[glencorgi]

More often than not, fosters I have come in are usually overweight, so
I have become quite versed in dropping weight off corgis and I have
never used lo-cal or diet formulas. What I have found in cases where
only 3 to 5 pounds need to be dropped, putting the dog on the amount of
food that should be their maintenance portion, the weight will come
off. A dog that has been fed two cups of kibble a day or a couple of
cans of food a day, when put on a cup of kibble a day, the body adjusts
and the weight normalizes. If more drastic measures are needed then a
different regime is needed.

I have dropped 30 pounds - that's right, 30 pounds - a whole corgi's
weight, off of one girl. She came into rescue weighing 56 pounds when
the healthiest weight for her should have been 26 pounds. Now she took
time and it was over a year before she hit her target weight. With one
like Emma, caution has to be taken not to crash their systems, move too
drastically and more health problems can be created. There are often
secondary health issues that arise with that level obesity as well and
Emma had - hot spots, bladder infections, raw spots under her arms -
and skin/coat problems. I started her out at a cup of food a day,
dropped to 3/4, then down to 1/2 a cup, and when we were at our most
intense working on her weight, she was only getting 1/4 cup of kibble a
day. As I decreased the amount of kibble then lo-cal fillers were
added. She was one that would literally eat anything so she got green
beans, canned pumpkin, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, zucchini,
lettuce, tomatoes, (fresh, frozen or canned) puffed wheat cereal (not
good if there are allergies to wheat), rice cakes, Cheerios, macaroni
and salmon or mackerel mix, the tuna mixture. Not all at one meal of
course, but according to what I had on hand or was in season to fill up
the bowl and her. Today she is maintaining her healthy weight on 2/3
to 3/4 cup of food a day.

Emma was very much like Reba (now known as Reba the svelte) although
Reba was even more extreme an obesity case than Emma and weighed 70
pounds at her heaviest. I had the fortune of meeting Reba and her now
owner and learned a lot of tips from her. Reba's story can be found
at: <http://www.honeyfoxcorgis.com/faq-feeding.htm>.

Overall size and balance, age, activity levels (as weight drops then
activity and energy levels tend to increase) are all variables to
consider when trying to get one to their healthy weight. The buster
cube toys and/or treat balls are good ways to feed a meal. The corgis
have to exercise in order to get the kibble out and get their meal. IF
you are training, then use a portion of their meal kibble as treats for
training.

Right now in foster care, we have a petite girl who weighed 34 pounds,
when 24 should be her weight. She's doing well and is about half way
to her goal. She's no longer worried about being stuck on her back
like a turtle because she couldn't roll over and back wallows are a new
favorite pastime. Another challenge now is putting weight on a 15
month old boy, so that is kind of a pleasant change.

Debbie