Feediing Quandary

[bobcouch]

The two dogs in my signature are miniature dachshunds that will turn 14 years old this summer. They are beginning to show some signs of old age (Dusty has cataracts) but they are generally in good health.

A couple of years ago, Tinker, who had always been slightly larger, began to lose weight, and Dusty began to gain. At their last checkup, Tinker had dropped from her max weight of 10 1/2 pounds to just under 9, and Dusty had gone from 9 1/2 pounds to 11. I switched their food from Beneful Healthy Weight back to the Beneful regular recipe, and Tinker seems to have gained a little of her weight back, but Dusty is getting even fatter! She is not quite the obese overstuffed sausage common in Doxies, but she's getting there.

The dogs share everything. They sleep in the same kennel, curl up in the same chair, and of course eat from the same bowl.

Is there anything I can do to regulate their diet so Dusty doesn't get any bigger and Tinker doesn't fade away to nothing?

[Deb_and_Ed_M]

Clearly, one of your dogs takes bigger bites 😉

Assuming your dogs are actually nibbling all day from the same bowl, you will probably need to feed a "special" meal to the underweight dog - go for the calories. If you feel compelled to offer the chunky dog a "special meal" at the same time, make it a salad.....LOL!
And a random thought: Beneful is loaded with food dyes and corn - maybe the thin dog is reacting poorly to that?

[doxiemom11]

I also say - seperate bowls for portion control. By feeding in the same bowl, the one may be eating faster and getting more of the food - gaining weight.
The other gets only what left - loses weight.
We had 2 doxie's - male and female. Fed them from seperate bowls at the same time and they liked to lick each others bowls out when they were done. We did monitor to make sure they were both done first. If we hadn't, the female would have eaten out of the males's bowl before he finished. She ate faster - more teeth.

[colliehauler]

Ductape wrote:
We have always fed our dogs in individual bowls for portion control.

This, and maybe weight control for one and regular food for the other. Adding green beans as a filler for the heavy one as well.

[DownTheAvenue]

bobcouch wrote:
They...eat from the same bowl.

Is there anything I can do to regulate their diet so Dusty doesn't get any bigger and Tinker doesn't fade away to nothing?

Feed them from separate bowls, and then you control how each gets to eat, and thus control their weight.

[Ductape]

We have always fed our dogs in individual bowls for portion control.

[kerrlakeRoo]

If you are going to let them share their meals, all you can do is have one of you take the heavier one outside occasionally for a walk or to play, and then give a little extra on the side to the thinner one.

[ppine]

We have Corgis that tend to gain weight as they age. On the last visit to the vet, he recommended adding some green beans and carrots to the ration and decreasing the kibble We also feed cooked meat.

Feed your dogs separately. Start off in separate rooms. Queen Victoria is 14 and still likes to run around the yard about two days a week. She sleeps more now but is still highly functional except for hearing loss.