What Is My Dog Losing Weight

The reality is clear  APOP’s 2017 clinical survey, showed that 56% of dogs were classified as clinically overweight (body condition score (BCS) 6-7) or obese (BCS 8-9) by their veterinary healthcare professional.

That equals an estimated 50.2 million dogs are too heavy, based on 2017 pet population projections provided by the American Pet Products Association (APPA). In 2016, APOP found 54% of dogs were overweight or obese. With all of the high quality foods on the market today, and pet owners expecting more for  the health of their pets why is the problem getting worse?

Though you might think it’s obvious, here’s another statistic from APOP. Even though we know that 56% of dogs are overweight, 93% of dog owners think their dog is a healthy weight. And even though 93% of dog owners think their dog is a healthy weight, 43% of dog owners actually admit that they don’t know what a normal weight dog looks like. We can’t help are dog lose weight if we don’t know they need to lose it. Above is a diagram of what a normal dog should look like, but it can vary slight from dog to dog.

Ask A Vet: Why Is My Dog Losing Weight After I Changed Her Food?

So if you see that your dog is overweight and you’re trying to get your dog to slim down but you’re having trouble, here’s 10 reasons as to why that might be happening.

If your dog’s nutrient and caloric calories are met, as it relates to their ideal weight, then this is a behavioral issue. Dogs are master manipulators but with hearts of gold. They’re not going to convince you to invest in their low budget movie so they can achieve their big break in Hollywood, but they will convince you that they need more food when they don’t.

There’s a lot of things you can do to help your dog in this situation. For example, you can divide their food into more frequent meals. So if your dog gets ½ cup of food 2x per day, split it into a ¼ cup of food 4x per day.

Why Won't My Dog Gain Weight?

You can use their food as rewards for improved behavior. So instead of feeding your dog in a bowl. Every time they come around “Looking Hungry” you can have them perform the desired behaviors you expect from them and then reward with some of the kibble from their daily food rations. Or more physical activities like kibble chase. 

You could play a game, or activity with them instead of giving them any food at all. For example, you can tug or fetch with them.  

If you have to give them something different then kibble because you just have too, you can use low calorie treats such as carrots or broccoli, but make them earn it! We had an owner at The Martial ARFS use lettuce as a reward for the behavior we worked on in class. 

Unexplained Weight Loss In Dogs: What You Can Do At Home

Barking can be even more challenging because the increase in volume affects more people. In addition, you can’t reward the behavior by giving any food, treat or engagement. If your dog vocalizes for food the best thing to do is ignore it, it will eventually stop. When it stops, even if it’s a pause and you know they’re going to start again, give them a low calorie treat or kibble ration during the pause.  

Then, each time they pause, wait longer to give them the treat or kibble ration. In an ideal world, they will eventually stop barking for food, and simply wait patiently for food, which is very similar to begging, but at least now they’re being quiet. And we already went over how to handle begging. 

If treating for pauses isn’t working then you have to remove your dog from the situation. Teach them that demanding food by yelling at you to give it to them will only achieve distance, so either another room, garage or even the back yard. Once they’ve stopped they can come back but still no food. Repeat as necessary until the make the association between vocalization and isolation.

Surprising Ways To Help Your Pet Lose Weight (and Why It's Important)

Because you have decreased the treats and the amount of food, Now Fluffy is getting in to the garbage and stealing food from your plate when you are not looking! (or even when you are looking!!) Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean you’re starving your dog. Again, it’s a behavioral issue. Need vs want are two different things.  

First, you’ll have to remove her access to these things. So, barricade off the kitchen. Don’t let her around when you’re eating dinner. Yes, it may sound excessive. Like you have to do all this to stop your dog from getting food aren’t they not getting enough food? Wrong! As crazy as it is garbage is delicious to your dog. Same as cake, ice cream, pizza, burger king, or your favorite sea food, steak or Italian restaurant is to you. If you have that around you all the time you wouldn’t be sneaking a piece here and there throughout the day?  

That’s all your dog is doing. Grabbing bits and pieces of the food they like because they have access to it. It both satiates their appetite and it tastes good. Do you really need to fire off a couple of the chips, gummy bears, milk duds, cookies, or other snacks you might have around? Of course not. You have access to it, it satiates a craving and they taste good. It’s only “stealing” for our dogs because we don’t want them to have it because we’re aware of the harm excess weight causes our dogs. 

Why Is My Senior Dog Losing Weight?

When is the last time you went to the store just for chips? So keep your dog from having access to his favorite snacks and that will solve this particular problem. 

So you decreased the amount of food you are giving your dog but weightloss is not happening. Your dog only needs what its going to burn off in a day. So your calorie modification might have been great for the summer but on those short cold winter days Fluffy might not be getting the exercise she was getting all summer long.  

So I know it’s cold and dark outside but you’re going to have to step  up the physical activity to burn those extra calories. There are endless ways to get more activity even in the house, be creative. As I mentioned earlier there’s kibble chase, tug, maybe even fetch if you have the space. If you have some extra cash there’s canine conditioning equipment to work on core strength and dog treadmills. 

Sudden Pet Weight Loss

It might be time to consider the activities provided by dog training facilities like at The Martial ARFS if something is available to you in your area. Even if it’s just for the winter, getting together with other dog owners and dog professionals that you know and trust and have the dogs play and exercise together.  

This is an easy situation to rectify. Feed your dogs separately and not leave food out all day for any pets in the household. As with humans, when one person in the house is dieting it usually effects the way everyone has to eat. Slammin down pizz a in front of your dieting spouse is grounds for divorce.  

If you have cats, and have to leave food out for them, you can feed them on higher ground so that the dog cannot get to it. Your dog can ruin his whole weightloss program by eating just half of another pet’s food each day.

Start Here For Your Dog's Weight Loss Plan

You might not think it’s fair to have to alter all the pets feeding habits but it is important to keep the importance of the weightloss for the health of your dog at the forefront. So like someone in the family trying to lose weight, if everyone makes a change it’s easier for the person having the most difficulty.  

Diet food is never what we like to eat! So you can understand if your dog doesn’t like it but because they need to lose weight they have to eat it. Simply saying my dog doesn’t like that food and going back to his normal food isn’t fair to your dog. If your dog didn’t like to come when he was called would you still let him off leash just because he likes it better?  

There are a variety of diet foods on the market so you may have to offer a variety until you find one your dog likes. Buy small bags so if they don’t like it you don’t waste too much money. Be sure to introduce the new food gradually over a week mixed in with the old food. Each day put less of the old food and more of the new food until its all new food!

Hill's® Science Diet® Adult Perfect Weight Dog Food

Some dog’s won’t notice, others are more crafty. So much that they’ll pick out only the good food and leave the rest for a more gullible dog. If you’ve done your diligence, or even if you just want to try this first, cut back your dog’s normal food to 80% of their ideal weight recommended feeding before switching to a weight loss food. In many