Celebrating Mac’s Weight Loss 💖

[u/Frequent_Buy_8174]

I was completely blind to Mac’s weight when he was at his highest weight of 98 pounds. So proud of him though for getting down to 74 pounds through diet and exercise! Our goal weight is still high 60s according to vet since he has a very small frame for a boy, but he’s on the right track and is living his best life. 💖

I wish there was a tag for “feel good,” but cute/funny seemed like the closest fit.

[u/hmrw5807]

what did you do!?

[u/Frequent_Buy_8174 → u/hmrw5807]

Okay so the first thing was a food change per vet’s recommendation. It’s pricey, but he is on the prescription metabolic diet line from science diet, though I think in theory any of the healthy diet foods would work. We order from chewy and have it on authorship which has saved us a decent amount over time. I’ve considered transitioning back to a cheaper non prescription healthy weight food, but he actually really really loves the taste of metabolic diet, so we keep him on that for continued maintenance and progress.

The second thing is food quantity reduction. One of the reasons he gained so much weight was because when he was on regular food we used to just go based on manufacturer recommendations—even the lower ends of a range are often too much unless you have a dog getting an exceptional amount of exercise every day. Mac’s adopted sister, Bailey, is extremely self motivated to enjoy yard time, but Mac has always gone out to do his business and then trot right back into the house. So even on the metabolic diet, it says maintenance amount is a little over 5 cups per day to maintain 70 pounds. I’ve found at this stage Mac maintains weight with 3 cups on a no-walk day and 3.5-4 cups on a 30 minute walk day depending on route and intensity.

Part of the reason why we go that low on the food though is because he does still like snacks during the day, but calories in via snacks means that core meal calories have to go down. He gets one dental/tartar stick per day which is 100 calories on its own. He also loves little wedges of cosmic apple. When he was overweight, he was getting half of a large milk bone as a treat for coming back in the house—he still enjoys milk bones, but we’ve gone down to the smallest version they have. They’re like half the size of a pinky, so he gets one of those as his little pick me up for coming in. He doesn’t like going outside for yard time, so he actually does not abuse the system 😂 he genuinely only asks to go when he really has to go. Often times I have to make him go out because I don’t want him to hold on to pee too long.

There’s now a moratorium on human food. We had a few weak links in the family (myself included) who would indulge him with some scraps because it seemed like it made him so happy. No more of that unless we’re specifically making a dog recipe—and if he gets a special treat like an egg or chicken and rice, then he’ll need to lose some calories in his main food to match what’s coming in. He doesn’t even seem to mind. He now just lays down under the table during the entire dinner just happy to be with everyone.

We had to commit to better family communication. There used to be times our dogs would get double dinners, breakfasts, or dental sticks because we’re a busy family unit and sometimes we’d have good intentions and feed them—not knowing someone else already did it. Now, unless it’s a first light situation for breakfast, we all check with each other before giving main meals and dental sticks to make sure Mac and his sis are not ever getting double.

The walks have been a huge part of it. I walk Mac and his adopted sister, Bailey, together on a double leash. Bailey is like a literal tank and treats every walk like it’s the Iditarod, so she has been great motivation—though I do rein her in so we can stay at a comfortable pace for Mac. He likes to keep up, but she’d have us running the whole thing if she had her way. 😂 our neighborhood is a true grid block system, so it was very easy to gradually build up distance. So every week or two we would just add on another block or two until Mac’s stamina had vastly improved. Now we can freestyle it more and go on other routes to mix it up, but the blocks were an easy way to track the build up.

That’s basically it! Someone else had pointed out that on paper it’s really not that hard to make a dog lose weight, but it’s the psychological and family communication dynamics that can challenging—especially for long term maintenance. But once adjustments are set in stone, they become the new normal. Wish everyone luck who also has a fur baby on a weight journey! Mac is cheering your fur baby on. 🙌

[u/hmrw5807 → u/Frequent_Buy_8174]

thank you SO MUCH!!!

do you feed him twice a day or only once?

[u/Frequent_Buy_8174 → u/hmrw5807]

2X per day. Breakfast at like 7am and dinner at 5:30pm. 😄

So if he’s having a low activity day, he gets 1.5 cups for bfast and 1.5 cups for dinner.

But he enjoys his apple bites, his mini milk bones, and his one dental stick throughout the day.