![]() Once you’ve identified that your dog is overweight or obese, it is important to adjust feedings specifically for weight loss – using a specific nutritional product, a specific portion and a specific meal frequency. How do I adjust my dog’s meals to help him lose weight? Most veterinary practices use a body condition scoring system on a scale of either 1-5 (3 is normal) or 1-9 (4.5 is normal). Your veterinary health care team will provide an estimated ideal body weight to use as a target, but it is important that they also do regular body condition assessments to ensure progress is being made toward normal body weight and body condition. It’s also a good method for measuring weight loss progress between formal weigh-ins. If you hold your hand palm down and feel your knuckles with the flats of the fingers on the opposite hand, this is how your dog’s ribs should feel just behind the shoulder blades. Rib coverage is not only an important measurement to help you identify if your dog is overweight, but it’s also easy for you to do at home, on your own. Your veterinarian and the veterinary health care team can assist with an assessment. Unfortunately, we are inundated with images in the media of dogs that are consistently too heavy, which makes it challenging to understand what normal looks like. The very first step in dealing with an overweight or obese dog is to recognize and acknowledge that there is a problem. On the other hand, obesity may be an indicator of disease, such as hypothyroidism (an underactive thyroid gland) or Cushing’s disease (overactive adrenal glands).
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