[Dailydrool] Fat Basset

[dpmcquade at juno.com]

Not to be confused with flat basset!

We have gone through the whole fat thing with our Abner. He came to us humongous, no waist at all. And with just a look this boy will convince you that he's starving.

First, take a look at the food you're giving your hound. How much fat is in it? Foods vary all over the lot in their fat content. Some that are very good for young dogs put the pounds on a senior. So we moved Abner to Innova's senior food (he's barely a senior, but he's also one of those who puts weight on by looking at food). We feed him a little less than a third of a cup, twice a day. If he gets really hungry, we offer green beans. If he won't eat them, we know he's not very hungry.

Also, consider how many dog treats or how much people food your hound gets in a day. Make sure the treats are not high in fat. The people food should not be high in fat and should be kept to a minimum.

Most of all, make sure you separate your dogs while they are eating. Our other two dogs eat regular food, so we have to keep everyone apart. Whatever does not get eaten in a few minutes gets picked up. If you don't add anything to kibble, you could give the rest later to your lazy eater. But do not free feed when one dog is losing weight.

Also, try to give your hound enough exercise to burn off some weight.

You might also check out your hounds thyroid level. A year ago, when our Abner had back surgery, his foster mom suggested he could have a thyroid problem. We didn't specially test for it because another blood level that is out of line when hypothyroidism is present was normal, and we'd already spent a gazillion dollars on him. Now I wish I had tested. He's currently in the low normal range, but we've started medication, because he has so many symptoms of a low thyroid. He hasn't been on medication long enough to really tell yet, but I suspect that's been a problem all along.

Don't expect your hound to enjoy the weight-loss routine. Abner's fought us plenty. But if he'd never had the extra weight, he might not have ended up with intervertebral disk disease. He lost the last of his extra weight after the surgery. Slimming down a hound can save you a lot of cash--and trouble, since the recovery from such surgery can be a real challenge for both human and hound.
Pam, with Drew, food slave to the Dashing Bassets 
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