Benefits of Watching Your Dog's Weight

Keeping your dog from becoming overweight has farther-reaching benefits than appears at the surface. It touches on your dog's long-term health, general quality of life (moods, irritability, and activity), and also influences your dog's lifespan. Unhealthy weight can slash off 1-3 years from the life of your beloved pet, showed a study that tracked selected dogs over a period of 14 years. Obesity also has a psychological bearing on your dog which further impacts its physical health.

An Overweight Dog Is at Risk of Disease

So, what exactly are the benefits of keeping your dog's weight in check?

Healthy Weight Makes for a Happy Dog

For starters, a dog with healthy weight is a happy dog. Healthy weight dogs are more jovial, alert and active which greatly improves their quality of life. This winds into a loop because the lean, happy and active dogs will keep off the weight while the overweight ones will end up being couch potatoes that just pile fat on and do very little.

Psychological Implications of obese dogs.

There is a psychological side to all the weight noise being made. Unfortunately, not many people know this and even those that may have a clue do not realize how important it is. You see activity in dogs, just like in humans, leads to a certain rewarding feeling. Remember how good it feels just after accomplishing something? Well, dogs have that too. Playing with a dog, letting it fetch the ball, chewing rope or whatever toy, gives it a sense of accomplishment. When this happens, ‘happy’ hormones are released into the blood stream which affect the dog’s health mentally and physically in more ways than one, putting the immune system of your dog in optimal working condition.

Do not let your dog’s life be one dull episode of eating, pooping and sleeping- that is not living. Unfortunately for your dog, there is nothing it can do. You are in charge so take control of your dog’s weight.

Keeping Your Dog Lean Will Improve Its Quality of Life

Lean Weight Encourages Long Life in Dogs

If you love your dog, I am sure you want to be with it for as long as possible. One way to ensure your dog has a long happy life is by watching its weight. Dogs with healthy weight live longer than their obese couch-potato counterparts by 1 – 3 years. That’s a lot of years for a dog. The lean active dogs delay or completely keep off the onset of age-related crippling arthritis and other life-threatening diseases. 

As already mentioned, lean weight in dogs encourages activity. Activity keeps the blood running, the heart exercised, the lungs stretched and the muscles flexed.

Dog Obesity and its Impact on Your Pet’s Health

Without even going into exact dog diseases caused or encouraged by obesity, we can address the relationship between the mechanical health of your dog and its weight. Let’s look, for example, at the lungs. The relationship is simple: 

Overweight dogs are inactive, inactive dogs rarely take in deep breaths which means they rarely work their lungs and that can impact the respiratory system negatively in the long run.

You see all mammals have times when their blood races, hearts beat fast and they breathe rapidly. This is essential to the animal’s long-term health. In the wild, mammals get this rush when they pursue prey, escape from predators, fight or just play.

Happy Lean Agile Dog

Let’s now look at your dog. It is not chasing any prey, not escaping from any predators, not fighting, and not playing. (Well, I am not saying to make your dog fight, I am just making a point). Its lungs are not getting a chance or a reason to stretch and accommodate deep breaths, the blood vessels never get rushing blood, and the heart muscles never get to pump harder than they do when your dog is sleeping. The brain has nothing to figure out beyond ‘poop time’ and ‘bowl time’.

What is essentially happening is that your dog’s system is not being utilized and what happens when something is not used? Buildings soon become dilapidated, machines become rusty and your dog’s body will become old sooner than it should. It has no reason to function. I have seen dogs that only get excited when they see food. At least they get lively when they see food, you might think. But experience has shown me that even food ceases to excite the obese dog. All zest for life is gone.

Minding your Dog’s Weight may just alert you to an underlying disease.

Checking your dog’s weight may just mean the difference between life and death in weeks or months. Take for example Sally. 

Sally was a happy active Rottweiler who started putting on weight. The family thought it was normal because the gain was gradual. But even though they didn’t much of it, they decided to control Sally’s weight. Soon, Sally was on a controlled diet with counted calories and having playful exercises. After a month of no change, the family was pulled into an investigation with the vets which unveiled an unfolding case of hypothyroidism.

There are many dogs like Sally out there but not as many owners as her’s. You see there are a lot of diseases which cause obesity in dogs but if you have no reason to suspect any health problems because your dog has always been on weight-gain avenue, you won’t take any action as did Sally’s owners. It’s a two-way thing: Obesity causes disease, and there are diseases that induce weight gain in dogs. Both cases will be addressed if you watch your dog’s watch.

Your Overweight Dog: How to Induce weight-Loss

Is your dog overweight or obese? Only 17 out of 100 dog owners will admit that their pet is overweight, but the reality is 50 out of 100 dogs are too heavy. That’s according to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, Calabash, NC. Most dog owners will find it laughable to suggest their dog should shed off some weight because “He/she rarely finishes his/her bowl” or “He/she is always hungry”. But neither the former nor the latter case is an indication of whether a dog is putting on unnecessary and unhealthy weight by over-eating.

Some breeds are more susceptible to becoming too heavy than others. German shepherds and Dobermann pinschers will easily maintain their weight. On the other hand, Rotweillers and St. Bernards will easily pack fat on.

The Obesity Indicator in Dogs

Of course, checking to see if your dog is eyeing XXXXXL bikinis when at the mall is no indication of any weight problems. While dog sizes vary from breed to breed, there is a fairly universal way of judging whether your canine is howling the heavy song. 

The first method is by simply looking. A normal-weight dog should have a defined rib cage, abdomen and hip area. In dogs with normal weight, the rib cage and hip areas are bigger than the abdomen when viewed from above while the dog is standing. If it is just one blob of canine then no matter how much you convince yourself, your dog has packed too much fat.

You can also just feel your dog with your fingers. Run your fingers across the rib cage with reasonable pressure as if trying to count the ribs. If your are able to feel the bones then you pet is of a healthy weight. If all you feel is dog with no bone, you just got yourself a new task- shedding off some dog weight. Note that you have to feel the ribs and not see them.

So now that you have cross-examined your dog and found it guilty, it’s time to sentence it. But this is by no means a punishment. Keeping your dog within the normal weight will be in its best interest.

How to manage an overweight dog

As with people, the basic reason dogs will become too heavy is the disproportionate intake of calories, that is consuming more than they burn. A dog which gains weight will become less active which will lead to more weight. More weight will eventually turn it into one cuddly lazy canine with a horde of health risks.

The key is knowing how much your dog needs to consume. You can consult your vet who will determine the right amount of food by considering the age, breed and general health condition of your dog. Once you have the right amount of food, stick to it and do not revert to your old canine-destroying feeding deeds. Come up with a plan which should include the right food for overweight dogs, in the right amounts at the right time.

It helps to make it clear to the family and even friends that your dog is on weight-watch because even little, seemingly harmless treats may set you on a treadmill.

What if the poor dog begs?

Of course, if the dog finds itself eating less than it's accustomed to, it may resort to begging and scouting for food here and there. But no matter how heartless it may seem to ignore its begging whimpering and poses, keep to your program- it will be more heartless to give in. The best way to reduce the occurrence of these begging sessions is by feeding your canine friend the same time your family eats. Your dog won't beg for what it hasn't seen- unless it's. .. .  a psychic dog?

Exercise to Manage Dog Weight

By implementing a diet scheme and an exercise routine, you will be burning the candle of obesity in your canine from both ends. 'Exercise routine' here has nothing to do with pumping metal, skip ropes or steroids. Just a simple calm walk in the park or over to a friend's place will do. You can also go on reasonably paced jogs with your dog so long you don't overdo it.

There are also dog toys that you can use to keep your dog happily busy. Even simple chewing ropes will do as they will burn calories without adding any as the dog tries to chew them. Try to let your dog earn it's rationed treats by performing some activity. Like put the food in a difficult place and let the dog reach for it. It will be fun for both you and your dog. Don't overdo this and go putting bones on a dog-sized mouse trap.

Medication For Weight Management in Dogs.

The above methods for dog weight loss are fairly natural. But there is also medication which aims at the same goal but it is vigorously-shaking-head not recommended unless suggested by the vet. It can have negative side effects on your pet and should only be used if all other means fail.

How long Before Any Change?

As with anything, the time it will take to see results will depend on you and your dog's input- which means you because the dog is under your guidance. Within 2 weeks, changes should begin to appear. It is essential to note your dogs progress. Take down its weight every week to see the direction of the graph. Just get on a scale and note your weight. Then get hold your dog and get on the scale. By kindergarten math, subtracting your weight from your and your dog's combined weight will give you the canine's weight. Feeling smart, Einstein?

Keeping your dog's weight in check will keep a lot of medical problems at bay. The whole process may unearth the presence of diseases like Hypothyroidism

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