It might seem like a daunting task, but if your dog is overweight, you are the only one who can make the necessary changes to help it lose weight.
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Your dog's quality of life depends on you. ❤️

Statistically, a healthy weight dog lives 2,5 years longer than an obese dog.

Your best friend cannot live forever, but who wouldn't want those 2,5 years more of love? ❤️

The implications of obesity are disheartening, and you can read about them here.

All this said, achieving success with weight loss does not require much physical effort from you. It requires persistence, discipline, and patience on your part. If you follow the guidelines from the Furry Fitness app, you have the tools in place to achieve success.

You need to practice tough love when it comes to following a feeding plan when your dog might beg for more food. ❤️💪 Your dog will be grateful towards you when it achieves a healthy weight, as the dog will be more vibrant and happy.

As with humans, dogs also need to lose weight safely.

The weight you want your dog to lose is excess fat mass. However, the body composition of a dog also contains muscle mass. If a dog drops weight too fast, there is a risk that the dog will shed both fat and muscle mass. This is an undesirable scenario, as it weakens the dog.

Scientific weight loss experiments with overweight dogs have shown that the optimal weight loss for a dog is losing 1% to 2% of its body weight weekly. This retains lean muscle mass and safely sheds excess fat.

What does a 1% to 2% weight loss mean for a dog?

The easiest way is to compare such a weight loss regimen to a human.

In the example below, you see that the weekly weight loss is not that much vs a human. This of course is due to the fact a dog is a lot smaller than a human. However, the relative weight loss is the same.

The amount below is only an example, and the weekly weight loss will depend on the data provided in the Furry Fitness app. The Furry Fitness app will calculate your dog's weight loss when you do a nutritional assessment of your dog.

A successful weight loss plan takes time to finish. The time spent on a weight loss plan depends on how much weight your dog can shed weekly. But as mentioned above, the weight loss should be between 1% and 2%.

Based on the example below, achieving the ideal weight takes between 10 and 20 weeks. That equates to 2,5 months to 5 months. But if you hang in there, you will achieve success. Also, a weight loss of 1% to 2% puts less strain on the dog and is easier for the dog mentally to cope with. So there is no reason you and your dog should not achieve success with a weight loss plan 💪

To measure progress, regular weigh-ins are essential in a weight loss plan.

When you have done a nutritional assessment in the Furry Fitness app, if your dog is overweight, you can select to join a personalised weight loss plan for your dog. When you do this, the Furry Fitness app will send you a weekly weigh-in reminder to help you. And we will celebrate your successes 🎉

To provide you with more than just weight data, it is also essential to check your dog's body condition score (BCS). Don´t expect noticeable changes at the start. But as you measure and complete a weight loss plan, you should notice a difference in the dog's body condition.

It is important to stress that, contrary to many people's thinking, seeing and feeling the ribs on a dog is a sign of the dog being healthy, unless your furry friend is extremely furry and fluffy. But if the dog is very fluffy, you should still be able to feel the ribs due to the fat loss the dog has achieved.

As with the weigh-in, the Furry Fitness app will provide you with a monthly reminder to do a BCS if you join a personalised weight loss plan.

The road to success is rarely straight. It's a journey filled with twists, turns, and moments that test your determination 😅.

Do not give up on achieving success if your dog gains weight on one of the weigh-ins.

Ask yourself:

If you have been strict about providing the right amount of food, the dog's activity level might have been very low during the week. As a last resort, you can try reducing the food to 10% of the daily allowed amount and then conduct a new weigh-in after a week.

If your dog loses weight more quickly than the Furry Fitness app suggests (1% to 2%), you need to adjust the dog's food intake.

All dogs are unique, and your dog's activity level might have increased, too 🥳. So, there could be good reasons why the dog is losing more weight than anticipated.

We suggest giving your dog 10% more food than recommended and then weigh them regularly to see if you get on track with a 1% to 2% weight loss.

We recommend using a weight-loss dog food.

This type of food safeguards your dog and provides complete and balanced nutrition during a weight loss regimen.

If you feel confident that you can restrict your dog's food intake with your existing food, you are already using a method that will work, too.

Weight loss dog food has some different characteristics from an ordinary dog food.

This kind of food is quite protein-dense while offering a lower amount of fat than ordinary dog food. This also means the caloric value of this food is lower than that of ordinary food.

It also contains more fibre that helps the dog feel fuller after eating a meal.

It can also contain amino acid nutrients, such as L-carnitine, that assist in converting fat to energy. Don´t worry; these added nutrients are also naturally produced by the dog itself if it´s on a complete diet.

The implications of using a weight-loss food for your dog are that it can eat more food than if it were on ordinary food due to the lower caloric value.

In summary, using a weight-loss food should make it easier for both you and your dog to achieve an ideal weight.

Dogs love food treats, but treats for your dog are a lot more than food.

The thing dogs love the most is your attention. You can provide this attention in many forms. Petting your dog, playing with it, grooming, training, being active with walks or perhaps just cuddling on the sofa watching TV are all treats.

These non-food treats have zero calories. Being active with your dog will help it shed weight and, at the same time, make it happy.

We strongly encourage you to limit treats, as treats are often calorie-dense and unhealthy. They do not provide complete nutrition for the dog and make it easy for the dog to gain weight.

Practice tough love on your dog. ❤️

If your dog is sedentary, taking it for a walk regularly will help it in several ways.

The dog's metabolism will increase, meaning it converts the food into energy more efficiently.

The dog will also burn more energy and start shedding weight faster.

A walk also provides mental stimulation for the dog. Just sniffing around when you walk provides mental stimulation for your dog.

The dog's joints and muscles strengthen when it is active.

Most importantly, the dog gets to spend time with you, which is a huge reward.

There are only benefits from activating your dog.

We strongly recommend that you and your dog set activity targets in the Furry Fitness app. This will help you see progress on your activity level, and completing the targets will feel rewarding. 🎉

You have successfully helped your dog reach its ideal weight. Although you might not notice the changes due to their slow progression, your dog will likely become more vibrant and happy, and move around more easily. It´s a life-changing achievement.

It´s time to celebrate you and your dog's success!

But put the cake and treats aside. Do some extra cuddling with the dog. Reflect on your and your dog's resilience in achieving this success. Be proud of yourself and your dog for committing to having this life-changing effect on your dog. It´s quite an accomplishment you´ve achieved!

Your dog is likely to have an increased quality of life; statistically, a healthy dog lives 2.5 years longer than an obese dog. It´s a win-win situation for both of you!

The key is to ensure your dog does not consume excess calories through its diet, supplemented by staying active with the dog.

Do regular weigh-ins (weekly). It only takes a couple of minutes. This will help you notice subtle increases in the dog's weight, allowing you to prevent the dog from becoming overweight without you noticing.

It is also important to regularly perform a body condition score (BCS) assessment (monthly) to supplement the weigh-in.

If you notice a change in your dog's body condition (such as an increase) and weight gain, you need to lower its food intake.

Use the Furry Fitness app nutritional assessment features; they´re free to use as much as you want.

Yes, your dog can eat ordinary pet food if the calorie intake does not increase.

However, this also means that your dog will eat fewer grams of food and likely less fibre, the latter of which creates fullness in the meals.

And, as mentioned earlier, you need to transition back to ordinary food.

To make life easier for yourself and your dog, Furry Fitness recommends that you stay on the weight-loss food permanently, as it becomes very easy for the dog to start gaining weight again when changing back. Unfortunately, it´s for dogs as with humans, once overweight, it is very easy to get back to an undesired weight when achieving weight loss.

If you own an obese prone breed, it is crucial to understand that these breeds have a natural tendency to gain weight. You should consider putting your dog on a breed-specific diet as these diets cater to the breed's unique needs.