Read About Dieting for Dogs

Obesity in dogs can be caused by multiple factors. Health issues like hypothyroidism, early diabetes mellitus and hypoadrenocorticism are the most common. Unfortunately, neutering your dog will cause a decrease in metabolism due to a loss of sex hormones. Also, aging pets tend to need less energy than younger ones. Behavioral disorders causing increased food intake are fear, depression, and developmental disorders such as abnormal feeding behavior and the inability to recognize being full. Also behavioral disorders that limit your ability to let the dog off its lead to run can contribute to obesity, including not coming on command, aggression to other dogs or people and scavenging or eating feces. A third factor in obesity is your influence on how much food and what kind of food is fed to your dog, your lifestyle and environment, time and space to exercise and play with your dog, or your physical disability to exercise your dog.

Diseases I see regularly associated with obesity are joint strain and osteoarthritis, respiratory problems, cardio-vascular conditions, diabetes, increased risk of infections, increased risk of complications with anesthesia, complications with wound healing and a reduced lifespan of on the average, two years.

Once your pet has been checked out and it is determined that there are no health issues, place your pet on a good professional weight loss diet. One of my favorite is Waltham's Weight Control. This food is a higher-protein, lower-calorie diet that maintains the lean body mass during the diet while meeting the dog's protein requirement. With high-fiber/lower-protein diets, more body protein (muscle) is lost than with higher protein/calorie-restricted diets. Protein diets induce satiety or the feeling of fullness. To digest protein, the dog's body has to actually spend more calories than it does to digest starches.

The weight loss should be more than 1% but not more than 3% of your dog's current body weight per week, so re-adjust the intake accordingly.

Check the bag for recommended feeding amounts for weight loss. Measure the daily intake with a proper measuring cup and stick to it, despite your pet's protest.

If their constant fussing for food makes you feel guilty, feed the recommended daily amount in more frequent, smaller amounts, but do not exceed their daily caloric needs! Offer low-fat snacks like vegetables and fruits (no grapes), or some of the low-calorie snacks made commercially like High Fiber Treats (Waltham-IVD) and Lean Treats (Butler). Make yourself aware of the caloric content of snacks!

Remember that each time you give food in response to your pet's begging, you are reinforcing that bad habit. The use of food as a positive re-enforcer for appropriate behaviors is to be encouraged. Giving the dog a Kong toy stuffed with food to get him to stop barking while you are on the phone, or crating your dog with food to occupy him when he is being anti-social to visitors, is a negative reinforcement of the dog's attention-seeking and antisocial behavior. Instead of handing your dog a snack, try spending a little time playing fetch or tug of war, taking him for an extra walk, or hiding a toy and playing a search game.

Increase exercise. At first your overweight pooch will not want to walk very far. Start them slowly, as they are out of shape and cannot be expected to run three miles. At first, a few blocks of walking may be all they can tolerate. A little play with toys in the back yard or searching games in the house will also increase his movement. You will find that as weight loss progresses, your dog will have more exercise tolerance, and even enthusiasm and playfulness and you can gradually increase the frequency and distance. Dog parks or doggy day care is a great place for dogs to exercise and interact socially without even knowing they are exercising! Swimming after a toy is a great way to get exercise as well.

Sharon E. Anderson, DVM

Sharon E. Anderson, DVM, answers medically-related questions, but will not attempt to diagnose or recommend specific treatments. Her advice is not meant to replace professional care. If your pet is ill, contact your veterinarian immediately.