We all recognize the weight struggles many Americans are enduring, but did you know this also applies to our canine companions?
Over half of American dogs are overweight, which puts them at greater risk of health conditions like hypertension, diabetes, osteoarthritis and liver disease.
That is the unfortunate truth, but on the bright side we have complete control over one of the primary contributing factors to their weight: food.
Over Half of American Dogs Are Overweight
Unfortunately, obesity epidemic is affecting not just humans; it is also impacting our dogs. If your pup is overweight they’re certainly not alone – an estimated 54% of American canines are estimated as being obese.
Obesity in dogs tends to develop gradually, and as you live with your pup daily it can be easy to miss the changes in his weight.
Have you ever met a dog that didn’t love treats? With dogs being such foodies, it can be easy to overfeed our beloved companions; who wouldn’t want their pup happy by giving something they enjoy? I certainly am guilty of this myself but unfortunately for our furry companions all those extra calories add up quickly!
Exercise alone cannot make your dog slimmer – diet must also play its part. Eating nothing but high calorie junk food day after day would only serve to add pounds, regardless of any workouts we did – the same goes for our pups.
Maintaining our dogs in top physical condition can be challenging with poor diet. I suggest reading “Your Dog Can’t Out Exercise a Poor Diet” for more information on burning calories and basal metabolism.
Maintaining our dogs’ fitness requires us to play an active role, and one way we can do that is by controlling how much food they get each day. Finding an appropriate diet plan for each dog may take some trial-and-error, but developing one could extend their lives dramatically.
Researchers have documented the benefits of feeding your dog less as being truly remarkable. Researchers discovered that feeding less to your pet can extend its lifespan by 24% – giving 1.8 extra years on average!
Attention Dog Food Instructions
First and foremost, let’s address dog food labels. Although they provide us with an approximate idea of the amount our pets should eat based on their size, these do not take your pet’s activity levels or age into account.
Every dog food brand provides their own recommendations on proportion sizes based on a dog’s weight, yet these estimates can differ considerably and not be exact. Some brands suggest feeding 1/2-1 cup per 20 pounds; that difference alone could mean feeding 2 or 4 cups more daily to an 80 pound pup than someone who feeds to the lower limit of that range. So feeding on the higher end could mean your pup is eating 50% more than someone who sticks closer to its low limit.
How to Reduce Your Dog’s Food Intake
The key to successfully decreasing your pet’s food consumption is gradual and accurate reduction, using a measuring cup or scale for each meal that your pup consumes.
If your dog is still gaining weight after following their food label recommendations and losing some, try gradually decreasing their meals a little bit at a time. I would start with 5 or 10% less food and monitor his or her weight over several weeks; if it has no impact, increase further until weight loss occurs.
Goal should not be to decrease all food intake by 25% immediately. Instead, the aim should be to determine a daily caloric intake that best fits with your dog’s age, health and activity level.
As soon as my dog began gaining weight a few years back, I employed this tactic. She started gaining weight at around two years old without changing her diet or exercise regimen; her rate of gain wasn’t alarming but nearly two pounds every month would add up to 24 pound gain over one year, which would have been alarming enough on its own! Something must have been amiss; she was still active but suddenly becoming plump.
Instead of switching her over to diet food, I made some adjustments to her feeding frequency instead. According to her weight of 70 pounds and according to the dog food label she should have been getting almost 4 cups a day of food; but obviously this wasn’t working anymore so instead made some modifications and slowly began decreasing how much food she got each day.
My big dog always ate the same type of food every day, which made weight management relatively straightforward. Using a measuring cup, I gradually decreased her food intake by 5% each week until we hit our goal weight (to track progress accurately I would take her into the vet office for quick weigh ins once per week due to difficulties getting her onto our small scales and getting an accurate reading.) To maintain weight monitoring over time I took her in for weigh ins at the vet every week (since our small scale couldn’t provide accurate readings).
