What should I feed my dog if she s overweight

8 Ways to Help Your Overweight Dog

Most of the time, its a joy to share things with our dogs. Unfortunately, we share bad habits, too. It turns out our dogs are just as prone to one of our most common health problems obesity.

A few extra pounds on your pup can have serious health implications, putting your dog at risk of experiencing a wide range of diseases and conditions, including a reduced life expectancy. Added weight can also impact your dogs quality of life by affecting their mobility, energy for play, and overall mood.

As in humans, we now recognize obesity as the most important medical disease that affects our companion animals, says Dr. Alex German of the University of Liverpool/Royal Canin Weight Management Clinic.

Talk to your veterinarian for information and guidance when it comes to your dogs diet and potential weight-loss plan. In the meantime, here are eight ways you can start to help your overweight dog.

1. Know Your Dogs Healthy Weight

Different breeds and ages have different healthy weight ranges. Check what the AKC breed standard says about the ideal weight for your breed. If your dog is beyond that range, consult your vet. Its best to get a professionals help as you assess your pets accurate weight, body condition, and diet, determine if the dog would benefit from a weight-loss plan, and set a target weight to work toward.

Note that some dogs may be shorter or taller than their breed standard requirements, so the ideal weight would be within those dogs breed standard height descriptions.

2. Keep Your Dog Active

Just like humans, exercise is crucial when it comes to helping your overweight dog get healthy. Increasing your dogs activity helps burn off energy (and calories consumed).

Dont panic! Exercising your pet doesnt have to mean running marathons or going for long hikes. Regular walks and the chance to run and play in a safe off-leash environment are good forms of exercise for your dog. Participating in AKC FIT DOG is a great way for you to get moving with your pet.

Even creating a stimulating indoor environment that gets your dog moving can help. Remember, different breeds need different amounts of exercise, so consult your vet, breeder, or your dogs breed standard for guidance on how much activity is recommended.

3. Know the Difference Between Begging and Hunger

Begging is not always about wanting more to eat. In fact, its often a ploy to get more attention. (And, when its rewarded, you reinforce and encourage the behavior to continue.) If your dog begs, dont assume that theyre hungry. Trust your instincts and keep track of when the last mealtime was.

If your dog is prone to begging and youre prone to giving in to those puppy dog eyes, talk to your vet about a high-protein diet with a blend of fibers to help manage your dogs appetite and reduce their voluntary food intake. That way, you can feed your dog while knowing that they will feel fuller and stay satisfied longer.

4. Limit Treats and Table Scraps

Even when our dogs dont beg, many of us volunteer too many treats and table scraps. Dogs dont need to share everything we eat. Think of treats and scraps for your pet as you would candy for children to help you keep them to a minimum.

If you use treats for training, look for low-calorie, low-fat options and limit the amount. As an alternative, remember that clickers work great for reinforcement, and theyve got zero calories! After all, a few extra pounds can make a huge difference for dogs, who are much smaller than we are. (Even those large breeds!) So, concentrate on a healthy diet, and curb the urge to treat them with more.

5. Measure and Monitor

Once your vet has designed a weight-management plan, you should have a clear idea of how much your dog should eat at each meal. Be vigilant. Dont free-feed or eyeball how much you scoop out. Instead, use an appropriate measuring device to ensure youre managing portion control.

6. Customize Your Dogs Diet

Not all weight-loss foods are created equal, so its important to match your dog with a nutrition plan that directly addresses their specific needs. Look for a brand that offers dog food designed for your pets own issues, whether its weight management, sensitive stomachs, or something else entirely.

7. Dont Go Cold Turkey

No, this isnt about feeding your dog leftovers. Its important to ease your dog into a new diet, rather than abruptly changing what they eat. Always consult with your vet before starting your dog on a new regimen. A good guideline is to plan for at least a seven-day transition when starting a new type of food. Heres what that could look like:

• On the first two days, feed your dog 75% of their old food and 25% of the new food.
• On the third and fourth days, increase the percentage of new food to 50%, with the other 50% being the old food.
• On the fifth and sixth days, feed your dog 75% of the new food, and 25% of the old food.
• By the seventh day, you should be up to 100% of the new food.

8. Stick With It

Like human, like pet! Studies have shown that after successfully losing weight, approximately half of all dogs regained weight. The good news is that researchers also found that rebound weight gain was significantly reduced by keeping dogs on a weight-loss diet, even after achieving their target weight. So, now that youve done the hard work and transitioned to a new formula thats working, stick with it! As with so many things in our dogs worlds, consistency is the key.

How to Help Your Overweight Dog Lose Weight

Want to know a simple secret that can help your overweight dog lose weight? And live longer, too?To be successful, every weight loss plan must be based upon one simple principle

Dogs that consume fewer calories than they burn lose weight

Simple, right? Yet if weight loss was truly that easy, why are so many pets overweight?

An Epidemic of Overweight Dogs

Today, dogs are fatter than ever. Its now estimated that 45% of all U.S. dogs are either overweight or obese.¹

Thats 35 million dogs.

Whats worse, obesity can be life-threatening, too. An overweight dog is more likely to suffer from a disabling medical condition like

• Diabetes
• Arthritis
• Heart disease
• Lung disorders
• High blood pressure
• Immune dysfunction
• Cancerous tumors

Add Two Extra Yearsto Your Dogs Life

A recent study proves that dogs maintaining ideal body weight live almost two years longer (and with significantly less disease) than their overweight siblings.²

An overweight dog is more likely to die at a younger age

In other words, you can add nearly two extra years to your dogs life just by maintaining your pets ideal weight.

A Couch Potato Eating Machine

Unfortunately, many fail to recognize a fat dog.

Veterinarians report that although nearly 50% of all the dogs they see are overweight, only 17% of pet owners agree.

It can sometimes be difficult for an owner to admit her 80 pound dog is 20 pounds overweight not just big-boned.

Every day I hear pet owners comment, How can he be overweight? He hardly eats anything.

Obesity is frequently indicative that our dogs are sedentary, couch potato eating machines burning almost no calories.

The Solution

The obesity equation is actually very simple. Dogs that consume more calories than they burn gain weight.

So, to lose weight

Your dog must eat less and exercise more

Thats all there is to successful weight loss. Best of all, if you work out together, exercise can be great for you, too.

The GoalYour Dogs Ideal Weight

Start your plan by knowing your dogs ideal weight. Not only can your veterinarian help you do this, but she can also screen your pet for certain conditions that can contribute to obesity

• Diabetes
• Cushings Disease
• Hypothyroidism

You can also visit the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention for some suggested weight ranges for specific breeds.

How to Calculate Caloriesfor Weight Loss

Once you know your dogs ideal weight, youll be able to discover the amount of calories to feed your dog daily to achieve steady weight loss.

Use the Advisors dog food calculator to determine this important number.

While most dogs will experience predictable weight loss when fed this amount each day, others may require even fewer calories. This can depend on a dogs age and activity level.

The Problem with a Dog Food Label

Label recommendations are designed for weight maintenance not weight loss. Following these instructions will likely lead to continued gains.

To control weight, you must know how many calories are in a cup of food. Then, feed according to calories.

Also, if your dog is severely overweight, your vet may need to help you design a custom weight loss program for your pet.

The Wrong Way to Feed a Dog

Many dogs are fed free choice which means food is available 24 hours a day. So, the dog eats whenever it wants.

Free choice feeding is completely unnatural for any mammal. And (just like us humans), a dog will eat when bored instead of just when hungry.

Whats more, free feeding can contribute to unnatural hormonal changes which can make weight loss even more challenging.

And the Right Way

A dog should be fed two to four small portions a day. And the total number of calories for all meals and treats must equal the number of calories desired for weight loss.

If your schedule makes it difficult to follow this strategy, there are timed automatic feeders that can help your pet get the right amount of food.

And only at specific times.

Dont Guess Measure

Its critical to actually measure your dogs food. Never guess. Use an 8 ounce measuring cup not a coffee cup or a food scoop.

Then be sure to dispense the exact amount of food called for in your calculations.

The Trouble with MostWeight Loss Foods

Although there are many foods marketed for canine weight loss, not all are created equal. Products described as diet, lite or reduced-calorie may not be the best choice.

Many of these recipes replace meat content with high levels of carbohydrate fillers. This creates a low-calorie, bulky food that helps your dog feel full.

But only for a short time. Some arent very tasty and most tend to cause an increase in stool production.

These products can lead to dogs who are constantly hungry. Many times pets even gain weight due to the difficulty of staying on track in the face of persistent begging.

Most regular maintenance diets are high in calories (usually between 450 and 550 calories per cup or per can) making it easy to overfeed your pet.

Less Food More Begging

While weight loss can sometimes be achieved by feeding less of your dogs regular maintenance food, youll find you must feed very small amounts to achieve the reduced number of calories required to lose weight.

This leads to a pet that may feel less satisfied and begs more.

What to Look forin an Ideal Weight Loss Product

For successful weight loss, choose a quality dog food with

• Above-average protein³
• Below-average fat⁴
• Below-average calories⁵

A higher protein content helps a dog feel more satisfied with less begging. This makes it easier for you to stick to the diet.

These products also help combat muscle loss an unwelcome side effect with dieting.⁶

Lower calories allows your dog to eat more and still lose weight.

Weight loss is often easier to achieve by adding canned food to your dogs feeding regimen.

Canned products usually have higher protein, lower carbohydrates and fewer calories compared to a similar sized quantity of kibble.

Its also possible to achieve a good high protein weight loss diet by combining a high quality commercial dog food with low-calorie home-cooked foods. This should be accomplished with the help of your veterinarian or veterinary nutritionist.

Exercise. Exercise. Exercise.

Forty percent of American adults do not participate in any leisure time physical activity. So, no doubt our dogs are just as sedentary.

In humans, physical activity has been proven to

• Aid in weight loss
• Lessen heart disease
• Lower cholesterol levels
• Decrease the risk of diabetes
• Control anxiety and depression
• Reduce the risk of certain cancers
• Slow bone loss associated with advancing age

We can probably expect many of these same benefits for our pets.

So, get your dog moving. Take a walk. Run. Play fetch. Swim. Climb the stairs. Provide at least 30 minutes of brisk exercise every day to facilitate weight loss.

How to Monitor Your Dogs Weight Loss

Monitor your dogs progress. Weigh your dog at least every 1 to 2 weeks. Using the recommended guidelines, overweight or obese dogs should lose about 1% to 2% of their body weight each week.

If your dog is not losing weight, the daily calories may need to be restricted further.

Also make sure no one in the house is cheating by giving extra food or treats.

Once You Reach Your Goal

Once the ideal weight is reached, the amount of food your dog is eating will likely need to be increased.

Its important to continue weighing and monitoring your dog for any future change in weight.

So, keep a log. And make any necessary adjustments throughout your dogs life to maintain an ideal weight.

My Recommended Dog Foodsfor Weight Loss

To see a list of my current recommendations, be sure to visit the Advisors article, Dog Foods for Weight Loss.

Donna Spector, DVM, DACVIM is a renowned, board-certified Veterinary Internal Medicine Specialist.

Dr. Spector has written and lectured extensively on topics including animal nutrition, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, and kidney failure. She is widely acknowledged for her role as consulting veterinarian to Halo, Purely for Pets and her TV appearances with The Ellen DeGeneres Show.

Dr. Spectors online consulting service offers personalized and tailored medical, nutritional and weight loss consultations for owners of both dogs and cats.

She provides professional advice relating to urinary disorders, liver problems, immune diseases, intestinal issues, diabetes, asthma and other breathing conditions, hormonal problems and other internal medical complaints.