Best food for overweight senior Schnauzers? Bladder stone prevention?

If it was not yet done, you should take Jada to your vet and have her thyroid tested. This is a blood test that will determine whether her thyroid is working properly or not. If it is hypoactive your dog would gain a lot of weight and have a hard time losing it. Another test that may be necessary is a test for Cushings disease. You should try feeding a weight reduction diet such as Hill's Prescription Diet r/d Weight Reduction Chicken Flavor Dry Dog Food. Your veterinarian should have this for sale. And she will need lots of exercise, such as going for walkies and playing with a ball.

Hello. This is a great question! She should be eating about 500 -550 calories PER DAY which includes all food and treats. She can eat any food as long as she stays inside that calorie window. If you feed her a lower calorie diet then she will get to eat more food and be less hungry. Purina ProPlan Weight Management Dry Food is 337 calories per cup so if you feed her this food she can eat 1.5 cups per day with a little left over for a treat or two. http://www.petsmart.com/dog/food/dry-food/purina-pro-plan-weight-management-formula-adult-dog-food-5148013.html?gclid=CKrvp4aRkdQCFZBgfgodPccMzA If you don't like this food you can use any diet. Just check the bag, it will tell you how many calories per cup. Take the 525 (using the middle of her calorie range) and divide it by the number of calories in each cup of food and that will tell you how many cups of that food she can have PER DAY. Example as above 525 / 337 = 1.55 cups I hope this helps. Best wishes. Dr. Amber

My understanding with senior diets is that there are no general guidelines that all follow. This can lead to a wide variation in the protein and mineral content of these senior diets. In general, if a senior dog is healthy and doing well on their current adult diet, I do not recommend switching diets, nor do most veterinary nutritionists. As always, talk to Tova's vet to see if their recommendation differs, but given her sensitive stomach concerns, I would hesitate to change anything.

Thank you for contacting Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach with your question about Skyler. Great question! I recommend Royal Canin Small Adult 8+ dry dog food. This helps maintain a healthy weight, has small, highly palatable kibble, and enhanced palatability. I would feed this to her. I hope this helps!

Weight loss will definitely help with back trouble - sounds like you're already on the right track. I think that a prescription diet sounds like a great idea - talk to your veterinarian about options available through them. Hill's makes a Metabolic diet for weight loss that might be a good option. The other option might be to decrease the amount of food you are offering and eliminating all treats, chews and table foods. You could talk to your veterinarian about what R's estimated ideal weight would be, and formulate a diet plan based on how many calories are in her current diet.

Hi there and thank you for using Pet Coach! I have had great luck with using Natural Balance Fat Dog formula as well as Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight. I would remove all treats and only use her food as a treat instead. If she is not losing weight on either of these foods within 2-3 months, I would talk to your veterinarian to discuss other options such as thyroid testing and prescription weight loss food. I hope this helps! Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Diet can be used to manage kidney disease and urinary crystals/stones. If Bug has either of these conditions, the diets can be prescribed by her veterinarian. If you are referring to issues with urinating, such as accidents or difficulty emptying her bladder, these conditions are not managed with diet and may require medication. Both Purina and Hill's Science Diet have excellent grain free options for dogs. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!