Surprising Ways To Help Your Pet To Lose Weight

According to some veterinary studies in recent years, it has shown that over half of our pets, well, dogs and cats, are overweight. Meaning that there are millions of cats and dogs that could be getting things like diabetes, cancers, heart disease, and high blood pressure, just because of what they weigh. And as owners, we need to take responsibility to make sure that our cats and dogs are a healthy weight. The healthier they are, the greater companion they will be, the longer they will live, and then the easier both of your lives will be.

So if you think your pet, or someone you knows pet is on the overweight side of things, then now could be the time for change. Here are some of the ways that you can monitor their weight and help to get them as healthy as can be.

Keep Them Active

Walking pets, particularly dogs, daily is a really good thing to do. But some larger dogs will need to be walked more than once a day. Of course, this isn’t always possible due to your time constraints. But they still need to burn off some energy and to burn calories. Then before you know it, you’re out of the habit of walking them often and it can lead to them getting overweight or ill. So if you have some outside space, somewhere like PDPlay could be a good place to look as there are equipment and play park equipment that you could get for your dog. If you can create something for them to play on outdoors, as well as walks, then it could be the extra thing that they need to keep them active.

Choose Veggies

Unless you are making the pet food for your pet, then it can be hard to tell what is in them exactly. So choosing some things like carrot sticks, cucumbers, broccoli, banana slices or apple slices, can be a great alternative to a treat for your pet dog. They are still sweet, but give your pet dog a natural taste of sweetness that does offer other nutritional benefits as well. For cats, you could think about a few flakes of tinned tuna or salmon as a treat.

Cut the Carbs

Many dogs, in particular, have a diet that is high in carbohydrate when it really doesn’t need to be. So it could be a good idea to check your dog’s food labels to see what the percentage of carbohydrates is. Chances are it is over sixty percent. So think about low grain pet food, and pet foods that have a higher protein content (that can be especially good for weight loss in cats).

Try a Supplement

As a human many take a supplement if they are overweight, almost every pet cat and dog could benefit from taking a supplement. It could be a fatty acid supplement to help joints and encourage weight loss, or it could be something like l-carnitine to help aid weight loss and build muscle mass.