According to the PDSA 1 in 3 UK dogs are overweight. This can lead to further complications such as diabetes, heart disease, respiratory diseases, high blood pressure, cancers and many more.Being overweight could affect your dog's quality of life. Nearly all dogs are happy when being active and it is always a strain on the body when carrying more weight.
Choose the right food helps
Try and make sure your dog consumes less calories than they expend. This is one of the first pieces of advice given by most vets if you have a overweight dog. While this may be true, it is far from being the whole truth. Low quality foods tend to contain large amounts of grain, such as wheat or corn. This can increase insulin levels, which increases the amount of stored body fat. Most so called veterinary diets contain grain and grain gluten. A good starting point is FourFriends Weight Control or FourFriends Sensi Low. Both these foods have low kcal's and fat contents.
How to tell if your dog is overweight
It is relatively simple to tell if your dog is overweight. Simply stoke the side of their body and note if you can feel their ribs. You should be able to feel each individual rib, with a small layer of padding. If you cannot feel your dog's ribs they are overweight and you need to do something about it. There are very few exceptions to this.
This is all our fault. Dogs look to us humans for their food. If they are overweight it is generally because we are:
- feeding them too much
- feeding the wrong things
- giving the correct amount of exercise
It is up to us to take responsibility for this and to make sure we feed them correctly and exercise them properly.
How to use treats
Treats can be very useful while training your dog. Take a handful of their food from their daily allowance and use those kibbles as treats. This stops you adding any extra into the diet. If you do want to add variety in your dog's diet try FourFriends Low-Calorie Training Treats. Make sure you reduce their daily food intake though
Feeding Guidelines
These are exactly that, guideline lines. They are the best starting point. Each dog is different, does different exercise, has a different metabolic rate, so the amount you need to feed is different. If your dog is not losing weight when fed the amount on the feeding guide you will need to reduce the amount fed.
We are always here to help. Just give us a call on 01302 637377 and start feeding the correct diet to your dog today.