Feeding your dog seems easy, right? You check the dog food bag and feed according to your dog’s weight. If this sounds like you – you are likely overfeeding your dog.
The fact is, many dog owners are overfeeding by 25 to 50% every day. This is not intentional and the problem is two-fold:
• First, guidelines found on bags and cans of food are usually generic feeding recommendations based on the estimated needs of healthy, active unspayed/unneutered adult dogs. As the majority of dogs in the USA are spayed or neutered and do not get the recommended amount of physical activity each day, these guidelines may represent over-feeding.
• Second, it is imperative that you feed your dog according to their ideal weight… not their “over”-weight. If your dog is even mildly overweight, feeding according to the recommendations found on the food bag for that weight will result in continued gains.
General rule of thumb: For spayed or neutered pets, decrease the bag recommendation by about 25 to 30%. If your dog is primarily indoors, inactive or sedentary, older (than about 7 years of age), they may require an additional 10 to 15% decrease in overall calories.
Is your dog battling the bulge? Check out some additional Weight Loss Tips here.
