Mac's Weight Changes Through the Years

Mac is my almost ten year old neutered male. He is 19.5" tall and currently 43.8lbs. 

As a puppy and an adolescent, Mac ate Nutro Natural Choice Puppy food. He did okay on it, but now looking back, I wouldn't say he thrived. He stayed slim during adolescence. 

Once he hit one, I switched him to the Nutro Natural Choice Adult formula. This is when he started gaining weight. Unfortunately, I didn't know any better at the time and Mac was neutered very early at 6 months old. I truly believe this had a huge impact on his growth and weight gain. Mac was a very active dog, but was overweight.

Around 7 years ago, we found Wellness Complete Health Healthy Weight and switched all of the dogs to it. Mac's weight stayed around 53lbs, which was too much for his body.

We eventually found Wellness Core Reduced Fat and switched all three dogs (Gwen, Indie & Mac) to it. Gwen and Indie thrived on the food and stayed at healthy weights. Indie still eats grain free kibble and has stayed at within a very healthy 74-80lbs range. Mac was a different story. He still weighed more than he should. I took his food down to 3/4 cups twice a day and increased his exercise with no results. He had his thyroid checked and he was deemed perfectly healthy, but overweight. This was extremely frustrating for me.

Then I moved back home and studied vet tech. I was very fortunate to have a teacher who fed raw to her tervurans. She helped and guided me through feeding a proper and healthy raw diet. I immediately switched Mac and the transformation has been phenomenal. Mac began to slim down and build more muscle mass on the raw diet. He began to have a waist and more energy. His teeth and breath improved also. He suddenly became the dog I wanted him to be.

Mac eats 1lb of prey model raw a day, it is split into 8oz per meal. He enjoys every meal and will eat anything I put in front of him. Mac will be ten next month and his health couldn't be any better! I truly believe raw saved his life. He can keep up easily with Linc and is able to enjoy his retirement from service dog work. I don't know what Mac would be like if I hadn't been shown the benefits of raw four years ago.  In this photo, you can see the massive difference in his weight. I love the results raw has given him. 

Remember, please base what you feed your dog on the individual dog. Just because I have had phenomenal success with raw with Mac does not mean every dog will thrive. Always tailor diets to each dog, not as a group. I had to learn that the hard way, but I know it now and it works. Every animal is unique.