It is important for your dog to have a healthy weight. Being overweight can cause significant health concerns for a dog. In example, this can lead to diabetes or joint issues. Other consequences can be trouble with breathing, heart failure and sometimes high blood pressure. This in turn can lead to other illnesses, diseases or a higher chances of developing cancer. Therefore, preventing your dog from getting overweight is of importance. In this article we will give you a list of tips and tricks that can help with your dog losing weight. So, if you need some advice on helping your dog lose weight, this article is for you. Now, onto the tips and tricks!
6 easy advices that help with your dog losing weight
There are various ways in which you can help your dog with losing weight. Below, we will give you six advices that you can easily follow, that will contribute to your dog getting to a healthy weight.
Calculate the healthy calorie intake for your dog
The first advice that we have is that you need to calculate how much calories your dog is supposed to consume per day. While doing so, it is important to consider whether or not your dog is spayed or neutered. If that is the case, your dog will need less food, in comparison to dogs that are not spayed or neutered. Also, senior dogs need less food than pups or younger dogs.
This has to do with the fact that pups and younger dogs still need to grow and have a more active life. Senior dogs, on the other hand, are moving around less and are fully matured. Many food manufacturers have a handy dandy list on their packaging that states how many calories you should feed your dog. You can also find various ways to specifically calculate this according to your dog’s status (e.g. neutered or senior). However, if you are not sure, you can always consult your veterinarian. They can help with determining how much calories your dog is supposed to eat daily.
Weighing and measuring the meals of your dog is of importance
Secondly, it is important that you start weighing or measuring the meals that you give your dog. The easiest solution is taking an old cup or mug and putting down a line which highlights how much kibble or raw meat you should give your dog. There are also measuring cups that give advice on how much kibble or meat you should feed your dog per meal.
Especially if you first start the diet of your dog, it might come in helpful to divide each meal throughout various moments a day. This way your dog can slowly get used to the fact that they are eating less, however will not get hangry. If you do decide to only feed your dog once or twice a day, this can cause your dog to portray unwanted behavior, like taking food out of the trashcan or not listening to your commands.
Add greens and/or vegetables to your dog’s diet
Adding greens and vegetables to the diet of your dog are also very useful for them losing weight. Vegetables like green beans, cucumber, broccoli and celery are considered as low calorie treats/foods that most dogs enjoy. If you decide to give them green beans or broccoli and you have prepared them for your own dinner too, make sure that the water does not contain (lots of) salt.
This, namely, is not healthy for your dog. You can also give your dog a piece of apple, celery or banana. Those are also considered as healthy snacks or treats. Please do be careful with feeding your dog lots or large quantities of fruit, as this can spike their sugar level.
Go on longer walks with your dog
Fourth, providing your dog with activities and long(er) walks also helps with losing weight. As with us humans, exercising (or an increase in exercise) allows a dog to burn calories and thus lose weight. You can do so by taking your dog on long walks. Especially for younger dogs, you can also play games with them, like fetch, or get into agility training. Of course, if you have a senior dog, intense form of activities are perhaps not in reach.
There are other ways that you can exercise with your dog though. Rather than going for long walks, try to take your dog out multiple times a day for about 15 to 20 minutes. When you do this at the minimum of four times per day, your dog is still able to get in about an hour of exercise. There are also specialized clinics that let your dog walk on a treadmill. It is also possible to do so in water, which relieves tension from the joints and muscles of your dog. That way, increasing exercise will not harm your senior dog in any way.
Look closely at the food you are serving your dog
Aside from calculating calories and measuring out meals, as listed in advice one and two, it is also helpful to look carefully at what food you are feeding your dog. It is often found that kibble contains many calories and fat, whereas this is essentially not necessary for many dogs. It is therefore sometimes advised to change the diet of your dog to raw meats.
Not only does raw meat contain less calories and fat, it is also easier to digest for many dogs. You can also change to a lower calorie kibble, which contains lots of protein. That way your dog is still getting its necessary food intake, however making it easier to lose (some) weight. Most vets also have special diet kibbles that are rich in fiber and have high protein.
We also do recommend to consult your veterinarian before you drastically change the diet of your dog. This is especially important if your dog has underlying (undiagnosed) health issues. Those can, namely, be reasons that a dietary change to specific foods is not the best for your dog.
Start slow with the new diet of your dog
The final advice we have is to slowly transition into the weight losing diet. Whenever you change to a lower calorie kibble, you can start mixing kibbles with a ratio of 25% of the diet kibble with 75% of the old kibble. That way, your dog can slowly adjust to the new diet.
This also prevents any digestive issues. If all goes well, after a week you can start feeding your dog a one-to-one ratio of the diet and old kibble. The third week, you can feed your dog the diet kibble alone. Whenever your dog does not want to eat the diet kibble alone, you can still mix in a few kibbles of the old diet or add in some low calorie treats. Also adding in some water or low sodium chicken broth can also help.
Additional toys or tricks that encourage your dog losing weight
Aside from the above mentioned six advices we have given, there are also a few small things you can do to help your dog lose weight. A very simple thing to do is to get a slow feeding bowl. This feeding bowl has different rising bits inside it, making it harder for your dog to eat its food very fast. They simply need to work a bit harder to retrieve all their raw meat or kibble. In turn, this also makes that a dog is taking more time to eat and having the feeling that they are full faster.
You can also very easily move the feeding bowl or slow feeder around the house. That way they need to walk or run to a different place to retrieve their food. Although it is not much, this way they still get in a bit of exercise. You can even consider spreading the food throughout the house. This, however, only works if you have a single dog and make use of kibble.
We have also found that there are special feeding toys that have the same purpose as a slow feeder. As your dog needs to work a bit harder to retrieve all their food, they slow down their eating and feel full for a longer period of time. You can even combine exercise and giving your dog their food by making use of special balls in which you can put food or treats. They basically have to roll the ball around to get every last piece of food out of there. This is thus specifically ideal for dogs that need to lose weight and might perhaps otherwise be not too happy to engage in other activities.
Nine tips and tricks to let your dog lose weight summed up
In this article, we have talked about various ways that you can help with letting your dog lose weight. We first gave you six advices that can help. Below, you will find them briefly summed up:
- Calculate how much calories your dog is supposed or encouraged to consume per day.
- Start weighing or measuring the meals that you give your dog.
- Adding greens and vegetables to the diet of your dog are also very useful for them losing weight.
- Provide your dog with activities and long(er) walks.
- Look carefully at what food you are feeding your dog: try to find kibble or raw meat that is low in calories, but contains lots of protein and fiber.
- Slowly transition into the weight losing diet.
Aside from these tips, you can also encourage your dog to lose weight by using a slow feeding bowl. This slows down their eating and makes them feel full for longer periods of time. You can also move the feeding bowl around the house, to encourage your dog to walk and exercise. Lastly, a ball in which you can put treats or food is the perfect combination between encouraging your dog to move around and slow down their eating.
Now that we have discussed the different tips and tricks that we have found useful for dogs to lose weight, we want to know more about your perspectives. Do you have any other tips or tricks that can help fellow dog owners? Or if your dog had to lose weight, how did you experience that journey? Please let us know through leaving a comment down below!
