Try feeling your dog’s ribs-if you can’t feel them, then your dog is too heavy. When you look down on your dog’s body, you should see a nice tuck where their ribs end in the middle of their trunk. Wait-what do you mean, body condition? Well, to determine whether your dog is overweight, your vet will assess their body fat using a body condition score chart, like this one from Purina.Īlternatively, you can visually inspect your dog from above. In general, you can use a combination of behavioral and physical clues to let you know where your dog falls on the body condition spectrum. If you don’t know what you are looking for, it can be tricky to know if a dog is overweight or not. Get more “petiquette” tips on preventing others from giving your dog food. Make sure everybody is on board, and then see if the pounds melt away. Set aside the treats for the day, and tell the family that when the treats are gone for the day, no more treats can be given until the next day. Show everybody exactly how much your dog can eat, and appoint one person to feed them every day. So yes, your dog needs everybody who cares for them to stick to their weight-loss plan. Obesity can cause health problems like:Īll of these can reduce your dog’s quality of life. Point out that your pup’s burgeoning waistline is a big problem. If you are serious about your overweight dog losing weight, then it’s time to gather all the caretakers in their life and have a talk. It can get even more complicated when there are children in the picture, because they might not understand that everything is best in moderation. If there are multiple people living in your home or taking care of your dog, then there are multiple hands feeding your dog. One of the most common reasons dog weight-loss plans fail is because not all of the humans in the dog’s life are on the same page. If your dog hasn’t been exercising, it’s a good idea to check with your veterinarian before you start to ensure that your dog is healthy and ready to play. Even a little extra calorie burn can make a big difference, so take them for a walk, play some fetch or go for a hike-just make sure to get your dog moving every day. If you aren’t walking your overweight dog, then now is the time to start. Don’t forget to add any dog treats into the overall daily calorie count!Īnother important way to increase calorie expenditure is to increase your pet’s daily exercise. From there, just follow their instructions. When creating a diet for dogs, your veterinarian can tell you exactly how much to feed your dog. Note: If you feed your dog a varied diet, it might be easier for you to stick to dry dog food during the weight loss phase. So, if your casual approach to cutting calories isn’t, well, cutting it, then it is time for stricter calorie counting and a dog weight loss plan.ĭon’t worry-canine calorie counting for dogs is much easier than for humans because dogs typically eat just one thing: kibble. In a small dog, even a couple extra kibbles each day add up to a lot in a little body. So for example, if you feed your large dog a heaping cup of food instead of a measured one, those extra calories might be sabotaging your weight-loss efforts. What people often don’t understand is that if you overfeed your dog, even a little bit, those calories add up over time. In order to stimulate the body to tap into fat stores for energy, the number of calories your dog consumes must be less than the number of calories they expend through exercise or normal physiological functions, such as digestion, powering their internal organs or making hormones. Dog weight loss is usually a simple case of math.
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