Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat

Nellie had her first rehab appointment last week!  She did really well with therapy, and didn't mind all the attention.

In fact I think she loved it! 

Here's what we learned about her weight situation:

Alex of Rogue Canine Rehab (pictured above) did food calculations for us, to help bring her weight down.

• The amount of food to feed a dog or cat is based on the kcal of the food brand they're eating (or whatever it is you cook for them).
• All foods are slightly different in their kcal amounts, which is why you should never give a dog food based on cup size alone.
• A kcal calculator is the best way to figure out how much to feed your dog.

Nellie is currently on Diamond Naturals Adult Lamb and Rice, which is what she ate at the shelter. We are sticking to that but slowly transitioning her to a plant-based food like Wild Earth. 

• Based on her current food, to bring her down to an ideal weight of 65 pounds, Nellie should only be eating 1.5 cups of this particular food each day. She can have an additional 69 kcal of food in the form of treats or a meal topper.

We suspect that Nellie is overweight because she was fed too much high calorie people food in her previous life. It's taken her some time to adjust to a kibble diet, and veggies and fruit for snacks, but she's getting there. She isn't begging for food, which is awesome. And she will even eat a carrot now that she's just ever so slightly hungry between meals! 

What we learned from the nutrition side of the rehab consult is this:

• With the condition of Nellie's leg, long walks, hard exercise and cardio activity are out of the question. She is unable to burn calories that way, but Alex reassured us it's OK. If she doesn't take in more calories than her body requires, she won't need the extra activity to work them off. So the trick is keep her food intake low calorie, and her body will naturally adjust without all that extra work. 

A few days before the rehab visit, I reached out to a board-certified veterinary nutritionist at Whole Pet Provisions.

My goal is to some day cook for Nellie. But I want veterinary guidance before trying it. Whole Pet can do that for us when we are ready to pay for the consultation. It's $500 for the consultant and meal plan, and an additional cost for follow-ups a couple of times a year. The cost was a bit of a surprise to me, I had no idea what to expect. I think that if it's someone's budget, it's a great investment for any dog or cat, especially if they are fighting cancer. Since Nellie isn't fighting cancer, thankfully, we can wait on that consult.

Alex did show us some exercises to see if we can get more extension in that wonky leg of hers. I'll have a blog post about that soon!

Just wanted to share a little weight loss celebration for Nellie! 

I thought it was my imagination that she was slimmer. It can be so hard to tell when your dog has lost weight. But she has had more stamina lately, even with all this heat we've had on the west coast, so I wanted to see if she had dropped any pounds. Although we haven't gotten her on a vet scale since July, or measured since 7/4, we took measurements today and this is what we got:

As of Today, Nellie's Current Statistics Are:

• Waist: 25.5" (was 30.5")
• Girth: 31" (was 32.5")
• Weight: Not sure yet. Last time she was 78 lbs.

YAY!

Now if only we humans could lose weight that easily in just over a month! 

Thanks Sally!

Here she is from this morning. We stopped by an awesome farm store and the first thing she went for was an ostrich knuckle (eeew!). She is not the most food motivated dog but something about it had her chomping like a maniac as soon as we came home.

Aww thanks. Yeah and she was really good when we distracted her to take it away. Didn't want her eating the whole thing in one day!

I'll tell Nellie you said that!

Yes it is hard to do any kind of training without a food bribe. I save the really high value treats like hot dog bits for when she's doing training, and use fruits and veggies when she's just being a little beggar.

The sweet potato is definitely cooked, you don't want to give raw to pets, it's toxic when uncooked.

Here's Nellie's rescue story with all the deets!
https://tripawd.....wd-nellie/