You can feed her less and you must if you love her. First, feed her a good quality food such as Wellness Small Breed - that s what I feed all 4 of my Chis. If has all the nutritional value she needs.Feeding twice a day is fine, but you MUST cut her portions down. Sometimes, even reducing her meal size by a few kibbles twice a day will help - but she does have a lot to lose. Next, get her an anti-gulp bowl. It is a dog dish with small projections build into the bowl and the dog HAS to slow down to work around the objects to get the food. One of my Chis was a gulper - so much so that he often threw up after eating too fast. This bowl did the trick. They have them at Petco/Petsmart/Internet, etc.Then, exercise. There s no getting around that. Two, 30 minute walks a day should do the trick.I have gone through this procedure with one of my dogs who had to lose one pound. That doesn t sound like much, but he only weighs four pounds and had been up to five. But, you will have to be consistent and don t try to make her lose too quickly. It will come off.Good luck.ADD: Just as an example - I had been feeding my overweight Chi 20 Wellness Small Breed kibbles twice a day. I cut it down to 15 kibbles twice a day and he lost the one pound he needed to lose in about 5 weeks. I also stepped up his exercise.
feed twice a day and cut down on the total amount of food. she won t lose weight unless you take her out and exercise her. 19 pounds is massive for a Chi.
give him a run,walk and everything exercise
Chihuahuas are supposed to be less than 6 lbs, so your vet is wrong. Cut down on the food, and increase the amount of exercise.
Feed it better food. And less food. But don t starve it.
She ll lose weight the same way humans do: with a healthy change of diet and exercise. You can buy a low fat prescription brand dog food from your vet or you can buy Natural Balance Reduced Calorie formula from your local pet store. You can put a little rice or bland chicken bits in with the food, but you can t worry about her not having a fulfilling meal. Overindulging her could shorten her life span. Take her for walks with the puppy. Not only will it help the two dogs bond and accept one another, it ll take off the extra pounds. If the weight doesn t start coming off, take her back to the vet to check for thyroid or other health issues that could prevent her from losing weight. I m not a vet and won t claim to be, but it sounds like she s just being overindulged. A dog that will eat anything won t turn away food; you ve just got to learn to deny her of the excess.
Has your Vet checked the dog s thyroid levels? She may have low thyroid that s why she has a hard time losing weight. If she is low thyroid, replacement is easy inexpensive. Cut her food intake down. Feed her only 1/2 - 3/4 of what she is getting now, divided into 2 meals. You can add some canned green beans to help fill her up not add calories. Make sure she doesn t get ANY of the puppy s food. NO table food. NO treats. Start her on a walking routine. 2-15 min walks a day to start increase to 2-30 min walks a day increase from there as her stamina gets better. The only way for her to lose weight is diligent food control increased exercise.
Okay, a Chihuahua should have 1/2 cup of food twice a day. But keep water available at all times. Don t stress too much about yall not walking her enough, because a Chihuahua can actually get enough daily exercise just running around the house playing. I m not sure why she seems to scarf it down so quickly, but you could mix canned food with her regular food which may make her take her time and enjoy the good taste. I recommend Science Diet. It s not too expensive and they even have a food for overweight dogs (they have canned foods like that too). Oh and spend a lot of time with her, because sometimes they can eat because they re bored. Make time to play with her and throw balls around the living room with her. And don t expect a drastic change within a week or two. These things take time. But don t give up!
Do this: every time you feed her, give slightly less. And, of course, maybe exersize more. I have a bunch of collie dogs and what I used to do when they were overweight was use a treadmill and set them on it. I would place the food ahead of them, not on the treadmill. She was run and run and run for half an hour each day, and she got less foods. Soon, from seventy six pounds (overweight TEN pounds) to three weeks later, only sixty pounds, a healthy collie weight. Plus, teething is a good replacement for eating. Buy a Nylon chew toy or chew bar for her. It s nutritional and healthy and does not pack on weight. Hope it helps! :)
have you had your chi checked by your vet? sometimes, being fat is not just about the food that your dog is taking. it may be a sign of a health problem, like hypothyroidism. overweight dogs put greater stress on their joints, hearts, lungs, liver, and kidneys. They re more prone to injury, and are at a higher risk during surgery.Here are two articles that may be of help to you. good luck!http://dogtime.com/feeding-overweight-do��http://dogtime.com/weight-problems.html
Since you say her food is already a quality food you should get her royal canine. They make special food just for chihuahuas, and they help with any genetic things that they have in particular- I think they also carry a weight matinece food for chis which will help her lose weight and mantain a healthy weight for her size- low fat diet food. If they don t carry they weight loss food, you can also get the mini breed weight loss food (I know they carry that) I would also cut back or nix any treats she gets all together, and of course dicontinue the poodle food. In addition I would give her some raw vegetables to supplement the food- like broccoli, cabbage, carrots, lettuce, etc.
