Diets for Dogs

Your beloved dog has a wonderful life, full of treats and pleasures, but the results are beginning to show in its thicker body and stiffer gait. If your veterinarian decides your dog is overweight, he will examine it for any health-related causes of the weight gain. Once he has ruled out diabetes, thyroid, heart and metabolic disorders, he will likely advise you to start a weight management program to help your pet lose those unwanted pounds.

  1. Reasons for Weight Gain

    • Identify the reason why your dog is overweight. Is this caused by too many snacks and treats, larger meals than it needs, or the wrong type of food for its lifestyle? Usually, a combination of factors has led to Fido packing on the pounds. Once you know what these are, you can avoid them.

    Correct Food Quantities

    • Consider how much food your dog is getting. Since most adult dogs are fed twice daily, one way to determine how much to cut down is to prepare the amount of food your dog currently gets for both of its daily meals and weigh the total. Then remove 20% of the food, and split the remainder into two portions. This will give you a good idea of how much you should feed at each meal, while reducing the overall intake by 20%.

    Diet Foods

    • If you prefer not to reduce the amount of food you give your dog, you can switch instead to a low fat or "light" dog food. When you choose a diet food, look for one that reduces fats and carbohydrates without compromising protein or increasing indigestible fiber.

      The product you select should have at least 30% animal protein from meat, chicken or fish. This will help to satisfy your dog and at the same time prevent it from losing muscle. Add to the food vegetables that are low in calories but high in fiber, such as grated carrot or steamed, mashed pumpkin or squash.

    BARF Diet

    • The Biologically Approved Raw Food (BARF) diet introduced by veterinarian Dr. Ian Billinghurst is popular for dogs that need to lose weight, although it may take awhile for your pet to adjust. The diet advocates the feeding of natural, whole foods such as raw meat, bones, fruit and vegetables. Bones can be finely ground into meal for dogs that are at risk of complications from eating bones.

    Snacks

    • If your dog is accustomed to getting a daily snack or treat, make sure this is factored into the total quantity of food it is getting. Snacks should be healthy without providing added calories. Options include rawhide bones to chew on that will also help keep its teeth clean, or pieces of dried chicken liver baked in the oven until hard -- a delicious treat that keeps well on the shelf. Most pet stores sell baked liver dog biscuits, which are low in fat and make an ideal snack.