[Verloren]

Hi,

If you saw my welcome post I had stated I had a male and female boxer who are both getting fixed this Thursday. They currently get a scoop (2 cups) of Proplan Performance a day and this keeps them about the weight I like them at.

I don't have a lot of experience with fixed dogs as far as diet-wise. I know they tend to be more suspectable to weight gain? Their current food is high in fat and protein since they are so active, so I should probably go to a less fattening more generic food once they are fixed?

Any suggestions would be most appreciated.

[MagicToller]

As far as I know, weight gain generally only occurs if the dogs exercise level decreases and the food ration increases. The activity level of your dogs doesn't need to go down just because they are fixed - granted they are given the recovery time they need.. this is the same for their diet. If they are active and healthy, keep it that way Spaying/Neutering will only improve their quality of life since the stress of mating will be off their heads.

Myths and Facts about Spaying and Neutering

[Ginny01OT]

About three to four months after my large-breed dog was neutered I switched to an adult dog formula and weaned him off the puppy formula.

[meeegun]

why would you want to feed them a cheaper more generic food? a dog only eats one type of food, so it better be good, right? IMO, you should go up to a more premium food for your dogs, not down.

[Verloren]

I think you misunderstood, by "generic" I meant from a high performance food (which is already expensive enough, they definitely don't need something more than that) to a more standard food such as a large breed formula like Ginny suggested (definitely not "cheap" or downgrading their food by any means).

edit- of course if the myth about them gaining weight is false, then there won't be any need to switch their food in the first place since they will be getting the same amount of exercise and the same amount of food as they always have.

[Inga]

I would try getting your dogs on a premium food and staying with it. Some good brands are Chicken Soup for the dog, Evo, Fromm, Canidae, Timber Wolf organic, Innova... There are many. It is worth the money on good quality food to save money on health issues later. The fact that you are having them fixed should not impact the dogs weight if you continue to exercise them and watch how much food you feed. There are a whole lot of very fit, fixed dogs.

[lovemygreys]

Some dogs gain weight after altering, others (most) don't. I've had much more of a problem with our bitches than dogs. I wouldn't change their food if they are doing well on what you are feeding now...if they start to gain weight, just cut back the amount a little bit.

[Renoman]

Most dogs only gain weight after spaying or neutering if the owner allows it.

Never in all my years of having dogs has one gained weight after their surgery. I never changed their diets either except to better it.

[lovemygreys]

Originally Posted by Renoman

Most dogs only gain weight after spaying or neutering if the owner allows it.

Never in all my years of having dogs has one gained weight after their surgery. I never changed their diets either except to better it.

I think it's ridiculous to assume that you can remove the reproductive organs from an animal and all the associated hormones and expect there is no change in metabolism. There certainly can be in humans...why not dogs. There are other physiological changes as well (decreased muscle mass/tone for one).

I can assure that I do not "allow" my animals to gain weight. But, if they are intact and a certain weight and then altered and gain weight...with the SAME food and SAME exercise regimen, then what do YOU think contributed to the weight gain? Even with INCREASED exercise, there was weight gain and it took longer to get the weight off with both decreased food and increased exercise. It may not be common, but it does happen. Of our, oh, 20 or so dogs that we've owned over the years we've had this problem with 2 bitches.

I think the "weight gain after spay is a myth" line is perpetuated by pro-spay/neuter folks who use it to combat spay/neuter concerns. I certainly wouldn't use the weight gain as a reason *not* to alter my pet, b/c it is manageable with a bit more time and effort on the owner's part.

[Renoman]

Originally Posted by lovemygreys

I think it's ridiculous to assume that you can remove the reproductive organs from an animal and all the associated hormones and expect there is no change in metabolism. There certainly can be in humans...why not dogs. There are other physiological changes as well (decreased muscle mass/tone for one).

I can assure that I do not "allow" my animals to gain weight. But, if they are intact and a certain weight and then altered and gain weight...with the SAME food and SAME exercise regimen, then what do YOU think contributed to the weight gain? Even with INCREASED exercise, there was weight gain and it took longer to get the weight off with both decreased food and increased exercise. It may not be common, but it does happen. Of our, oh, 20 or so dogs that we've owned over the years we've had this problem with 2 bitches.

I think the "weight gain after spay is a myth" line is perpetuated by pro-spay/neuter folks who use it to combat spay/neuter concerns. I certainly wouldn't use the weight gain as a reason *not* to alter my pet, b/c it is manageable with a bit more time and effort on the owner's part.

Sorry, in the 53 years I've had dogs, I've never had to deal with a dog's weight gain after spay/neuter surgery. Yeah, there's the recovery time when the activity level is lowered, and there might be a weight gain, but once fully recovered and the activity level is back to normal, weights seem to return to normal. That being said.. there are exceptions to the norm, which is why I said MOST dogs .......

I was talking about people who have their animals spayed/neutered and just figure they're going to gain weight anyway so why worry about it.