# How much fat is too much



## mary2e (Jan 29, 2018)

I feed 3/4 primal varying proteins, and 1/4 chicken thigh/breast mixed in a 50-50 combo. I rehydrate with 1 Tbsp of the mostly defatted drippings from broiling the chicken. The drippings are generated by adding water to the bottom of the broiling pan and letting them drop into the water, flavoring it as well.

My last batch of the chicken was more defatted than in the past, and I'm finding he doesn't seem to like it as much. It's probably because most of the fat has been removed. The Tbsp of drippings are frozen into ice cubes and there WAS always a very thin layer of fat at the top of each cube.

I was thinking it was too much fat, but I'm really curious if it was really necessary to remove nearly all the fat. Plus he gained weight, though I'm not sure if it was from our food, or the carbs my dad gives him once or twice a week as a "welcome to my house" treat. I have tried, and 90 year old dad just won't stop giving it to him.

The primal food he gets ranges from 25% fat to 38% fat. I give him a different protein every day.

I have 2 fears - one is pancreatitis, and the other is him getting too heavy. The vet wants to see a half pound off him.


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## Rose n Poos (Sep 22, 2017)

This is an article from Tufts University, the veterinary medical school. It's heading in the direction of your question.








The Skinny on Fat: Part 1 – The Basics


There is a lot of confusion regarding fat in pet foods. In this two-part series, we will explain what types of fat your pet needs and what health conditions may benefit from more or less fat




vetnutrition.tufts.edu





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Leaving the links below in case you'd like to look, but probably not going to answer your specific question..

I looked around online last night and I'm out of familiar territory when it comes to feeding primal so these links may ultimately be apples to oranges. 

The first is to the WSAVA Global Guidelines for many categories, including nutrition. There's a lot of digging and tangential info here. I poked around and found a few charts and graphs regarding fat content, but my head was a bit spinny by the time I stopped. 




__





Global Guidelines | WSAVA


Global Veterinary Community




wsava.org





The AAFCO is another source of nutritional info, slightly less spinny for me. 





The Association of American Feed Control Officials > Consumers


The Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO) is a voluntary membership association of local, state and federal agencies charged by law to regulate the sale and distribution of animal feeds and animal drug remedies.



www.aafco.org





What I didn't find was a clear and simple explanation of min/max fat, whatever's being fed.


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## mary2e (Jan 29, 2018)

Thank you so much for those links.... from what I can take away from it, there's no clear cut answer and depends upon the dog. Since I'm not feeding 100% primal and adding broiled chicken thight/boiled breast and collecting the watered down juices, I may be cutting back on too much fat by completely defatting the resulting broth. But the other side of that equation is that fat is high calorie, and my little guy has gotten a bit too heavy, so I'm giving him lower fat Primal.

Quite honestly, it took me 18 months to figure out how to get him to eat regularly and happily. He now asks for dinner, and scratches at my legs while I'm preparing it. I don't want him to get fat, but I also don't want to deal with him not eating again. I was losing my mind trying to find something he would eat. Not even letting him go without food worked..


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## TERIN (Mar 27, 2019)

mary2e said:


> Thank you so much for those links.... from what I can take away from it, there's no clear cut answer and depends upon the dog. Since I'm not feeding 100% primal and adding broiled chicken thight/boiled breast and collecting the watered down juices, I may be cutting back on too much fat by completely defatting the resulting broth. But the other side of that equation is that fat is high calorie, and my little guy has gotten a bit too heavy, so I'm giving him lower fat Primal.
> 
> Quite honestly, it took me 18 months to figure out how to get him to eat regularly and happily. He now asks for dinner, and scratches at my legs while I'm preparing it. I don't want him to get fat, but I also don't want to deal with him not eating again. I was losing my mind trying to find something he would eat. Not even letting him go without food worked..


One of my dogs can tolerate a high fat level & it has no bad effect on her digestion, the other girl I have to keep fat a bit lower because it upsets her tummy.

I'm glad you can now relax a bit with your boys feeding routine


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## jcris (Feb 19, 2015)

One of my spoo's was diagnosed with pancreatitis last year with the vet recommending a reduced fat intake. The only change I made was to begin using a leaner protein. I feed 50/50 mix of blue buffalo and ground turkey. I used to cook whole chicken and separate out bones and as much fat as I could. Well I stopped using chicken and started buying 98/2 ground turkey. Since then she has a had a full blood panel with no sins of pancreatitis. Her weight is stable and if anything she seems a bit more lean. Not sure this helps but I hope your pup is doing better


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