Let’s cut right to the chase – pet obesity is on the rise at an alarming rate.
Why is this happening? For the same reasons human obesity rates are on a serious incline; we do not consume sensible portions.
Official statistics say that in excess of 41% of the dogs in the USA are overweight and 5.1% of them are morbidly obese. Cats are also severely affected by this plague, with 6.4% being declared obese.
Part of the problem are feeding guidelines for your pet’s food.
Let’s clear this up, shall we?
What is a cup?
What do manufacturers mean when they suggest you feed your 100lb dog 3 cups per day? Is it a coffee cup, a scoop, a handful?
Contrary to popular belief, this does not count as one scoop..
A cup means one measured cup – like you would use to measure flour. One measured cup equals approximately 100g, or 8oz of dry dog food.
Not all pet foods have the same suggested amounts
I have seen this time and time again – pet owners who switch pet foods and continue to feed the same amount as the previous food.
Every pet food varies in it’s caloric content per cup – which is why you need to pay attention.
Let’s say you have a 100lb dog, and you’re feeding Brand X. Brand X is 250 kcal (calories) per cup. Your dog may need 5-6 cups of food per day.
Now you decide to feed Brand Y. Brand Y is 490 kcal per cup. Your dog only needs 3-4 cups of food per day.
You can see how different the feeding guidelines are between these two brands. If you were to feed Brand Y with Brand X’s guidelines, you would be overfeeding by up to 1400 calories every single day – that equals 511,000 calories per year!
Exhibit A
All those extras
Guidelines provided by your pet’s food exist to ensure your pets meet their daily requirements for calories, fat, protein, nutrients, amino acids, and more.
These guidelines don’t factor in all the extra goodies you may be giving your pet every day. You could be feeding the equivalent of an extra meal in treats alone every single day and not realize it.
Put it this way: If you feed your dog 100 calories in treats per day (which is not difficult to do), over the course of a year, you would have overfed your pet by 36,500 calories!
Change with age
As your pet ages, his food requirements change. Pet food feeding guidelines are only suggested amounts; it’s up to you to adjust the amount based on your pet’s lifestyle.
If your dog lives an active lifestyle, naturally his energy requirements will be greater than an average dog.
Same goes for the change in the seasons. Most pets are less active during the winter months, so take a proactive approach and decrease your pet’s daily intake accordingly during this time.
Understand portion control, and adjusting the amount of your pet’s food can make a significant improvement on his quality of life.
Let me know what you think!
[...] Healthy feeding, regardless of your pets’ breed and size boils down to two major criteria: product quality and portion control. [...]