miss Vickie would agree with you though.
They’re looking great!
I’m having to cut down food for more treats over here, too.
Are you kidding, is Silas putting on weight? He doesn’t look it from the pictures I’ve seen, maybe he just hides it well. 🙂
Great idea since so many dogs are overweight, cats too for that matter. Glad your pup is slimming down but mainly I find it interesting that seizures were caused by a pinched nerve. I had never heard of that before. I wonder if that is the cause for us long dogs with short legs sometimes as well?
I wasn’t clear. We weren’t sure what was going on, by the time she got to our vet they could never figure out what the issue was. Our vet said without seeing it, she would have to conclude it was a seizure, but the vet never actually saw her when she was reacting.
So glad to see you two have waists again. So many labs going around who like like loaves of bread on leggies. Now you are both lean and mean and you will be so much happier and bouncier.
Kisses,
Dexter
LOL they are lean and mean Dexter! I’m sure your Mama works at keeping you in shape as well.
Thanks for stopping by!
You have done a grate job of keeping Sampson and Delilah’s weight under control. They look great!
Thank you, it’s been a long road, but they are so worth it!
That’s great! Thanks for giving the details of their diets. I always wondered!
I’ve been meaning to write about their food for a long time, this just gave me the motivation. 🙂
Anytime you have a question, feel free to shoot me an e-mail Mary Ann, I’m always happy to help.
I’ve heard the same great reviews about a raw diet being great for weight from several people–I’m glad it’s worked so well for Sampson and Delilah!!
Most people I know who’ve gone raw swear by it. One of my friends has had her dogs on it since they came home with her. The nutritionist at the distributorship feeds all her Newfs raw. (I’d hate to see her feed bill.) 😉
Looking good, have you seen my dog body score chart http://www.harringtonspetfood.com/content/UK/dog-feeding-guide
I hadn’t check that out Basil because it looked to me that you didn’t sell in the states.
But I have now and I’m please to say that based upon Sampson and Delilah’s weight, we are feeding on the low end of your recommendation. Truthfully you are the first dog food I’ve seen that lists that. Kudos to you and thank you for sharing!!
Very impressive. The whole raw food diet idea sounds so good with these great results. I am puzzled though. Canned pumpkin isn’t raw and I’m not sure about yogurt.
I’m not sure about the pumpkin or the yogurt. We give the pumpkin to help them feel a bit fuller and the yogurt is for the probiotics. I basically try to keep them away from carbs.
That’s great news! It makes me sad when I see dogs overweight, I know they don’t want to be and like you said, they are more active and puppy-like when they don’t have the extra weight to carry around. Especially little dogs, my neighbor has a small dog and she is overweight, it hurts to watch her walk. I try to be subtle when talking about it with her but she says the dogs are happy and that’s what matters.
I used to have that mentality. I actually said, I’d rather have a fat and happy dog and have it die young, then a skinny dog with no energy that looks like the life is sucked out of it. Can you believe it? Then my dogs starting getting older and the reality of losing them began to terrify me, besides how can they be happy being so fat that they can’t run. I knew of a yellow lab that was so fat she couldn’t even clean her hoo ha. I outright told the woman her dog needed to lose weight and gave her some options for treats.
They both look great – what a difference in two years! They’re lucky to live with someone who has their health at heart 🙂
Thanks Lexy, I want them with me as long as possible.
They look fantastic! 🙂
Bella used to be a chubby pup too, but she’s since slimmed down. Unfortunately, I’ve realized that now Tavish looks kind of like a little sausage. He was skinny from the shelter and I think we’ve overcompensated. So now we’re trying to slim him down.
It’s easy to do, you feel so sad for them and they look so skinny, you just want to fatten them up. I’m sure with a pup Tavish’s size it won’t take much to slim him down!