Weight Loss for dogs maybe sounded silly 20 years ago, but today is another valid problem we inflict on out pets.
FIRST AND FOREMOST -THIS IS NOT MY DOG! Just a pic I found HERE.
Okay – Here goes – This is a sore spot in my dog rearing past. I had a fat dog. A fat beagle. Her name was Susie, and I loved her dearly.
I gave Susie french fries from MacDonald’s, cookies and icecream and pretty much anything she asked for. I couldn’t resist her sweet, endearing, begging, loving looks while I was eating. I think she mesmerized me and while under her spell, I was her slave.
I still miss her and she has been gone since September 2005.
Although, in my defense, she did not have an actively working thyroid, and was on thyroid medication her whole life. We all know that a misfiring thyroid does cause weight problems for us, and this also holds true for dogs.
Also, until the dog food recall scare, a lot of us didn’t even think about what was really in your dog’s kibble.
This awareness all started mainly after the dog food contamination and resulting deaths of many dogs in 2007.
Obesity in out pets is a national epidemic, just as it is with us, the owners.
We’ve become more sedentary, and dependent on processed high fat foods, and we love to share with out pets.
Weight loss for dogs is now a regular topic amongst many owners I know, and my vet said he receives many many enquiries, where as 15 years ago this wasn’t as prevelant.
If you cut out the unhealthy table scraps, high fat processed foods, and eliminate the high calorie dog treats available at the grocery store, you will be on an excellent path to weight loss for your dog.
An increase in activity is easily achieved also. A little extra walk every day, or playing catch in the back yard in the evening will make a big difference, if you are ususally just sitting around doing nothing. This will also help improve your own health. Bonus. Weight loss for dogs and humans in one combined effort.
If your dog is really obese, as the poor puppy above is, then they will need a low calorie dog food diet specifically made to encourage weight loss for dogs. Always check with your vet first and follow his guidelines for proper reduced calorie dieting.
Low calorie, high protein dog foods will fill your pet’s stomach up and make them feel much more satisfied with less food.
After seeing the calorie content in some of the foods I gave her, I realized Susie had been getting more than her daily caloric needs in junk food.
She should have been 20 – 25 pounds. This weight requires appox. 690 kcals daily for optimum health.
When she died she was 48 pounds. Yikes! Three milk bones during the day used up 1/2 of her daily requirement. Honestly I didn’t know all this until after her death.
Here are some examples of bad treats:
A kcal is just short for Kilo Calories, or simply shortened, calories.
- Bonz treats for small dogs 70 kcals
- Milk Bone Dog Biscuit – one large 115 kcals
- 1 slice Pizza Hut Cheese Pizza (NOT RECOMMENDED) 259 kcals
- 20 Dorito brand chips (NOT RECOMMENDED) 260 kcals
- Oreo Cookies – 2 (NOT RECOMMENDED) 130 kcals
- MacDonalds Quarter Pounder with cheese (YUCK!) 525 kcals
Then the good treats, because of course we never want to deny our little ones special rewards.
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I also give this quick delicious homemade treat to my girls and they love it – especially in the summer.
I take a can of high quality canned dog food, like Wellness 95% Meat Canned Dog Food (read the ingredient list here), and make little treat sized bites with it.
I use a spoon and drop onto a parchment covered baking tray, just like making cookies, and freeze them.
When frozen I pop them all into a sealed bag in the freezer and they are ready to go.
Wellness, by Old Mother Hubbard uses human grade meat, and it actually smells pretty good. My girls love the venison. It is 95% meat which is processed right in the can. Yummy!
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Now that I am educated, I surely would have given Susie a much healthier diet, and am 100% sure that some of her ailments wouldn’t have been so troublesome, and her weight would have been more appropriate. She would have lived longer and healthier.
I think back, and of course have guilt, but because of Susie’s untimely death and the recent dog food recall I now can take better care of my present “girls” Lady and Lola.
These Susie pics show her at different weights over the years.
- The first one was at 8 mos., and I had had her for two months by then. She was so emaciated when I first saw her at the puppy mill I was sick to my stomach. Here she has already gained 10 pounds. (Maybe this is why I overindulged her eh?)
- Next she is finally healthy around the age of 2, and not too overweight yet. Just pleasingly plump and up maybe 5 pounds from optimum weight.
- Susie’s weight was always going up just a few pounds every year at her check ups. Never any drastic increases all at once. The next 3 are all when she was tubby, but not really obese
- A side view of Sue, where all is exposed. Can’t hide that extra weight here! Susie was at her heaviest here – 40 pounds. She was supposed to be 25 pounds.
Love your pets, and remember we speak for them.
