Weight Loss Holistic Dog Food

40% of America’s pet population is overweight.  Not surprising, since we have an obesity epidemic among their owners.  If the owners are living a couch-potato lifestyle filled with unhealthy eating, the animals are getting pulled into it.

This article covers overweight DOGS ONLY.  Cats have metabolic conditions that must be carefully considered so we’ll look at their situation in a different article.  For example, you CANNOT withhold food from cats, you risk all kinds of serious problems if they go a day or two without eating.  So again,  THIS IS NOT FOR CATS!

First, have your dog examined by the vet.  You always want to rule out underlying health problems like diabetes or thyroid.

Second, it’s all about calories in, calories out.  It’s no different than with humans.  If your dog is sedentary and is eating too much, he will get fat.

Third, look at yourself!  What are YOU, as the pet parent, doing to contribute to the problem?  Ask yourself these questions:

Are you free-feeding?  You think your poor dog is  not getting much, but if you measure it out you’ll discover that he’s eating far more calories per day than they should.

It’s like what I accidentally did last week during our office “fat off”.  I brought in a bag of organic corn chips to munch on.  They seemed healthy enough and they would keep me out of the bags of buttered popcorn.  I just absent-mindedly munched on them all day long and at the end of the day, I realized I’d eaten the entire bag.  140 calories per serving and I’d eaten nine servings!  Do the math.  I had to walk 10 miles at the mall over two days’ time to burn off that extra 1000 calories.

Are you rewarding nuisance behavior?  This is where you give the dog treats to keep her out of your hair or because she’s so cute, or you have a special treat you just like to give her all the time.  We almost need a Doggy SuperNanny to tell you to set limits and not reward bad behavior.

Are you feeding her too much because she’s a “good dog” and you’re a “good parent”?  We sort of bring our human dysfunction into our fur families, don’t we?  We give them “super sized” meals because otherwise, it seems like we’re being stingy and skimpy with them.  Read the recommended serving amount and gradually adjust your dog’s meals so that they don’t go wayyy overboard.

Are you feeding him too much people food?  A friend of mine couldn’t understand why her dog was gaining so much weight.  She was doing what I told her, measuring out the portions, not free feeding, even giving her dog a special weight loss dog food.  I just asked her to describe a day in her household with the dog, what were mealtimes like, that sort of thing.  It came out that her father and her son just loved to give the dog table scraps and leftover sandwiches from lunch!  We cut that out and her dog dropped to a reasonable weight in about two months.

 Fourth, feed holistic protein-based foods that are low in corn and wheat carbohydrates.  Commercial  pet foods generally have corn and wheat in the first five ingredients.  It’s an inexpensive protein source so naturally, they put it in pet food.  But it’s just not good for our pets for many reasons.  Look at the Cornophobia article on this blog to learn more.

Last, look for a good, holistic weight loss dog food.  A few of the good companies make them.   If you follow a good plan, it should only take about three months to make a difference in your dog’s weight and overall health.

Remember, don’t starve your dog, but don’t overfeed him, either.  Find the right balance and he’ll live a longer, happier, healthier life.

Teresa Holladay
The Holistic Pet Food Blog
http://holisticpetfood.wordpress.com