Helping Overweight Dogs

If you feel that your dog may be overweight, The first thing that you should do is have your dog checked by a veterinarian. Your veterinarian can tell you if your dog is actually overweight and what your dogs healthy weight range is.

Your veterinarian may also want to check to make sure that your dog is not suffering from any health issues such as hypothyroidism which can cause your dog to gain weight.

How can you tell if your dog may be overweight? Generally with an overweight dog it is difficult to feel your dogs ribs because they have an excess amount of fat covering them. When you look at an overweight dog from the side, the belly generally has minimal or no tuck. An overweight dog viewed from above, generally shows no indendted waistline in the front of the hips.

Keep in mind that these are general rules which can vary between different breeds of dogs. Always have your veterinarian examine your dog to determine if it is actually overweight, and if so, that your pets weight issue is not due to health issues.

If your dog is overweight, check with your veterinarian to see if these tips could help your dog get back into shape.

First, be sure that you are feeding your dog a high quality natural dog food. Some pets may over eat in an attempt to gain their daily required nutrients if they are fed a low quality food.

You may want to consider measuring your pets food each day to prevent your pet from over eating.

Be sure to exercise your dog each day. Even though you have a large yard your dog still may not be getting the exercise that he needs. Be sure to interact and provide physical activity for your dog each day. take him for walks and play games with him to be sure that he is getting the daily exercise and stimulation that he needs.

If your dog is trying to loose weight, be sure to limit his treats to small amounts of low fat healthy treats such as yogurt and cottage cheese or even carrots. Table scraps are a definate no, no for the overweight dog.

Some pet owners believe that they are pampering their dogs when they overfeed them or give them lots of treats, but serious health problems can occur from allowing your dog to become overweight.

Hopefully these tips can help you to determine if your dog may have a weight problem, and if so help you to get your dog back into the 'Grrrr'eat shape that will help him to live a long and healthy life.