Overweight dogs

Just like with us, if a dog eats too much and does not get enough exercise they are going to gain weight. It is very important to take care of your dog if he develops a weight problem. Just as with us, being overweight can cause a whole mess of problems with a dog. The thing is they happen faster with a dog than they do in us. Overweight dogs will have extra pressure on their joints and muscles and they might develop arthritis. Overweight dogs can also develop heart problems and overweight dogs can even get diabetes. Before you rush out to buy the newest diet dog food, stop and look at your dogs feeding habits.

Is my dog overweight?

You can check if your dog is overweight without going to your vet.  The best way to check is to feel your dog’s ribs with both hands.  For an ideal weight dog, it is easy to feel the ribs.  If you look at your dog from the side, the belly is tucked up and if you look at your dog from the top, you will see your dog with a little waist.   If you dog is overweight, you are not doing to be able to feel his ribs.  When you look at your dog from the side, you will not see a tucked belly and when looked at from the top, there is no waist.

While being overweight can be the symptom of other illness, chances are your dog is just being overfed.  It is still a good idea to take him to the vet just to make sure.  

Dog weight loss

Before putting your dog on a dog weight loss program, there are some simple steps you can do first. For starters look at your dog feeding schedule. If you are still feeding your dog twice a day, you should cut that down to once a day especially if he is older than a year. The schedule of feedings for your dog should go as follows: A puppy gets fed three times a day from 8 weeks until about 6 months. From 6 months until a year, they should be fed twice a day. Once they hit a year, they only need to eat once a day.

Also, keep an eye at how much you are feeding your dog. Keep in mind the guidelines that are on the bag of the dog food. If it states to feed your dog a cup and a half a day for example, do not feed them 3 cups. Some people believe that if they are only being fed once a day then they should double up on the serving size to compensate. This is not true. When your dog is eating three times and even twice a day, they more than likely still on puppy food. Once they are being fed once a day, they are on adult food which theoretically will fill them up more than the puppy food did. Dog weight loss can be achieved by decreasing your dog food intake, exercising your dog more often, and by putting your dog on the green bean diet.

Overweight dog and excercise

Make sure you exercise your dog, especially if your dog tends to gain weight easily.  This is easier with some breeds than it is with others. Take your dog for walks, if you have a fenced in yard, make sure you are out there with him tossing a ball around or at least playing with him.  Anything to get them moving.  This not only helps with exercise for maintaining weight but it also helps some dogs relieve a lot of their pent up energy. 

Green bean diet

There is also a diet called the Green Bean Diet, that some have said have helped their dogs to lose weight.  This diet is fairly simple to follow and works wonder on overweight dogs.  You simply cut back on your dogs food and replace it with canned green beans instead.   Studies have shown that you should take out about 10% of your dogs food every 5 days or so and replace it with green beans until they are receiving about half the food they would have been normally.  For example if your dog eats 3 cups of dog food a day, you want to make sure they are getting 1 ½ cups of food and 1 ½ cup of green beans.  Keep your dog on this until they loose the weight they need too.  Always double check though with your vet before starting any new diet for your overweight dogs. 

Diet dog food

You should try and stay away from diet dog food.  They are usually filled with fillers which are how they keep the fat and protein levels lower than in regular dog food.  Plus these formulas might do more damage than good.  You really are better off saving your money and either cutting down his food, or trying the green bean diet.                        

Lastly when you are trying to get your dogs weight under control, you should cut out all treats including table scraps and raw hides. These are a no when you are trying to get your overweight dog back to shape. Table scraps should be avoided no matter how much your dog weighs.