Is My Dog Overweight?

Is your dog overweight?

If your answer is "no",  are you sure? 

Only 22% of owners believe their own pets to be overweight. 

But in reality, a 2011 study showed that 53% of dogs are overweight.

This means that 31% of owners are in denial about their dog being overweight...


I, for one, was sure that my Springer Spaniel Wallace was NOT overweight and was simply "big-boned".  This was despite the fact that Beth (my gf and Wallace's mom), my sister and some of my friends told me that my boy needed to lose weight. I found this all to be quite offensive and was quick to jump to poor Wallace's defense.  I deflected their comments by saying that our vet didn't say Wallace was overweight, that Wallace eats a high quality food so he couldn't possibly be overweight and that Wallace probably just looks to be on the heavy side since he needed a haircut.

Don't you dare call my fur baby fat!

Eventually it was Beth's turn to take the pets to the vet for their check-up.  She, of course, asked the vet point blank if Wallace needed to lose weight. It turned out he did.  It also turned out that I am part of the 31% of owners in dog obesity denial!

Just one more treat???

In addition to speaking with your vet, here are a few ways for you to tell if your dog is a healthy weight:

1) Your dog's weight vs. their breed's ideal weight - The rule of thumb is that if your dog is more than 15% above its breed's ideal weight (which can be found here) it is considered to be obese. (Wallace is 16% above the high-end of the Springer range).

2) Can you feel their ribs? - You can also check by feeling for your dog's ribs and spine. You should be able to locate both with only a thin layer of fat separating the skin and bones.  If you have to press harder or dig deeper, you may have an overweight dog.

3) Eyeball it - You may recognize the chart below from your vet's office. It can be very useful to help decide if your dog is a healthy weight. (This chart also classifies Wallace as heavy)

What can I do? 

Along with exercise, exercise and more exercise, controlling your dog's food portions and the amount and type of treats they get are the main factors that will help you get your dog back down to a healthy weight.  If you do an honest assessment of how much your dogs eats in a day (not just meals, but extras like treats, scraps from the kitchen, treats from others) you may find that simply cutting out the extras can be the difference. 

As for meal time, a feeding guide can be found on any bag of dry food.  Once you have a target weight for your dog, find the lowest amount for that weight range and measure carefully. We now use a measuring cup as Wallace's food scoop. 

Keeping your dog's weight in check is critical. As with humans, an overweight dog is more susceptible to a wide range of health issues including joint issues, trouble breathing, high blood pressure, diabetes, reduction in life span and skin conditions.  Next time you bring your dog to the vet be sure to ask if he or she is a healthy weight.

- Peter

Keeping Your Dog's Coat Beautiful: Food

In an earlier post about keeping your dog's coat beautiful, I said that brushing was the #1 most important thing you can do.  This post will focus on the other thing that is tied for 1st place;  feeding your dog a high quality food.

As many of my close friends can attest to, I bring up the topic of dog food pretty often... To be honest, I'm a little obsessed with what people feed their pets.  This is because as a groomer I see first hand the health benefits that feeding your dog a high quality food can make.

High quality foods have sufficient nutrients, including essential fatty acids to maintain a healthy, shiny coat.  On the other hand, a dog that has flaky skin and a dull, sparse coat may not be getting these essential nutrients that are part of a balanced diet.

Another contributor to skin and coat issues, as well as chronic ear infections, are food allergies.  These can unfortunately often be attributed to the most common ingredients in dog food; beef, dairy, chicken, lamb, fish, eggs, corn, wheat and soy.  In order to help your dog overcome allergies they should be eating a food that either has limited ingredients (to identify/avoid the allergen), novel ingredients (ie ingredients that are not included in the list of common ingredients dogs are allergic to) or is hypoallergenic.  Low quality foods will not have any of these characteristics and thus are far more likely to aggravate allergies.

Other signs that your dog may be on the wrong food are outlined in this Pet MD slide show.  If your dog is having medical issues always ask your vet if a change in diet could help.

While most dog owners will acknowledge that putting their dog on a great food is important, sometimes that is easier said than done.  Two generations ago dogs were fed table scraps and leftovers from human food. It wasn't until the 1950s that the pet food industry started down the path of becoming highly commercialized.

Today, we are so inundated with advertising that it is difficult for the average consumer to separate high quality foods from low quality foods with good marketing campaigns. We are made to feel that only the priciest foods provide adequate nutritional value for our pets - or conversely, that the priciest foods aren't worth it since the lower quality foods advertise the same benefits.

The packaging doesn't help to make food selection easier nor do the ingredients that are almost impossible to decipher.

For example, here is the packaging of a low quality dog food

This food could be classified as a mid-quality dry food 

And now take a look at the packaging of this high quality food...

Did you notice that the packaging of all three of these foods featured pictures of at least one happy dog, carrots and meat?

Along with many others, I found myself duped by dog food marketing when I first brought home Wallace.  When picking the best food at the pet store I assumed that the mid-priced foods would offer the best value and be comparable in quality to one another. It wasn't until I found the site Dog Food Advisor that  I realized this was not so.

I initially fed Wallace what I thought was a reasonably high quality, grain free, food. Once I looked it up on the site I realized it was a decent quality food but I could buy another much better food for the exact same price.  This brings me to my next point.  For many dog owners the cost of food is a major consideration when choosing a food. A little research can help to ensure your are getting the most nutritional bang for your buck.

Whenever the topic of dog food comes up I always recommend checking in with Dog Food Advisor. Dog Food Advisor provides reviews and ratings for over 3,300 varieties of wet, dry and raw dog foods. It's pretty interesting when you take the time and browse through some of their reviews.  Their method of evaluating the food is straight forward and thourough; they go through every ingredient listed, define it, list its characteristics be them positive or negative, and give a final overall rating ranging from 1-star to 5-star.  By and large, the lower ranked foods have more fillers and less nutritious grains and cuts of meat, whereas the higher ranked foods are for the most part free of grains and fillers, opting for more natural and easily digestible options.

There are countless other ways that a good dog food will help your dog's long term health.  Research the food you are feeding your pet to make sure you are getting the best value for your money. A well fed dog is a happy (and pretty) dog!

-Peter