Another Year Gone By

Last night was Delilah’s yearly exam.  As is the case with most vet visits we bring both dogs.  We like to says it’s for moral support but really we hate to leave one home alone.

We also like the opportunity to pop the dogs on the scale, to see how their diet and exercise routine is going.  Our vet’s office will let us pop in anytime and put them on the scale but we are usually too busy, so we do it on the formal appointments.

At Sampson’s last check-up in October he weighed 86.5 pounds while Delilah weighed 72.4, when they hopped on the scale Sampson had gained six pounds and Delilah has gained 1.6.

I’m slightly puzzled by the weight gain, especially in Sampson.  He runs a lot when he is off leash on our walks and he gets minimal treats.  Delilah on the other hand is on leash so she doesn’t get a lot of running in, plus she gets LOTS of treats.

For breakfast they get chicken necks.  The number of necks vary depending upon their size.  Delilah usually gets one more than Sampson.  I give them a couple squirts of Salmon Oil on the necks for the Omega 3’s.  After their necks, they get about a 1/4 cup of pumpkin, which is low in fat, high in fiber and it helps them feel full.

I had increased their raw food at their evening meal slightly and by that I mean Sampson is supposed to get 12.8 and I usually give him 13.50 and Delilah is supposed to get 10.6 and she usually gets 11.30.  They get a small drizzle of olive oil on the food, because sometimes their poop is very dry and I worry it will be too hard for them to pass.  They also get about a quarter cup of non/low-fat yogurt after their raw food, to help keep good bacteria in their intestines.

Sandy our food guru said that since Delilah had really gotten down to her ideal weight, I should add a little bit more to see how she would maintain it, which is why she gets one more neck than Sampson.

Today I went back to our original measurements, and I cut back that extra neck for Delilah.

The dilemma is really their treats.  Before the great Chinese Chicken debacle, I used to use the little dried disks of chicken, which I think work great for the raw diet.  While I do try to buy grain free treats, most of the treats I’m buying do have some type of flour in them.  Which is where I think the problem lies. If I could cut out some of the carbs, I think it would really help.  My goals are to get Sampson down to 80 – 82 pounds and Delilah down to about 70.

I am now in the market for some good protein treats, any suggestions?

Oh and the rest of her check up went well.  They drew blood to check her thyroid and to check for heartworm, I remembered to bring in a stool sample so they checked that.  I got a call from the vet today that the thyroid was perfect and the stool sample was negative.  Now we are just waiting for the results of the heartworm/tick borne test.

She wasn’t due for rabies, and my vet doesn’t feel she needs Parvo or Distemper, so the only vaccine she got was Leptospirosis.

Our vet said probably in the next year or two she will need a teeth cleaning, she has a little tartar on the back teeth but it hasn’t gotten down to the gum line.  She suggested large bully sticks for chewing which should help and brushing her teeth.  That should be interesting because we’ve never gotten into a routine of brushing.

Our vet was very pleased with her over-all appearance and demeanor, and keeps complimenting us how the work we’ve done to get them in shape.

Tomorrow is follow-up Friday, but Saturday I am planning (unless something unforeseen happens) to do a post on the command I’ve been teaching Delilah on our walks.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions for low-fat/low carb treats that would work good for training, please feel free to leave them in the comments.

Have a wonderful evening.