Dog Advice & Discussion :: Dog Chat

Hi   :D   I am new to this forum and wondered if anyone could help with my query...

My dog never seems to stop eating. We give her a handful of dried food in the morning, she has a tin of meat with mixer in the early evening and then another small handful of dried food before bed. Yet she still tries to find more and is often caught stealing the cats food and any food that is left on the kitchen side. Just this morning, there was an empty packet of oxo cubes in her bed!!

She is 5 years old and a mongrel.

We have two kittens also and we have noticed that she eats from there litter, which is very disgusting! So have done away with the litter tray, however this doesnt stop her outside!!

We have noticed that she has started to drink more water over the past couple of days.

She has just had a visit to the vets because she had a very bad odour even though she has regular baths and was diagnosed with a swollen anal gland, which is now being treated.

Is there anything else that could be wrong??
 :neutral:

You don't say what size she is?

Is she underweight? Overweight? Do you worm her regularly?

Perhaps two even meals a day plus her bedtime treats instead of a small breakfast and a big dinner might suit her better.

If she seems hungry then she must be hungry. Are you sure you are giving her enough to eat?

Cat poo is a delicacy by the way?

Body odour and bad breath can be because of an unsuitable diet.


That'll be the oxo cubes.

This is a good read on diet http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/Burns_health_guide_ebook2005.pdf (http://www.burns-pet-nutrition.co.uk/Burns_health_guide_ebook2005.pdf)

She is a medium sized dog and is a little overweight but not much. 

The vet told us that the odour was from her having a swollen anal gland and its now not as bad as it was.  Which is good and she doesnt have bad breath.

I never realised that cat poo was a delicacy!!  How bizarre.

She only had the oxo cubes overnight last night, so I dont think thats down to her drinking so much water just lately.

I do believe that we are feeding her enough.... she would just go on and on eating if we let her.

I would look at a different diet, something like Burns or Naturediet is far superior to any tinned food.

Make sure that she is getting plenty of exercise, especially if you think that she is overweight, and try some mental stimulation like teaching her a new trick or two. Hide some of her food in the house for her to find or scatter it in the garden just in case she is eating because she is bored.

Tell your vet that she is drinking more.

Keep all food that you don't want her to have out of her reach.

Hi there, if your dog is part labrador (and loads are) you have a professional eating machine! :D  Dogs are opportunists, they never know when and where their next meal is coming from and therefore they will eat at every opportunity.

Try giving her things like whole carrots to gnaw which will keep her occupied with no calories or give her food in kongs or buster balls which take longer to empty, scatter her food in the grass, make her hunt for it, give her frozen yoghurt kongs.

I would not give oxo cubes, these are mainly salt and therefore will increase her thirst.
Have you measured how much water she is actually drinking so you can give the vet a good idea if it IS too much.  Increased thirst may indicate underlying health issues which require tests to rule out etc.

You could use a covered litter tray that the dog cannot access, she may also eat from boredom rather than actual hunger.

Hi, yes we do think she has labrador in her!  I will try an dpost a picture of her on here soon.

We never meant for her to have the oxo cubes..... she helped herself.  we normally do put things out of reach from her, but we had forgotten about the oxo.

Will definately try things like you mentioned i.e buster balls and carrots!

Thanks to all that have replied so far.

Kerrie is very like that, tho she is slowly learning that stealing food means that she doesnt get anything "special"
I would get her onto a good dry food such as Burns, Jwb or Natures choice wet. Then try to make it interesting for her, hide food around the house, make her do some obedience to get to food.

Above all, you must make sure that you or anyone in your family never ever leaves food lying around. No matter how "naughty" it is to steal food, she cant be blamed for giving into temptation any more than I can when there is chocolate lying around.

lol i wondered if there was any lab in her as well but saying that most gundogs can eat forever :P

well u are feeding a low uailty food she could be burning moe than she gets given,

or maybe if she is bord she might go in serch for food.

have u tried giving her a nice big raw knuckle bone to knaw at to keep her bizzy? and kongs r grate used to keep my flatcoat bizzy 4 ages and he would eat like any thing right tealeaf he was u name hes eaten it.. cocopowder vasaline compost are just a few :)


xx

Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?????????????
Haven't you ever had a labrador?  :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

But I feel a lot better about the cat pooh now (smiley for bad smell. please).

Try varying her diet a bit.  Maybe she is bored with the food you are giving her and is helping herself to something more tasty.

I did think about EPI but as you say your dog is a little on the overweight side then this is probably not the case.    Green vegetables can be added to her normal food to fill her up without increasing calorific intake too much.

Also consider if she is getting enough physical and mental stimulation.  Food can be a replacement for boredom.   Just a thought.

Yes, that's good advice, especially green beans. Also, having labradors, I have always added 1 tablespoonful of organic bran to each of their canned or cooked meat meals (2 meals a day ), which makes them look more substantial. Also it makes the dogs produce poos that are easy to pick up  :wink:

I agree, lots of nice fresh veg, and occassional fruit is great. If you grate or shred what ever you are feeding, it will really bulk up the meal, and make to dog feel full way before he would normally.