My pet is overweight. What are the best healthy weight loss tips?

Question

My pet is overweight. Are there any healthy weight loss tips you can share?

Christie Long, DVM · Accepted Answer

Helping your pet achieve and maintain a healthy weight is one of the best things you can do for their health. As a starting point, try to eliminate any treats or table scraps from your pet’s diet, as these extra calories will quickly pack on the pounds. Be sure to use a measuring cup to accurately feed your pet properly portioned meals. Most adult pets should be fed twice daily, but be sure to discuss this feeding frequency with your veterinarian to assure that it is appropriate for your individual pet. Pets that are mildly to moderately overweight can often continue eating their normal commercially available food, but with decreased portions. Measure how much they are currently eating and decrease this volume by 10%. Check their body condition score monthly ([this tool](https://www.petcoach.co/healthy-weight-calculator/) can help greatly, and can even help you determine how overweight your dog is), and decrease further if no weight loss is achieved. However, significantly overweight and obese pets benefit from prescription diets available from your veterinarian. Exercise is another huge part of working on a healthy approach to weight loss. For dogs, start by going for more walks, throw a ball in the backyard, or go swimming. Feed meals in a feeding puzzle in order to engage and encourage movement and “working for” the food. Many cats enjoy chasing laser pointers around the house or eating their food from toys that require them to “hunt”.

My pet is overweight. What are the best healthy weight loss tips?

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