The FastDay Forum

We have 2 trim Springer Spaniels; at their last check up with the vet, he pronounced them a perfect weight.
We also have an old girl, who has recently been diagnosed with vestibular disease (we thought it was a stroke or seizure). She too, is in fine fettle otherwise. She's improving steadily and responding to her treatment.
So, no, I'm not fasting my dogs, but might consider it if they got plump and vets recommended it.

I had such a laugh at the idea of the dog on the phone to the RSPCA! Cass may fast on alternate days of her own free will but when shes hungry we surely know it! She picks up her metal dish and throws it round the kitchen until its filled!

thank you very much all for the replies, sorry to be so slow to respond - work really does get in the way sometimes. probably should do something about that...

neither of my dogs (wugi - 16-yr old shep-x, and monty - ~12-yr old lab[?] mix) are overweight at all and are in pretty good shape for their ages. actually last time i saw my vet, they told me to get wugi's weight up a bit which we did. so i wouldn't be 5:2ing them for that reason, just aiming for the health effects. i have to admit, i've been feeding them twice a day (plus snacks). for wugi, eating is so high on the list of life's pleasures that i've just done that for his enjoyment. i do feed him out of a buster cube (big rolling dice where the food comes out of a hole on the "1" side), so i think that should make it harder to detect a volume change.

monty on the other hand doesn't get excited about food, very often leaves some for mr. manners, and has decreased how much he eats to only two cups a day which seems awfully little for a 70-lb dog, but he has energy and is slim but not at all skinny so i've decided not to worry about it (and yes he does go to the vet).

@miffy49 - i appreciate your comment about your naturally 4:3 shepherd. i think i'll try switching monty to once/day and see if he doesn't start showing more interest in food.

i can't stand the idea of entirely denying wugi the pleasure of his breakfast, but i've started cutting down his morning meal and adding it to dinnertime, hoping that will have some 'fasting' benefit.

i do appreciate people's concerns that i consult with my vet and i probably will, but at 16 1/6 years old a shep-x is already in overtime... the truth is i think wugi likely has something not good going on in his head since monty will often sniff it in the area where he had a bad infection last year (he was on antibiotics for 3 months). we did x-rays, lots of blood work, and were considering surgery at that time. but at this point the infection is gone, he has a *very* good appetite, and though he is noticeably weaker in the back legs, i think his quality of life is good and there is no way i would have him sliced open to search for a tumor.

bottom-line - i'm hoping that if fasting lowers doggie igf, if there is a cancer in his head it will be slowed down. i try not to think about that too much, the little furry boy has my heart in a big way...