Bad habits such as lack of exercise or inadequate nutrition have caused around half of the dogs registered in Europe to be overweight. Excess fat can be highly detrimental to our dog's he alth, so we want to show you how to choose a food for overweight dogs that really works.
From our site we will give you the keys to make the right choice of food for your overweight dog and, thus, help him improve his quality of life and he alth.
Avoid false advertising: light feeds are not always light
As strange as it may seem, most commercial dog food brands use the word "light" in ranges that simply contain a little less fat than usual or even less percentage of protein, without giving too much importance to the rest of the ingredients. Dogs are mainly carnivorous animals and, as such, they must have a diet that is mainly based on meat, so we should never make the mistake of thinking that a feed with a low level of protein is better for our dog, whether it has or not. overweight.
A strategy widely used by companies to confuse consumers is to lower the percentage of protein and fat in certain dog foods, then adding them to the “light” category. However, it is not the proteins that cause that our dog is overweight, but the excess of carbohydratesin combination with lack of exercise. It is actually a very simple mathematical sum, if a dog eats more calories than he spends, he will transform them into fat.
Carbohydrates are an almost instantaneous source of energy for both dogs and humans. The problem is that if they are not used up, the body transforms them into fat and stores them. For this reason use a good quality feed for our furry friend, containing a low amount of calories, fats and carbohydrates and a greater contribution of fiber, is the most recommended to start helping our dog to lose weight. A good example would be NFNatcane's Beef and Vegetables.
Fiber favors intestinal transit and, therefore, helps the overweight dog to lose those extra kilos more quickly. On the other hand, L-carnitine is a substance that also enhances fat burning, so that when choosing the best food it is also interesting to observe if said supplement is found in its composition.
We must avoid focusing on the false advertising offered to us through television, magazines or the radio and inform ourselves about the food we are giving our friend in order to choose a good feed for overweight dogs. Because perhaps we are to blame for his obesity without even knowing it.
Focus on ingredient labeling
We have the advantage that manufacturers are required by law to list the ingredients in their products in order of greatest to least quantity. A dog food that contains wheat, corn or any other cereal as the first ingredient is indicating that the most abundant ingredient in its formulation is cereal. In this way, we must focus on looking for food for our dog whose first ingredients are always meat, such as chicken meat, veal meat or lamb meat. Likewise, we must avoid at all costs labels that contain animal by-products, animal derivatives or animal flour, as they are of very low quality.
Avoid being fooled by cereal derivatives, there are many brands of dog food that, in order not to put a cereal as the first ingredient, divide it into derivatives so that they go unnoticed. For example:
"Chicken meat 30%, corn 20%, peas 15%, corn gluten 14%, eggs 12%, corn protein 10%, fruit…". Did you think that this feed contains mainly meat? If we add corn and its derivatives (corn, corn gluten and corn protein) it gives us 44%, that is, we will be feeding our dog practically corn
Dogs use carbohydrates for energy, but if we administer them in excess then they begin to gain weight, which is why many times and without knowing it, we are the ones to blame for our dog gaining weight and becoming obese.
Grain-free feed, and carbohydrate-free?
There is a trend in the world of canine nutrition to offer grain-free feed, leading us to believe that this way our dogs will eat higher quality products. However, what they don't tell us is that if they don't use grains, they will use tubers or legumes, which also contain high amounts of carbohydrates. With this, we do not mean that grain-free feeds are harmful, far from it, but perhaps they are not the most suitable for obese dogs, and then we will see why.
We must start by accepting that an adequate level of carbohydrates in our dog's diet is not something negative, but he althy. The negative is to abuse carbohydrates or use poor quality ingredients. If you look at the ingredients label of grain-free feed, you will see that either they are using tubers such as potatoes or sweet potatoes, or they are using legumes such as lentils, chickpeas or beans. So they're not cutting out carbs, they're just swapping the carb source for something less conspicuous.
Rice is the best cereal that a feed can contain, followed by potatoes as a tuber or legumes. However, we should not feed our overweight dog with a feed that contains more rice, potato or any type of legume than meat. Meat should always be the main ingredient of your diet.
Do a little of yourself and help your dog lose weight
Dogs love to eat, it is one of their passions along with sleeping and playing. That is why we must help them a little in the task of losing the excess fat they have. The first step is to feed them strictly with the quantity recommended by the manufacturer. In this sense, the use of a kitchen scale can help us calculate exactly the portion of feed that our dog should eat each day.
The second step is not to give him any of our food that could further aggravate the situation. They look at us with little eyes so that we give them a little…, but if we give them, we will be helping them gain even more weight. If you want to supplement the feed for overweight dogs with foods from our diet, we will opt for the previously mentioned cooked meats or vegetables suitable for them, also boiled. Likewise, we will never mix the feed with homemade food, since it could cause the animal digestive problems.
The third step is exercise them, going out with them to run or ride a bike is an excellent option for them to exercise and thus lose weight easily. With the exception of puppies and older dogs, which should not be forced to exercise, they will simply need long walks to burn fat.
Learning how to choose a good diet for our dog and doing a little exercise with him, we will help him lose that excess weight that can harm his he alth so much.
