J and I just got married in Jamaica and for the week that we were away, we had J's coworker dog sit for us. I had prepared a very extensive list of how to take care of the dogs, their daily routines, how much to feed them, etc... Due to a silly spelling mistake of her email address, the list never got to her. I usually check my email quite frequently on my phone but as luck would have it, my phone charger got lost and I did not see the bounce back email until we were in the airport lounge on the way back home! Our dogs are pretty low maintenance so we weren't too worried but since she didn't have any directions, she had to guess on everything. When we finally got home we were greeted by two very excited dachshunds and once the excitement died down we looked at Macho and then looked at each other and said "Macho is fat!" His belly grew so big! We didn't need to call his co-worker to find out how much she fed him as we looked at their food bowls which were filled to the brim with food!
Macho and Savvy never have food during the day. They only get fed once, at dinner time and Macho eats 3/8 cup and Savvy eats 1/4 cup with a handful of frozen beans as recommended by our vet. During the time that we were gone Macho must have eaten the entire food bowl worth of food which had to be at least 1 cup of food each day!
He probably was a happy little guy while we were away as he never had to bug anybody for more food! We can't blame the dogsitter as she's only ever had big dogs so she knew nothing about how much to feed these little guys. If only the email had gone through! We now have to start a strict diet for Macho to lose that extra poundage he put on. We are thinking about putting him on low calorie food for awhile and getting some extra walks in.
Savvy has always been good about not eating more than she can so she looks the same. I only wish Macho had the same kind of self control around food!
I am afraid that Macho is going to go nuts with the lack of food that he has had for the past week. Anyone have some good diet tips for a overweight dog?
This is Macho pre-big fat belly. I am afraid to show you what he looks like now!
macho says "Mom is putting me on a diet! how awful!"
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11 comments:
Firstly, congratulations on the wedding! Secondly, I really like the new banner on the blog.
Thirdly, what are the frozen beans for?
And lastly, I would love to see a picture of the fat puppy now! ; - )
Fellow dachshund lover,
Bridget
I think the good news is that with a small dog, small changes make a big difference. A daily walk and a small cut-back in food will show you great results really quickly. I don't think you have anything to worry about!
bridget - thank you! The beans are because Macho is always hungry and would always bug us for food but we didn't want to continually feed him more dog food for fear of having an overweight dog since he's already so big. The vet recommended green beans for the fiber which would fill him up quicker than giving him dog food. It does seem to work, they really like it.
I haven't had time since we got home but I will try and get a picture of the fat belly! :)
Ben - you are right, I hope that it will work for Macho. I could not believe how big his belly was! All we could do was pat it and laugh.
Congrats on the wedding Tiffany! :)
As for Macho, I'm sure he'll lose the weight in no time!
When I was growing up we had to leave our 5 lb doxie with my grandparents for a few months because we were building a house and she didn't like apartment living. Anyway, while she was there she had bacon and eggs every morning because that's what they had. When we got her back our 5 lb dachsund weighed 12 lbs and looked like a round little Armadillo with a skinny tail. It was horrible and kind of funny at the same time. Once she got back home with us, she didn't eat because she wanted the good stuff.
What a handsome little dude! Where did you get that bandana? It's so cute!
sleepyjane - thank you! I'll come back with a progress report of how long it takes for him to get back to normal.
angie - omg! round armadillo with a tail! HAHAHA! love it. I'm sure she was still adorable.
laura thank you! I made the scarf! Just sewed up a little circle and scrunched it.
Seven weeks ago I picked up an overweight black and tan doxie named Max to foster. I put him on diet dog food and walked him daily although he hated both. Our walks were more like me dragging him down the street. My friends joked that he landed in Doxie Boot Camp. He has lost 4 lbs and now LOVES going for walks. I have to say portion control and exercise is probably the way to go.
Congrats on the wedding and good luck with Macho. I'm sure the weight will come off soon.
~Chen
P.S. I ended up adopting Max.
Congrats on the wedding!
I agree with Ben about not worrying too much about it. Tofu put on an extra pound recently due to finicky eating but it came off just as quickly. Just cut back to his regular portion, add in the extra walk, and Macho should be back to his svelte self soon enough.
Our vet recommended squash for the fiber and filler but I'll try beans too.
When I left Carlisle with my mom, I measured out food for each day and included an extra scoop just in case. I came back to a whole new bag of food and a slightly heavier puppy. Apparently, she would fill his bowl whenever it was empty. (She also gave him a rawhide that I don't approve of.)
After getting back to our routine, he got back down to his normal size.
Aw! Congrats on the wedding!
As for a fat puppy, maybe after getting back into his normal routine he'll get back to normal. Get a little more exercise in. :)
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