It’s been a long winter here with lots of that cold white stuff! I’m still undecided whether I like it or not. It’s good for a bit, but it’s awful cold so we end up spendin’ our time nappin’ at my Lady’s feet. Well, after a winter of doin’ that, I think the whole pack of us is packin’ a few unwanted pounds! If better weather don’t come on, where I can do some runnin’, I’m a fearin’ for my girlish figure WOOF!
My Lady wants to talk to ya today about Pet Weight Loss
Overweight pets are a big problem in the United States. In fact, the percentage of overweight pets is staggering. Did you know that over half of all pets in the U.S. are overweight? That’s bad. Just like overweight people, overweight pets are prone to a host of other medical problems. Getting the excess weight off of your dog or cat is absolutely one of the best things you can do for their health.
Overweight Pets Aren’t Cute. They are Ticking Time Bombs!
You might think it’s cute that your pet is overweight. Your dog or cat waddles over to get another little bite – they love their food so much. The problem is that being overweight puts them at a much higher risk of some really nasty things. Check out this brief video on overweight pets!
How do you get the Weight off and then Keep the Weight Off?
It really isn’t that difficult to get extra weight off of overweight pets or to keep pets at an ideal weight. All you need is a high-quality, low calorie food like Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight and a little self-discipline. The food part is easy. It’s the self-discipline that’s hard! Those begging eyes will get you in the feels every time!
Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight is a great dog food for weight loss and it’s also available for cats! This food is highly nutritious, without being as calorie dense as regular dog food. That’s important, because you don’t want to loose the nutrients in your dog’s food, just the calories. For small and toy breeds, you can use Hill’s Science Diet Small and Toy Breed Formula.
This is an excellent food line to help with the problem of overweight pets. It’s from Hill’s Pet, so you know you can be trusted to be 100% healthy and effective. In fact, over 70% of pets have lost weight with Perfect Weight within 10 weeks. This food uses a blend of natural ingredients as well as prebiotic fibers for gentle digestion and 100% balanced nutrition. It’s also a highly recommended food, so it’s easy to find it at your local vet or at retailers like Pet360.
Okay. I’ve given you a great food to use for your overweight pets. Now what do you do with it? It’s easy!
- Feed your pets at specific times: It’s important to keep you pets on a feeding schedule. If you feed them any old time, their little pet minds will learn that they eat whenever they feel like it.
- Never give them table food: Never give you dog or cat breads, pastas, or table foods of any kind. You CAN feed them, carrots, green beans, and blueberries in their dog food to add a little variety.
- Go easy on the treats: If you aren’t training your dog or cat, don’t give them treats. Most of the time, overweight pets got that way because of too many treats!
- Feed them calorie reduced food: Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight food is a great choice for helping get the pounds off of overweight pets and keep those pounds off.
Don’t forget exercise!
Unlike humans, exercise is fun for pets. It doesn’t have to be fancy! They love to rip and roar across the yard, go for walks or jogs or play a game of fetch! Seriously, don’t you wish you had their enthusiasm for exercise?
If you remember, we had Seager on a dog weight loss program to lose his extra baggage not long ago. He is still working towards his goal, with only a few pounds left to go! Where before he laid around with no energy, he is up and moving and feeling so much better for leaving most of that pudge behind! He loves his walks and is always sitting on the ready for them!
Running is the highlight of Maggie’s day! She loves to run and it is a common sight to see her tearing around the yard at a high rate of speed. It’s actually a thing of beauty to watch her fluid movement when she is in a full out run! You can also bet if there is a squirrel around, she will be the one chasing it up into a tree!
While Seager loves his walks and Maggie loves to run, the pups are in their own little world playing tug and wrestle. Neither Brandi or Ozzy have ever had a weight problem. They are just healthy, happy and can I say overactive pups?! But, all that activity will serve them well also. At the same time, I want to make sure they stay at the optimum weight!
Diet and exercise is really all there is to getting the weight off your overweight pets and keeping it off. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight can help make it happen. We all want our pets to be the healthiest they can be. Losing that extra baggage will save you SO much grief down the line. And when it comes to overweight pets, the term grief could very well be literal!
I just discovered that one of my dogs loves to chase after a laser light. Great inside exercise for the winter!
They love chasing squirrles in the backyard. And going for walks.
Love playing fetch with our dogs is great for them and me!
My 2 black labs are overweight, so we put them on a diet, the one went from 105 to 89, the other went from 105 to 99 so they are losing weight, we basically cut back on their food and stopped giving them treats.
I appreciate this info knowing how important this pet issue is and they are part of the family!
You are absolutely right, it is so important to get our pets to a healthy weight!
Pet Obesity is such a huge problem. A healthy diet and exercise are so important!
My dog loves to play with racquetballs. All day, everyday. I don’t know if it’s the rubber or the way the ball bounces, but she sleeps with them. They’re great for keeping her in shape, because she will chase them everytime they’re thrown. Cats on the other hand are much harder to work with. Having 2 cats, 1 obese – a food change has not helped. It’s impossible to exercise her, so I don’t really know what to do to help her.
My dog loves jumping on the trampoline with the whole family! We all love it!
Thanks so much for the Terrific Review on Help Your Overweight Pets with Hill’s #PerfectWeight! Our dogs have always been at a good weight, however, our one, Maxie had a problem this past summer and she needed emergency surgery! It had something to do with not being fixed and an infection which she had gotten. She did extremely well after her surgery and jumped back like a pup! She has been gaining weight ever since this surgery and I haven’t changed anything in the way they get fed! I’m really worried about the weight gain because I know it could lead to major problems down the road! We had 2 dogs which developed diabetes (neither were overweight!) and they did well for a while and then eventually went down hill and crossed the rainbow bridge. I think I’ve seen this dog food before and I can’t remember if it was at the grocery store or at the vets office. They eat Purenia One/Chicken and Rice dry dog food. They get fed wet dog food once a day at our dinner time. However, the dry food is out all the time just in case they get really hungry! I guess we should pick up the dry food and only put it down when we feed them the wet dog food! I’ve noticed a few times that Summer will not eat all of her food at dinner and when she walks away (doesn’t mean she’s done, though) Maxie ends up sneaking over and eating the rest of Summer’s food! Whenever we catch her doing it, we take it away from her. I’m definitely going to check into this food! Maxie is still very active and she can run with the best of them still! Thanks so much for the review and all the information on this particular dog food! I truly do appreciate it! Thanks again, Michele 🙂
We have found that taking the dogs to the beach and playing with them out towards the water with a toy they both like gets them both moving more than just walks. Having 2 English Bulldogs when the temp gets warm and just walking them is tricky, so we usually hit the beach.
Very good, I also think that we should stick to a feeding plan and give them sufficient amout to maintain their energy and growth and not just leave full bowls available at all times, except full bowls of water to drink. Play with your cats and dogs, keep them active and they will also keep you active.
My dog should probably lose a few pounds, only 3-5 though, so it won’t be so bad. She does get her exercise though, she loves her walks and playing catch.
We just bought a foreclosure with a big yard and our dog loves running around in it! Exercise is so important, so I’m glad he loves it!
We adopted our two sweet girls they are very active the best part is they get a lot of exercise playing together and they get me off the couch so its good for me as well…
Our dog appreciates longer walks. We both benefit!
We adopted a dog that has a improperly healed bone in her leg from her days as a stray, so when she runs she lifts her one leg and runs on the other 3. Sometimes strenuous activity leaves her leg sore for a while but we discovered the trails at our local park. She LOVES to walk on the trails, sniffing out new things and enjoying the short car ride to get there. When her leg acts up we call it quits for the day and she goes home happy. To make things even better, I’m getting exercise, too!
Great post. We try to keep our dog active, playing with toys and walking outside. She is getting older and we want her to stay healthy.
Thanks for your great review of Hills Science Diet Perfect Weight dog food. As dogs get older and slow down this is a great alternative to their regular food especially if you have been feeding them Science Diet. It is also great if your dog packed on some Holiday pounds. In my experience with the better brand foods your animals actually eat less food because they are getting more nutrition in a smaller amount then they do with food sold that is full of fillers. I compare it to being hungry not long after you eat Chinese food with all the rice.
I am so glad my dog is very playful and active. I would never want to see him overweight, especially for a small dog.
Thank you for such a terrific post, more people need to be made aware of pet obesity!
Our dog gained a significant amount of weight after being fixed so we have nightly family walks to help us all
My cats are only one year old but I will be cutting back on their food as they get older.
I know overweight animals that have had health problems.
today and always a healthy diet and exercise are so important.
so funny because i was just researching the weight control version of my cats food
i have a 14.5 lb cat that i worry about
he was adopted that way
I thought my German Shepard was at a great weight but the vet told me he was on the verge of being over weight..cut back on the treats and a little more time out in the yard with the kids and he’s now at his perfect weight!
this sounds like a great product, I would love to try it
It is so important to keep animals weight at a healthy level.
It’s sad to have overweight pets. You feel helpless but you shouldn’t. Just realize you help your pets by giving them exercise and less food.
I’ve got an over weight cat. Her name is ClickClick. She only will eat dry cat food, so I really don’t know why she is heavy. My vet said she was “Quite round”. She doesn’t go outside, and I really don’t see her eat that much.
We have heard those words “quite round” before too 🙁
My sister adopted an older dog whose previous owners didn’t let him do anything. Losing some weight and being around 3 other active dogs has let him be a dog again and now he is the lizard/squirrel chaser.
Playing with your dog will also help one bond with them. It is also a great stress reliever for me. Hiking with my dog is a great way for both of us to stay in shape.
My wife works as a vet tech and she said they used this food a lot of overweight pets. Works really well. My wife said you would be surprised what and how much people feed their pets.
Mickey has put on some extra pounds this winter. We tried eliminating table scraps, but it doesn’t seem to have been enough. Hopefully once we can get back to the dog park he will start losing weight.
A healthy diet is so important we are careful and watch our dogs weight carefully too so they dont get overweight .
Pets are just like humans – it is so important to maintain a healthy weight.
Thank you for sharing this review. They make great pet food.
Yes even dogs get chubby we have a tendency to overfeed our pets food Luke this helps with that
I think we all do the ooh look how is chubby he is,or look at that tummy lol as a concerned let parent these things are important .
The biggest issue for my 14 year old Bichon, Tillie, is that she doesn’t really want to go for a good walk anymore. I will give this dog food a try – I like a good quality food for her. You’re right about those begging eyes…they are very effective!