Dobby will be six months old in two weeks. He’s growing so fast. He’s so much fun to watch, because there’s just so much cuteness and so much puppy in him. He loves all of us. And we all love him. We sleep with him, play with him, and cuddle him. When I brought him home in January he weighed a mere four pounds. He now weighs over thirty-five pounds. We feed him several times a day because he’s a growing boy. Plus, he gets dog treats, some for training, some as a reward and some for love. He’s lean and fit now but it’s easy to see where if we continued this regimen indefinitely he’d be very overweight.
Fun fact. According to the Association for Pet Obesity Prevention, more than 50% of pets in the U.S. are overweight. Ok, fun fact isn’t really the best choice of terms. How about shocking? I was astounded to hear that so many of our pets are overweight. A healthy weight has a direct effect on your pet’s quality of life and life expectancy. A couple of extra pounds may not seem like much, but for our pets it’s actually quite a lot. Hill’s developed a Human-to-Pet Weight Comparison tool that shows how extra weight on pets compares to human weight. Five extra pounds on a 70 pound Golden Retriever is the equivalent of 8.9 extra pounds on a woman. Having once weighed 374 pounds myself, I can only imagine what an overweight dog or cat must feel like!
So what do we do? Starve our pets? Of course not. Cleanse? Don’t be ridiculous. Dog weight loss program? Basically, yes. The Hill’s 10 Week Turnaround Program could be just the ticket.
Every sensible diet starts with good food choices. Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight food offers a breakthrough blend of natural ingredients that helps pets burn calories no matter how active they are. Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight dog food and Hill’s Science Diet Adult Perfect Weight cat food are designed to help pets lose weight without counting calories. If you’ve ever dieted and had to count calories then you probably appreciate what a plus this is.
Another part of a diet is responsible snacking. I learned that with the Treats Translator, which is a fun and educational tool that will tell you what the equivalent of some pet treats are when compared to human food. We don’t give our dog table food. I was shocked to learn that one small “people” cookie is the equivalent of an entire burger!
Hill’s has introduced a 10 Week Turnaround program to help encourage people to feed Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight food to their pets for 10 weeks and share their success along the way. More than 70% of dogs & cats lost weight within 10 weeks when fed Perfect Weight foods. Helping care for pur pets and improve their health is a great reward by itself. But there’s more.
Hills has sweetened the pot by offering a sweepstakes. Entrants receive the chance to win bi-weekly prizes, as well as a grand prize of free Perfect Weight food for a year! Details for the sweepstakes can be found at ScienceDiet.com/PerfectWeight. If you’ve got a pet be sure to enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win $15,000 in prizes!
Is your pet at his or her perfect weight? How do you help him stay that way?
I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s Science Diet Perfect Weight Food, but Mom Knows It All only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.
I have a tiny dog (chihuahua) and I think he is just right, but he begs for scraps a lot, so he may need a diet if he keeps it up.
Your pup is so cute! My old dog struggled with her weight a lot, not because of overeating but because she had a thyroid problem 🙁
I don’t have pets anymore. But when I did, he was the right weight. Thanks for sharing!
I don’t have any pets, but it’s nice to know that in 10 weeks, you could make a turnaround and healthier change for them.
We measure out our cat’s food twice a day. She had knee surgery years ago and the vet told us she’s not allowed to get overweight!
Our bulldog just came back to his correct weight – he gained pregnancy weight with me and never took it off!
Right now my pets are in an ideal healthy weight, but as they age, I know I will have to look into some weight balancing solutions. Thanks
My little pup is kinda hefty for his size! I never have tried to monitor his weight before though.
This dog food looks really awesome. We have trouble with our little dog gaining weight, so he would be a great candidate for this food. Thanks for sharing!
I totally agree that pets should maintain a healthy lift. This will halp them have a happier life!
My boxer is 5 pounds overweight. I admit, we slack on the walking during the winter, so he gains a bit then. Hopefully we can get it back off over the next weeks!
We have two dogs. One is 10 years old and is at her perfect weight. She only eats when she is hungry. The other one wants to eat all the time and being a small dog, has gained too much weight. We recently have placed him on a better eating plan and he has lost a pound which is a lot for a little guy his size.
The St. Bernard is perfect. The boxer gained weight (which she really needed) after her litter and subsequent life threatened major surgery–a picky eater so we do not mess with putting her on a diet.
My dogs are! For now, but as they get older I will monitor and start to worry if necessary! I have had dogs and cats my whole life and know feeding them properly and maintaining right exercise is so very important!
It’s great to know that this kind of help is out there for pet owners to turnaround their pet health in 10 weeks! We don’t have pets, but my sister does. I’ll have to share with her.
I’m so happy to see a positive way to help. My grandparents had overweight dogs (people food) and this would have been GREAT for them. LOL at the doggie cleanse, I did laugh at the idea. Pretty sure the pets would NOT be fond of that plan. 😉
My dogs are on medicated food. I wish we could get them back on the weight loss food!
Most owners may not be bothered when their pets are obese or overweight. After all, fat pets are cuter and cuddlier. However, they should really know the bad consequences of this and it’ll surely be great that responsible owners should do the proper measure to alleviate this problem.
We have two dogs who are both at their appropriate weight. Now, my mother in law’s dog – shewweeee…..that little girl if a fatty watty! My MIL can’t help but to give her scraps and she’s elderly. If you try to tell her that it’s doing the dog a disservice, she gets upset. So we try to limit the amount she gives to her. She has been switched to a healthy weight dog food, but still – the table scraps and treats are the issue. Blah!
That is definitely a shocking and saddening statistic knowing half of our pets are overweight in the US. We need to do what’s best for our fur babies and feel them healthy foods that help maintain their weight so they can be healthy and active for a long time!
Our dog is just a few lbs overweight. He’s also over 13. We try to do the right thing!
We think about what we eat. We think about what we feed our children. Why would we not think about what we feed our pets? Food is the fuel of life, and it is just as important to your pet as it is to you.
I get on to my Mom for giving her dogs treats. They are a little too pudgy.
My dog is at a great weight. I switched him to natural and organic a while ago
My lab was overweight but we actually got him to lose wieght. He doesn’t eat he swallows his food whole. It’s so frustrating. lol
That’s crazy that 50% of pets are overweight! Good thing there are products like this.
We don’t have any furbabies, but this sounds like a great option if we did.
Dobby is so cute! I don’t have a dog, but I’d be almost as concerned about his diet as I am about my daughter’s. It’s sad that so many dogs are overweight! 🙁
Our dog had been holding on to an extra five pounds for a while now. She went to the vet this weekend and she’s perfect. Right on target with her weight. Gotta keep her around as longs a we can! 🙂
I totally plan on trying this with my two fur babies. Gotta keep them healthy.
Oh dear! That’snot very encouraging. Over 50% is not a good sign. We know several friends who have canines that fall in that category.:(