HI Pet Parents
Well, I am a Veterinarian, Some of the pet parents asked few doubts about preventing and controlling obesity in their dogs, so I'll share few valuable points about the prevention and control of obesity in dogs.
1) Breed
First of all we should know about our breed characteristics before confirming that our pet is obese or not, because each and every breed may have some physical structure and body size, so we should not misinterpret that our pet is obese.
2) Body Score
Then we should check the body weight of our pet, then score them according to their size, we can keep a score between 0 to 5.
In normal dog, the hip bone, back bone and ribs can be easily felt if we push with light pressure, but these bones should not be easily seen under skin. If we have to press firmly to see our dog's ribs, then its obese, if the stomach part doesn't tuck upward, it indicates the dog is obese.
(Body score is not applicable for all breed of dogs)
3) Exercise
Most of the pet dogs get obese only because their pet parents don't take them for a walk and even in some worse conditions they always tie them in a corner for whole day.
A pet dog can be exercised or can be taken for jogging or walking in an average of 30 minutes a day, it varies from one breed to other. An obese dog should be given less exercise each day and should be increasing its time of workout slowly each day, if exercised heavily it may get heart related problems.
4) Harness
Some of the dogs may be very hyperactive, few may get very much aggressive if seen other dogs while taken for walking, so we should put harness for them and take for walking, if not it make choke the dog in neck when it gives pressure while walking or push down the pet parent and may harm both of them.
5) Diet
Here comes the more important which leads to obesity, first of all we should not overfeed our pet, we should know the quantity of food and how many times a day we should feed our pet, it varies on age, sex and breed of the dog.
You can reduce the feed for your obese dog gradually every week, you can feed them twice a day, instead of feeding them whole day. sudden reduction of feed may result in adverse reactions to the pet, avoid leaving food in the vessel of the pet always, it may leads to over feeding, try to limit her treats, you can also save its food and give some amount instead of giving them frequent treats.
6) Healthy Feed
Instead of snacks we can give our pet carrots, celery and other snacks which are low in calories, we can add them more in their diet, we should feed them with more protein (meat) and less carbohydrates (rice), reduce high fiber foods (cereals, carbs, grains etc), can give them cod liver capsules (omega fatty acids helps in weight reduction).