# Overweight Neutered Chi



## manydogz (Oct 10, 2015)

About two years ago I had Joey neutered as I was through breeding and no longer needed an intact male. My five girls are not spayed for various reasons and I did not want any accidental litters. Joey was 4 yrs.old when the deed was done. He weighed 4 lbs. I expected him to be less active, etc. so I was careful about what he ate and how much. My dogs do not get dog food as a main meal. We cook for them. There is a bowl on the floor all the time but they barely pick at it. It gets dumped every other day. I was shocked when shortly after the surgery he started putting on weight. No matter what I did he kept gaining weight. When I called the vet I was told he had committed suicide the week before. Joey now weighs close to 11 lbs.! I am disabled and unable to walk him and I wonder about weather he's even able to do much walking. He built like a football now. Right now he's getting 1/3 of a cup of food per day and only two low fat treats. He eats boiled or baked meat and fresh, cooked vegetables. And fish when I can get it. That's it. No pasta, no potatoes, no rice, no bread and nothing sugary. Treats are freeze dried liver. What else can I do so he will lose weight? On this diet he is maintaining his weight, but not losing.


----------



## Momo (Nov 9, 2015)

Could this be a thyroid problem? I read that can happen after neutering.


----------



## manydogz (Oct 10, 2015)

I have no idea. Good question. Why would neutering affect the thyroid? I have another vet and I will be taking Joey in for an exam in the near future if I can't get him to lose weight. I'd like to be armed with some ideas.


----------



## Momo (Nov 9, 2015)

I've read that testosterone plays some part in the function of the thyroid. If he's only having 1/3 a cup of food per day, even if he's not getting out for walks it seems like he should be losing a bit of weight. It might be worth asking about just in case.


----------



## Wicked Pixie (Oct 14, 2011)

You have to be very careful about exercise with dogs that are severely overweight. 
I would cut his food down a little more and encourage him to be more active.
When he is slimmer you can increase his exercise, but i would have him checked by a vet first.
You want a slow and steady weight loss. How much does 1/3 of a cup actually weigh? For an overweight dog you want to be feeding less than 3% of his ideal body weight, not including veg. So if his ideal weight was 4lbs, he only needs about 55g (raw weight) max of meat a day. (That is 3%, some dogs who are prone to gaining weight may need as little as 1.5%) You can give extra veg to fill him up
It is easy to overfeed by a small amount every day unless you are weighing his food
Make sure he isn't eating any kibble at all. I would then split his food into several small meals.
Make sure you aren't giving any starchy veg (all root veg, peas, beans, squashes) or high sugar veg, (peppers, carrots) try and stick to leafy greens (broccoli, kale, savoy cabbage, lettuce etc) and salad items (cucumber, celery)


----------

