Pets

Canine Obesity and You: 3 New Behaviors You Can Adopt Today

A health trend is becoming more of a focus as the number of Americans who are obese has increased by 2% in the last two years. The statistics of those Americans also say that up to 70% also have a dog. And guess what? Yes, the dog is most likely a bit overweight as well. The good news is that if you feel like it’s time to lose a few extra pounds and you have a dog, you have the perfect training partner.

More Americans now believe they are overweight and with the current economic state they have realized the importance of losing weight and getting back in shape. The simple need to stay healthy, cut costs, and be able to maintain current homes and jobs is plentiful.

Health care costs have also spilled over into veterinary care expenses. A trip to the vet costs at least $100 these days and can easily run into thousands of dollars. An overweight dog is more likely to have health problems and life expectancy is drastically reduced.

There is no magic bullet for losing weight and getting fitter than cutting calories and increasing exercise. Make sure the calories you eat are healthy, meaning they are not full of fat or contain a large percentage of carbohydrates. A general rule of thumb that makes it easier for people to calculate how much to eat is to eat only the amount of food that is equal to the size of your fist.

This is also true for dogs. Free food is out. That means filling the dog’s bowl with food and letting your cutest best friend eat whenever and regardless of the amount of food at any time of the day is not a good way to promote a healthy lifestyle for your dog.

Many dog ​​food companies recommend too much food right in the bag. There are many reasons for this (information for a future article), but for simplicity, let’s just say that it goes along with many downfalls in our health care system. Providing health advice is not the underlying agenda; Providing recommendations to keep him at the doctor or vet has become the industry standard.

If you can’t feel your dog’s ribs, you usually have an overweight dog. Start reducing the amount of food you feed and increase your dog’s level of exercise. Remember that the recommendation on the bag may not be what you really should be feeding. The amount of fat your dog has is the best way to assess whether you should reduce the amount of food and make sure you are giving him a quality meal. You are what you eat is true for your dog too.

Here are three things you can do today to adopt great new behaviors and get started on the path to weight loss and fitness for you and your dog:

  1. At meals, eat only the amount of food that would equal the size of your fist.
  2. Give your dog measured amounts of food twice a day; no free feed
  3. Start walking your dog at least 20 minutes a day* (plan to increase this over time)

*If you haven’t been exercising, be sure to get a physical so you know what type of health you’re starting with, be safe, and know where you want to go with your health care needs.

Get out there and get your health and happiness back with your dog! Both will move more and bark less.