Your dog being overweight is more serious than you think. It may be cute that your dog is chubby and loves nothing more than to eat. And I know from my own experience that making your dog happy by giving treats is a wonderful feeling.
But being overweight or obese is just as dangerous for dogs as it is for humans. It can cause numerous health problems and shorten the dog’s life. In this post, we’ll cover:
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- Dog Obesity
- Dog Obesity Statistics
- How to Determine Your Dog’s Ideal Weight
- How to Weigh Your Dog
- How to Prevent Dog Obesity
- Ways to Help Your Dog Lose Weight
- How Much You Should Feed Your Dog
Help Your Dog Lose Weight
If your dog is overweight, it’s up to you to learn how to help your dog lose weight so he can stay slim and healthy! You owe it to your dog to make smart decisions for him. Watch this video for specific tips on how to get your dog to lose weight safely.
WATCH MY VIDEO: how to make the dog lose weight
Dog Obesity
Dog obesity is one of the fastest growing health issues for dogs today. In this article I’ll discuss how to determine the ideal weight for your dog, how to maintain an ideal weight, and how to help your dog lose weight if he’s too chubby.
Dog Obesity Statistics
Dog Obesity StatisticsApproximately one third of adults in the USA are obese and this trend seems to be worsening. Veterinarians are noticing a similar increase in dog obesity.
Just like with people, dog obesity can cause various health problems such as diabetes, hypothyroidism, osteoarthritis, cardiopulmonary disease, hypertension and various types of neoplasia such as mammary cancer and transitional cell carcinoma of the bladder.
These health conditions negatively impact the quality of life for our dogs and can lessen the span of the dog’s life. Not to mention it greatly increases their need for veterinary care!
How to Determine Your Dog’s Ideal Weight
How to Determine Your Dog’s Ideal WeightYou can get an idea about whether your dog is overweight by feeling his ribs and looking down to visually assess his waist (or lack of!)
a dog is at their ideal weight, you can feel the ribs along the side of the chest easily since there is no excessive fat covering them.
And when you stand over your dog and look down at him, you should be able to see a slight hourglass shaped waist after the ribs.
When dogs are obese, the waist disappears (I know the feeling! lol), and the dog’s sides are either flat or rounded out. Dog owners tend to underestimate how overweight their dog is. It’s a good idea to weigh your dog regularly.
How to Weigh Your Dog
If you have a dog who is too large to pick up, you can either purchase a dog scale, or you can have the vet do regular weight checks.
Most vet’s offices will happily weigh your dog for you if you just come in and ask.
But if your dog is small enough to hold, the easy way to weigh him is to pick him up and get on the scale. Write down what the two of you weigh together.
Then put the dog down and weigh just yourself. Subtract the two numbers and you have your dog’s exact weight. My vet said he’d like my mini doxy at 15 pounds as her ideal weight. I weigh her every two weeks or so to make sure she stays within that range.
How to Get My Dog to Lose Weight
The first step towards helping your dog reach his ideal weight is to determine what amount of food he needs daily to provide enough, but not too much, fuel for his usual daily activity level.
Determining the right amount of food based on your dog’s activity level is crucial.
If your dog sleeps all day or is elderly and doesn’t do much, he just doesn’t need a ton of food. But if your dog is healthy and active, then he can eat more and still burn it off.
Following the portion instructions on the dog food bag or can is a good way to get a reasonable starting point. Feed your dog the same amount every day and weigh him regularly – pay close attention to what his body looks like, whether you can see his ribs – and adjust the food amount accordingly.
Best Dog Food to Lose Weight
You might consider upgrading your dog’s diet to fresh dog food. Many dog owners report their dog lost weight with fresh dog food.
The two I recommend are The Farmer’s Dog and NomNom. You can read my review of The Farmer’s Dog here, You can get 50% off your first box with this link.
You can read my review of NomNom here. You can get 50% off your first order with this link.
How Much Should I Feed My Dog?
According to the American Kennel Club, it’s essential to establish a benchmark for how much to feed your dog. This means determining the number of calories your dog needs every day.
Don’t just rely on the instructions provided on the dog food package. You have to consider certain variables like your dog’s breed, size and activity level. For help deciding how much your dog should eat, visit PetObesityPrevention.org. They have detailed information on determining your dog’s calorie needs.
How to Prevent Dog Obesity Through Exercise
How to Prevent Dog Obesity Through ExerciseIncreasing your dog’s activity level is easy, and it’s fun too! Simply incorporating some regular exercise into your dog’s normal daily routine will make the weight loss efforts much more effective.
Take your dog for a walk around the block or take him to visit a local dog park.
You can toss around a ball or a Frisbee – even just 10 minutes will make a huge difference. You can play a little game of tug-of-war with one of their toys in the living room for a few minutes each night.
Swimming is a great way for dogs to get exercise, if they like water. Getting your dog moving is the best way to help him manage his weight, and it also reinforces your bond with your dog and – here’s the kicker – it can even help YOU achieve your own weight loss goals!
Always remember to take your dog’s health, age, and physical abilities into consideration when exercising him. Panting is ok, but you don’t want him exhausted.
Keep his activity within his comfort level. If you have an elderly dog, read my article, Exercising Senior Dogs, for tips on how to safely exercise elderly dogs.
3 Tips to Help Your Dog Lose Weight
3 Tips to Help Your Dog Lose Weight1. Substitute low calorie treats. Instead of things like milk bones, pupperooni’s, or other dog snacks, give your dog carrots, green beans, pieces of an apple, broccoli florets.
They are just as happy with a mini carrot (also good for cleaning the teeth, by the way) or a green bean than any other treat.
You could also put some of the dry dog food in a small container and give him a few pieces of that as his treat.
2. Cardio! One of the things I did to help Taz lose weight was nightly cardio. My husband and I would get on either side of the living room and roll a tennis ball back and forth between us with her chasing it.
We’d let her get a little winded but stopped once she seemed too tired. Just getting her heart rate up and her little body moving for a few minutes each night helped a lot.
3. Don’t Give Table Scraps. I love, love, love sharing my food with Taz. And how can I not? She’s sitting there staring at me! It’s ok to give your dog small bites of your dinner, but don’t make a meal of it for them.
Just a bite. That’s it. And also make sure you’re aware of people foods that are not good for dogs by reading this article, Foods That Are Poisonous for Dogs and Cats.
Treating Dog Obesity
I agree that while chubby dogs look cute, it’s definitely not healthy or kind to let a dog become overweight!
Thanks for the tips on how to tell if your dog is overweight. My dog is quite fluffy so she always kind of looks like a rectangle from my perspective, but I will be sure to feel along her chest for her ribs from time to time!
This is great advice especially now as it’s getting colder, since my dog refuses to go for her regular walks at certain temperatures. I’ll have to be sure to take that into consideration!
Very important post!
A good portion of dogs I see here are obese and it’s *NOT* cute or *cuddly*. It’s downright dangerous for the animal and it stems from people’s inability to simply say no to their dog.
They think that if they don’t leave food out 24/7, then they are being mean. Quite the opposite, letitng your dog gorge itself to death is cruel.
I usually find dogs who are like this run the show in the home. They get and do whatever they want, whenever they want.
Exercise is vital and it’s the lack of it that contributes to this as well. Smaller dogs should be walked, even for 15 minutes or so and larger breeds need longer more rigorous walks.
Some people just want the dog for their own interests and don’t really care to study what’s best for the dog.
I can tell this article made you as angry as I get when I see a grossly overweight dog (and children for that matter). It’s the owner (parent’s) responsibility to make healthy decisions FOR the dog (or child) – not letting them make decisions for themselves, which they clearly can’t do! My mini doxy would eat until she was too fat to move – literally – if I didn’t monitor her food intake. Thanks for the comments!
Great article. Absolutely love the nightly cardio ritual!!! What a great way to have some play, interaction time and exercise. I bet all pups would love it. Obesity is a very serious problem for our pets. I like your ideas for treats and the reminder of portion size to activity levels. I think it’s so sad when active pups don’t get enough because Well meaning parents don’t think about their activities. Much needed insight and well written. Thank You.
Bri.
Thank you so much, Bri. Now…if I could just apply all the same stuff to myself and lose these 30 extra pounds! LOL 🙂
I really enjoyed reading your article, and I must say, thank you for bring out such a under rated subject. People don’t realize the importance of their pets weight. Just like us humans, it’s very unhealthy and risky to put on so much weight, and we should all strive to keep our selves in shape! It’s no different for pets, they need to maintain their health as well, but it’s up to us to do so!
You see videos all the time of overweight pets. You think to yourself how did he get so fat? Well obviously it’s the owners. I don’t know why they would do it to them.
Maybe one reason is the treats that owners give them. As a reward for something. I like how you said you can give your dog a low calorie treat. That is certainly a good step to take for your dog to lose weight. I like how you list stuff like fruit and vegetables. Are there though any low calorie dog treats on the market?
I tend to stay away from store-bought dog treats because so many of them have ingredients in them that just aren’t good. I think the best idea is baby carrots – I haven’t met a dog yet who doesn’t like those. And green beans – for some reason dogs love those! Some dogs like apple slices too. Just some little piece of whole, healthy food from the fridge is the best bet for treats, I think.