[Elvismom]

Ginger needs to lose about 5 lbs. to make her a bit healthier. She's not horrendously overweight, but....

We'll monitor treats and get her a weight loss food, but what is a realistic timetable for basset weight loss? I think she ate a lot of poeple food etc. at her old home and we want to break her of that habit, but don't plan on starving her doing in.

Any advice is both welcome & appreicated!!!

Thanks
Chris

 

[shallhb]

Try replacing about 1/4 of her food with string beans. It worked for us. When you get her down to her idea weight, gradually remove the string beans. With my girl, it took a while to lose that much--maybe 6 months to a year. But it worked, and she's kept it off, no problem, no beans now.

 

[Mikey T]

FWIW the recommendation of Chris Zink is replace 1/3 of the dogs food with twice the quanity of low cal vegi, pumpkin in particular but green beans work too just so long they arn't cooked in butter

if your normally gets 3 cups of food change it to two cups of food and two cups of squash, peas, green beans, pumpkin. The extra volume will help eliminate the feed me I'm hungry pleadings bassets are famous for. For more on the pumpkin diets and assessing your dogs weight seeCorpulent Canines?

We keep are dogs on pumkin not so much for weight loss or matainence but because it slows down how fast they eat which is a major risk factor for bloat so there are secondary benifits as well.

 

[Anonymous]

An extra benefit of the pumpkin is how regular their bowel habits become and how firm the stools are (very important for cleaning up after my little city-slicker, Francis) He loves the stuff and comes charging when he hears the can opener.

 

[Elvismom]

The checkout person at Sam's asked about the cases of veggies - gave me a very odd look when I said they were for my dogs.

She loves the veggies mixed in with the food, but I suspect she was used to getting a snack whenever someone went into the kitchen. We have basically made the kitchen "off limits" to her. It makes it easier on everyone.

Thanks for the advice. Even though Gingre doesn't beleive me I know she'll be happier when shes a bit lighter.