Dog food for overweight dogs

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Sunday, May 4th, 2008 Subscribe To Our Feed

If your dog is overweight, it’s time to reduce his calorie intake. Yes, you can put your dog on a diet, just as you put yourself on a diet.

It is important to realize that if a pet is overweight right now, he needs to consume less than his recommended calorie intake to lose weight.

As your body takes in too much food, food is stored as fat in the tissues of the body so that when there is not enough food, this stored fat can be used to help them to get through the rough time. Most pets will never have that situation since you are taking care of them.

To help them to lose this stored weight, then, you must reduce their calorie intake by a small amount so that their body uses stored fat instead of using the foods that they are given for energy needs.

Depending on what your pet’s calorie intake goal is, reduce this number given to them by just 5 to 10 percent. This small reduction will help them to use stored fat as energy and therefore help them to lose weight. More than this amount will cause the body to go into starvation mode which will not allow them to use stored fat. Monitor restrictive diets closely.

Many dog food manufacturers offer calorie-controlled diets for overweight dogs, and this is an excellent option. You can also cook your own dog food, adding lots of vegetables to a small amount of meat. This is a healthy option.

Vegetables you can add to your dog’s diet include: grated carrot and grated pumpkin.

Not sure what to feed your dog? Keep your dog healthy with Dog Food Secrets.