green beans? gross!
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| Riley hates a change in diet. No matter what we give her, it takes a couple of days for her to decide it is okay. She loves bananas, but if I put them in her bowl with her kibble, she wouldn't eat them for the first couple of days..
Try hand feeding. Also, are you using French cut or regular - mine like the smaller French cut pieces. |
I am sure you will get some helpful hints here 
How old is Riley?? We had a VERY large OES Wilby...he was 149 pounds We put him on Natural Choice Overwieght Senior and he dropped gradually down to 100...but, he was older! What are you feeding??? |
I don't know if mine prefer the french cut, but I do   I have this weird feeling they're easier to digest. Probably just something I made up. I've fed both and noticed no difference, but some dogs might. Either way I do make sure they are unsalted.
The beans aren't strictly necessary for putting a dog on a diet. They are just a filler so the dog will feel more, well, full. I would try them for a few more days in case it as an issue of him getting used to them. If he still won't eat them, but doesn't play the "you're STARVING me" card, you can always just stay with the feed less food approach (exercise?) or you can try canned pumpkin. Not the pumpkin pie mix, just the regular canned pumpkin. Mine love pumpkin. Me? Not so much because dogs with white faces tend not to look so pretty after eating the stuff. Might not be as big a deal for you. Kristine |
| Ditto French cut, though once they are used to the beans, the sliced might go down as well. None of my guys like fresh cooked beans, I don't know why.
To get them started I sprinkled garlic powder on the beans started off with just a few green beans but also reduced their dog food by 30%. Yes, initially the beans were left behind, but the interest in the garlic won over. Gradually I could leave off the garlic. At no point did they only get green beans only for a meal. Per day I try to keep her , now, down to 1.5 cups of food per day......that's it! When we were in major greenbean menu, she'd get about 1/3 cup dry kibble 2x per day....and once in awhile 1/4 cup kibble with the half can of beans per meal. Of course more exercise is in order for the tubbos. Glacier was a lot younger then and would gladly waddle her way around the property, chase a car down the fence....a little way at first. We tried to keep her as active as we could. Now she's about 12 years old and more interested in her naps. Getting weight off her now would be a lot harder. |
| I have found that if my dogs think I'm eating it they are more apt to give them a try. My Aussie China is like your dog, will eat around any veggies. lol However, Violet loves green beans. China loved bananas and Asia doesn[t like veggies or fruit. With any diet program exercise is the one thing that will really help them lose weight.
Good luck! |
| I have learned a lot about canine nutrition in just the last few days because our retriever mix has torn his ACL and our vet says surgery is the only answer. He is 12 and overweight, which probably contributed to the injury. We took him to a holistic vet to see if there might be any alternatives. This vet is also completing a residency in nutrition, and she was mostly concerned about Alex' weight. She has put him on a crash diet consisting of Purina OM, a prescription food, and she calibrated the exact amount to feed him based on calorie intake.
She said we can add green beans or other veggies if we feel he wants more food, but be aware that the veggies are in no way nutritionally complete for the dog. She said treats should be no larger than a marble (!) and give them veggies if they'll eat them. She also cautioned against free feeding, which we have been doing with our other two, including our Sheepie. She said that ultimately they will all have some food issues if we don't control it. Alex will unfortunately have to have the surgery and a long (and expensive) recovery, plus there is a better than 50% chance it will happen in his other leg. I wish I had gone to this vet years ago and gotten him on a more healthy path with his weight. Just restricting food and switching food when he's picky doesn't work. FWIW, I had to hand feed him the green beans at first, but now he loves them and I have to put them in with the Purina OM to get him to eat it. And he's a regular cut kind of guy, none of those skinny ones for him! And do be sure they are the low-salt kind. My neighbor did this diet too and said Wal-Mart has the best price. |
| Patch has never turned down green beans with her food - she thinks she's at the buffet! I don't like French cut, so Patch has to eat the regular cut. Green beans are a great diet food for the pups. |
| Riley did start eating the green beans after a few days, so they are no longer left in her bow. Yea!
The hardest thing was getting DH to stop letting Riley clean Ben and Bailey's bowls. Way to ruin her healthy diet dad!
I though garlic of any sort was a no-no for dogs? Affects the bone marrow or something? |
Mom of 3 wrote: I though garlic of any sort was a no-no for dogs? Affects the bone marrow or something?
Nice work, Riley! Onion is a no-no for dogs. It can cause severe anemia and even death. The toxicity varies from dog to dog and a small inadvertent amount probably isn't going to affect most dogs our size (mine have eaten leftovers with onion in it with no ill-effects, but then I usually don't use a lot when cooking), but it's best to avoid it. I've heard different things about garlic. It too is in the allium family so probably can have some of the same effects as onion, but it doesn't appear to have anywhere near the same toxicity. I sprinkle some on meats that I'm baking for training treats and have given the dogs garlic capsules (garlic is used as a more natural pest deterent, for instance against fleas, and it also has immune boosting properties) and usually add a minced clove in when I'm cooking for them with no ill effects. Kristine |
I guess I've always believed in tough love. You don't like green beans? Well, you don't get extra food is what I tell my fur and upright kids. Simple, and they lose the weight.  My in-laws always wonder why their dog isn't losing weight then later in the day will tell us how bad they feel for their dog that is hungry ...and give them bits of this and that. The dog just has them trained too well w/those puppy eyes. She always loses weight at our house when we babysit, and she was never starving. |
| I heat the food up with the green beans in it. Heating it up releases more scent particles and it seems to build more interest. |
| I mix a teaspoon of non-fat plain yogurt with the green beans, all three of the furkids gulp it up... even their vitamins! |
essgee52 wrote: I have learned a lot about canine nutrition in just the last few days because our retriever mix has torn his ACL and our vet says surgery is the only answer. He is 12 and overweight, which probably contributed to the injury.
Did you consult with a rehab therapist as well? Vets often say the only solution is surgery but I understand many people are having very good luck with rehab as an alternative. Of course if its a complete tear than surgery is the only option (I think) Its a big topic of conversation and debate on the Newf forums |
| Hope Alex's sugeries are successful in addition to his weight loss. Bigger dogs do tend to rip those ACLs again even after surgery so hopefully getting him slim and trim will be the key to prevent reoccurance.
Harry is our problem child which his torn up ligs in both rear legs. The vets say he's a potential Six Million Dollar dog in that the only way to repair would be to rebuild both sides....bone realignments/lig replacements, etc. Since he does quite well and requires only a minimal pain killer each day, I don't have to go searching for the estimated $18,000 to do the surgeries.....that was 4 years ago prices.  |
| don'[t know what you are feeding bedsides the green beans, but you could try pureeing them an mixing them witht he food. whenever the dogs seemt o be picking out a veggie, I add that one in a smaller cut next time. |
| Yes, Alex has a complete rupture and we have no alternative. He may do some prehab, as the vet called it, to try to get him in a little better shape before the surgery. But I can't stand to see him in so much pain, even with meds, so we may just go ahead and do it as soon as he drops a few lbs. |
| thank you for all the responses... i guess i have one more question, and im kind of embarrassed to ask, but are you supposed to cook the beans, then feed them to the dog, or do they eat them raw? and as for the pumpkin, does that help them lose weight? or is that just food filler? thanks for the suggestions! |
| I fed them straight out of the can. My dog loved them. She would not eat them fresh. |
iwantanoes wrote: thank you for all the responses... i guess i have one more question, and im kind of embarrassed to ask, but are you supposed to cook the beans, then feed them to the dog, or do they eat them raw? and as for the pumpkin, does that help them lose weight? or is that just food filler? thanks for the suggestions!
Why embarrassed? None of us woke up one day magically knowing this stuff. 
I usually feed canned beans. In summer time I've picked up raw; I work for a produce grower/distributor and can get it by the crate. This year I'm growing some, though not really enough to make a difference I suspect. In those cases I steam them to ease digestibility. Dogs aren't really designed to eat lots of raw veggies, though mine will happily give it a whirl. The canned pumpkin works like the beans - it's just a filler, i.e. it mostly adds bulk so the dog doesn't feel so hungry when you cut back on their food. The fiber also aids digestion and some will feed it to help normalize a dog's stool. I've tried canned corn for variety. And though they love it, poop patrol duties reveal that it appears to not be particularly digestible - yuk
My vet's had me feed canned spinach when a dog's eaten something it shouldn't, i.e. something that you hope will go through quickly and without causing intestinal damage - the spinach serves to pack around it. Or at least that's the theory. That's one of the few veggies even some of my oinkers aren't too keen on and I don't like feeding it because I think it stinks. I love raw spinach, mind you. I've fed canned peas for variety too, and that seems to work OK, but I inevitably end up coming back to the beans. Kristine |
| thank you everyone for all the suggestions! hopefully i will find bernard eating pumpkin and beans, and dropping some of those pounds! thanks! |
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