Let's talk about losing weight

Matilda needs to lose a little bit of weight. She went from puppy to fluffy fairly quickly. I've heard a gazillion things that I can put in her food to fill her up. What do you suggest?

Right now, she gets Nature's Recipe venison kibble twice a day, 1/2 of what the bag suggests. She's just turned 1 year old and is very energetic. lol

Get another puppy! Just kidding, but that is what seemed to have helped Hooligan keep his weight off!

Actually what helped him was adding exercise (since he would sleep all day if he could), and then we added plain green beans. It seemed to work since he lost about 4 lbs from his heaviest and has kept if off.

When I feed kibble, I give no more than 1/4 to 1/3 cup per meal. Green beans help as does adding a dollop of pumpkin.
I tend to be the "fat camp" for pug rescue as I keep my guys pretty busy and on pretty strict rations.

What's the rule of thumb for how much green beans to give? I'm glad we're doing this after my mom dogsat, she'd be calling me crazy.

There was a time we had to take Bruno down from 29lbs to 22lbs -- he was grossly obese and it was killing him. We basically halved the amount of dry kibble he had been getting, made up the difference with cooked frozen broccoli or green beans, cut out 95% of his treats, and tried to get him more exercise. I'm thinking it took us about a year to get all the way there, but it really made a difference in his life.

We use canned green beans, but we make sure they're unsalted. I think Del Monte makes them.

Just a head's up--if your dog is hypothyroid--broccoli is a no go as are all the cruciferous veggies (cabbage like veggies). If you google cruciferous vegetables--you'll get a list--it's too long for me to post.

Likely not an issue with you, but since I have a hypothyroid dog, I know this is an issue.

We use the DelMonte unsalted canned green beans too. Daisy gets about 1/4 cup and Huck gets about half that. They also get a heaping tablespoon of pure canned pumpkin.

Daisy tends to gain weight easily and we feed her exactly half the amount of dry food that we feed Huck.

Thanks everyone for their info! I really appreciate it. :)

When Jackson had to lose weight, I just cut his food back. Didn't even add any fillers. I know, mean mom. I did give him somewhat more for his dinner portion than his breakfast, so I didn't have to listen to him whine about being hungry, but honestly, he only seemed hungry for about a week, and then he seemed like he was used to his new portion.

I tend to just watch what I feed. I mix Wellness regular (for small breeds) and the weight management together and give each pug under a half a cup, two times a day. (Murphy actually gets closer to 1/4 of a cup because he tends to bulk up quicker. Duke was fat before we got him as his vet records indicated he lost a few pounds.

I'm careful with what they snack on, too. They get a cookie when I leave for work and something to chew on (flossie, etc.) in the evening. My coworker once thought I was starving Murphy when he heard what he ate, but then again his pug was fat and he couldn't figure out why. Uh, too much kibble?

I have done green beans in the past when Murphy needed to shed a few pounds. But now that we have Duke, it keeps him pretty toned now that they run around the house.

I finally got to the store tonight and Matilda was able to try green beans. There was semi chewed green beans all over the floor. LOL. Chloe came along and cleaned it up for me.

I feed 4 out of 6 pugs Nature's Recipe Senior since it's lower in calories. I also blanche fresh green beans and chop them up for them. thye tend to go ntus over the fresh ones than the canned ones for some reason. I'll blanche carrots sometimes too and mix it up with the beans. Thye are fed 1/3 cup 2 times a day.