My dog is overweight. How much food should I feed her to lose weight?

Before cutting down on her food, I would try limiting her treats. They are loaded with fat and have relatively few nutrients. From this photo, it is apparent that she has a "waistline." which is good. If when you run your hands down her sides you can't feel her ribs, she is too heavy. (If you can see her ribs, she is too thin.) Calories are not the only factors in a dog's weight gain or loss. Remember fat, too! Spayed females may be less active and more prone to weight gain, but it doesn't have to be this way. How about throwing a ball or Frisbee for her to chase? Finding another dog for her to play with? Perhaps a dog park (well-supervised!)? Good luck with trimming Chloe down a bit!

You can continue to feed her the normal diet she normally gets, but feed according to the package instructions on the bag. Do not give her any treats or human food at all. Feed her twice a day, morning and night (divide the daily amount of food she's allowed into two portions). I would then make sure she gets exercise twice a day for at least 30-45 minutes at a time. By feeding her only her the recommendation daily amount of dog food, cutting out all treats, and making sure she has plenty of exercise, you can help her lose weight is a slow and safe manner.

Hi, Weight loss can be challenging but also fun! Monitor Freckles' progress with a weight chart after a weekly weigh in. To get her weight down, cut out all dog treats entirely. If you need to give her treats, try carrots or a healthy vegetable instead of typical dog treats. For her regular food, make sure she is only eating a good balanced dog food, no human food. Use the instructions on the side of the bag to see how much to feed her. If she weighs 50lb now, I'd say from the pictures you should try getting her down to 43-45 lbs. Try feeding for this new weight range or reduce Freckles' food by about 20% for the next 5 weeks or so and see what her progress is. Also there are some diets your veterinarian can give you a prescription for which helps weight loss by adding fiber, low calories/fat and high protein that fill your dog up without adding pounds. Also make sure to get her some exercise and enjoy the summer weather. Good luck and have fun with Freckles' weight loss! -Dr. Gordon

The easiest thing to do without being overly scientific is to just cut back her daily food ration by 25%. Example, if she get 1 cup of food per day, cutting her back to 3/4 cup per day. Do a weight check once every 2 weeks. If she starts to get too thin then you can increase the food a bit (ex: 10% increase) and if she is not losing enough weight you can cut back more (ex: an additional 10% decrease). This is the best way to do it without changing too much.

You are correct that it is difficult to find a good quality weight loss diet. Good quality meats and fats are high in calories. At the end of the day, weight loss is about calories. So, a weight loss food is beneficial because they can eat the same amount of food. But you can achieve the same decrease in calories by feeding less of the Acana that you are currently feeding. A 10-20% decrease in daily calories is exactly what I recommend for weight loss, so you could simply decrease from a level 2/3 cup to heaping 1/2 cup for a month. If Chloe is losing weight, then continue at that amount. If she is not losing weight, then decrease to a level 1/2 cup. Since she is a small dog, it should take her a number of months to lose the weight, so don't be discouraged if she only loses a few ounces in that first month. Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Yes! You can certainly do that! Good question! For her weight she would need about 390 calories per day. If you cut her food to 1/2 cup that would equal approximately 220.5 calories. Then you would have about 170 calories left over for the veggies and pumpkin. Be sure to count in any other treats/food you give her. It doesn't take much to add on a lot of extra calories to a 17# dog! The other option is to switch her to a "light" or "senior" formula dog food that has less calories per cup. Then she can eat more :) I hope this helps! Best wishes to you and Chloe. She is beautiful!

Hello. This is a great question! She should be eating about 500 -550 calories PER DAY which includes all food and treats. She can eat any food as long as she stays inside that calorie window. If you feed her a lower calorie diet then she will get to eat more food and be less hungry. Purina ProPlan Weight Management Dry Food is 337 calories per cup so if you feed her this food she can eat 1.5 cups per day with a little left over for a treat or two. http://www.petsmart.com/dog/food/dry-food/purina-pro-plan-weight-management-formula-adult-dog-food-5148013.html?gclid=CKrvp4aRkdQCFZBgfgodPccMzA If you don't like this food you can use any diet. Just check the bag, it will tell you how many calories per cup. Take the 525 (using the middle of her calorie range) and divide it by the number of calories in each cup of food and that will tell you how many cups of that food she can have PER DAY. Example as above 525 / 337 = 1.55 cups I hope this helps. Best wishes. Dr. Amber