This is crazy, there are directions on the dog food bag that say if your dog gets too heavy, decrease the amount you are feeding. It's extremely simple. This can also be applied to yourself. No worries about exercise, what types of food to eat or not eat, no voodoo (like avoid gluten lol). This keeps me and my dog trim and healthy. The reason you talk about this junk over and over and overanalyze what you are eating is because you are in denial about this simple thing and avoiding it. You have to be a little bit hungry to lose and maintain your weight, as does your dog.

You're welcome. Now focus on something real and get something accomplished.

Check out my website www.ibdkitties.net and see what those kinds of grain filled, over-carbo diets are doing to our pets! Cats are dying left and right (including mine) of IBD, pancreatitis, liver and kidney disease caused by obesity with sudden anorexia, vomiting, food allergies, food intolerance, malabsorption etc. To say thi is crazy, you clearly have never lost a pet and watched them suffer incredibly for a long period of time. These diseases lead to lymphoma, hypothyroidism, CRF. Get yourself educated and understand that they are carnivores and need the proper diet. We are trying to change their genetics and instead we're killing them slowly!

If you are feeding them a good diet but they just eat to much of it, try green beans with NO salt. My sister had a German Shepard and the vet said he needed to lose weight. She was on a good diet but still managed to get over weight. My sister found it hard to cut her food with two other dogs that were NOT over weight so she added the green beans to her food and let her eat her fill. The other dogs loved it and the Vet was happy to announce her weight loss and said the green beans were good for them.

My lab (Mickey) was chunky- I started feeding her dog cookies from www.TexasDogTreats.com 

She has lost 15 lbs & has more energy, and looks great!  She Loves these cookies- they're all natural & organic.  You've got to order some for your dog.  They have blueberry- which is Mickey's favorite!!

The treats you buy in the stores are made up of so much junk. You dog needs something simple & healthy. That's how we found www.Texas Dog Treats.com. They are made in the USA, too. Not in China, Thiland or South America. Look at the package of the treats you buy & make sure they are a product of USA.

What I can't figure out is why in the world anyone would feed their pet that is a pure CARNIVORE a diet filled with grains, rice, corn and other "veggies"??????? Um, what in the definition of CARNIVORE escapes you? They are NOT supposed to eat anything but MEAT!!!!!!!!!!!!! Period. End of problem. D U H!!!!!!!!

When I pressed the comment button on the article, the advertisement being shown was for Iams dog food. I went to www.dogfoodanalysis.com and found an Iams product. It is Procotor & Gamble Iams Proactive Health Adult Chunks.

Guess what the first ingrediant is - chicken. Chicken and other meats contain 80% water. Next ingrediant is Ground Yellow Corn. Third is sorgum, which is ok. 4th is chicken by-product meal. Hmmm, by-products, yuck! You can read the rest yourself.

What needs to happen is that soap companines need to stop buying dog food manfg'ers. They buy up a dog food company that puts out decent food and then turns it into an outlet for the large, corporate corn growers. In the meantime, your dogs get unhealthy food. Go look up Beneful!

YOu can also try this website: www.dogfoodadvisor.com/ It basically says the same thing as the first website I listed.

Hate to break it to you but dogs are omnivores.  Cats are obligate carnivores.  Feeding dogs a meat only diet can lead to severe skeletal abnormalities due to a calcium and phosphorous imbalance.

Cut down the rations when you feed.

Put your dog on a treadmill every other day.

My Siberian Husky was overweight too.

Believe me it works.

definetely,it is very true that major brands always give out free samples on health products check out http://bit.ly/9fz66r tell your friends also

When I was a child, our pets pretty much ate table scraps and leftovers, and they were happy and healthy. Now Americans spend billions on pet medicines, pet surgery, pet food, pet clothes, pet toys, pet therapy, etc. What's next, pet "fat camps"? We pamper our pets the same way we pamper ourselves, and both they and we are overweight. Go figure.

What is so hard about this? Find a good quality dog food [ Bil Jac for example ], add a multivitamin, then calories in = calories out. Adjust the amount of food to maintain the desired weight. My Cairn Terriers also get a daily teaspoon of chopped raw brocolli, carrots, and zuchinni skins. These two are my second set of CTs, and with this feeding regiment, they are healthy, have great skin and are right on their weight target. In the heat of the summer, when outside walks and exercise decrease, their amount of food also decreases.

Letting your dog get fat is simply irresponsible pet ownership. SIMPLE.

I have 5 Doxies and 4 of the five are overweight. I guess I feed them to many snacks and this is really not good for any dog. But is sure is hard to not share with our four legged friends.

My mother had a very overweight Maltese. He just got bigger and bigger. Thought it was the food. Changed food. Changed portions. The vet said to try a diet food. He was miserable for a long time. My mother with a past medical condition that was very similar. She realized that it may be a thyroid problem. She was right. He is now on a thyroid pill and has lost a lot of weight and is so active now and happy. So just because they are obese, doesn't mean there isn't an underlying problem. :)

I have a fat Corgi. She only gets 1 cup of weight control food per day..the vet said limit her to 1/2 cup. This doesn't sound right and, of course, doesn't sit well with the furry fat one.

There are so many out there that have no idea what it takes to own and take care of a pet. Most, cannot even take care of themselves, responsibly! People are owning pets without doing any research on the different breeds that they are choosing, and not being able to provide the proper food and exercise that they desperatly need. There should be a way to keep pet ownership in check. Our pets are suffering! Think about it...... What do you think your pets would say, IF they could speak!!

I agree with posting #12......... Letting your dog/cat/loving pet get fat is simply irresponsible pet ownership! SIMPLE.

The waistlines are growing in our pets because, like us, we are not able to get the right food easily. Have you ever read the labels on the dog food. Most of it is made up of corn fillers. Human food likewise is not nutritious but full of artificial fillers. Even the produce found in most supermarkets is grown in other parts of the world, picked before it is ripe, and gas rippened on the way to our tables. Most of the time it is ripe looking on the outside, hard and tasteless on the inside.

Our food is being genetically modified so farmers have to buy seed every year from, you guessed it our FDA. Haven't you noticed some produce doen't have any seeds?

So yes, as our food gets less and less nutritiuos, so does our pet foods.

And there are times when Vets are wrong. My Bichon was gaining weight constantly. By two years old the vet was concerned so he put him on a restricted diet and soloxine since he tested for hypothyroidism and found Snuggles was indeed hypothyroid. My Snuggles continued to gain weight and the vet kept saying it was what I was feeding him so I kept a diary for 2 months on exactly how much he was eating. The weight just kept coming on little by little and the Vet all but called me a liar. So I changed Vets to a holistic vet who also put him on a restricted diet plus some herbs. Well that did not work and he too said I was not being honest about what I was feeding him. So I changed Vets again. I also took him to a Physical therapist for 6 months for in-water treadmill work but it too had no effect. The newest Vet changed his diet and when the diet did not work after 2 months she referred him to a specialist. He said that he wanted to do 2 things..a test in his lab and also send samples to the University of Tennessee for another test (which only they do). He said they were expensive but might reveal the cause. I said of course do the tests. Well it turns out my Snuggles has atypical Chushings disease..his cortisol and hormone levels were off the charts. The vets said he probably had it early on which is why he gained all of the time and that the other vets should have suspected something when he still gained weight while on meds for hypothyroid. What can I say. He told me his diet (which is high protein) was ok and to continue feeding what he was getting.He put Snuggles on 3 medications and Snuggles (after thousands of dollars) is finally losing weight. It will be slow as weight gained in 6 years is not going to go away fast. He has more energy now so he is exercising more. Now that I have 2 Vets who really care (his regular Vet and the Specialist) and a solution he hopefully will have a long and good life.

Remember the old adage: "If your dog is overweight, you're not getting enough exercise."

The article mentions pet food 'fillers' of corn and soy as contributing to the girth of pets. Another concerning ingredient in almost all readily available pet food is something called 'byproducts'. I hope anyone not familiar with this will Google it and then read their pet food labels.

After the pet food scare of a few years ago, when many pets died due to contaminated fillers, I found Natural Balance pet food. I have had great success introducing this to my and my family's cats. It contains NO byproducts. It offers venison and duck flavors in addition to the more commonly available liver, beef and poultry flavors. It also contains small amounts of vegetables to more closely resemble a cat's natural diet.

There may be other brands available without byproducts, but I haven't found them. In fact the only brand/flavor I found after reading all the labels of all cans available in the major Chicago area grocery store chains was Nine Lives brandTuna (not the tuna and cheese).

This artcle did not help as it was about over weight dogs. I need help with a cat.

Companies who produce food for animals are no different than companies that produce human food. Many of them put crap ingredients and fillers including rendered roadkill and euthanized animals. That is not a myth...it is FACT. There are companies who produce food from  those sources. Plus your pet gets a dose of the barbiturate that euthanizes animals, andthey build a resistance to it so when your pet has to be euthanized they need a bigger dose. Rendering does not break down these chemical compounds, and they end up in the food.

I would recommend reading the book "Food Pets Die For"  and educate yourselves. Cutting portions seems like the "extremely simple" choice as said by an earlier poster, but if what you are feeding your pet is crap to begin with, it won't matter how little of it you give your pet.

My dog's allergic to any dog food that has meat as an ingredient, so he gets special hypoallergic vegetarian dog food.  He also loves fresh fruit and vegetables, especially tomatoes, green beans, blueberries, potatoes and strawberries. 

You must treat your loved pet like it was your child . If you choose to feed your pet poorly , by putting it on a bad diet . Well than ; You are to BLAME . So if your pet gets sick or dies from your abuse , look in the mirror and you will know who to BLAME . The best thing to do is read up on the issue on the inter-net and get the FACTS on how to keep your pet in your life for as long as you can . Start with a strict diet ...

Yeah I became worried about what I was feeding my dog (who is like one of the family) and started reading labels. Lots of meat by-products, wheat, corn, and soy filler, salt, etc. Tried the natural chicken jerky strips for treats, then realized they were made in CHINA, YIKES! I did a lot of research on the nutritional requirements of canines and I started making my own dog food. Meat, veggies, fruits, egg. Since I hate to bake, I started buying some great all natural wheat free treats from www.pamperedpoochpantry.com. They get their ingredients from the Amish and I have been feeding them to Ziggy for about 6 weeks now and you wouldn't believe his coat. He has lost almost 2 pounds and seems like he has more energy.