Overweight Pet

Discovering a lump on your beloved best friend can quickly sound some alarms. While it might feel like that lump came out of nowhere, it’s important to remember that lumps on dogs aren’t as rare as you think — nor are they necessarily dangerous.

People’s waistlines are expanding around the world—and so are those of their pets. Eating habits are partially to blame, but could gut microbes play a part as well? Researchers are exploring how the bacteria living in your pet’s gut are linked to obesity in order to find ways to combat weight gain.

Excess weight is one of the most common health issues facing dogs worldwide. Industry data indicates that nearly 60% of pets are overweight or obese, which can lead to serious complications, including shortening a dog’s lifespan and reducing the quality of his day-to-day life.

As pet parents, we want to keep our dogs, cats, and other pets healthy, happy, and with us for a long time. While they can face a broad array of potential health issues, one of the most common and most damaging health challenges pets face also happens to be one of the most treatable: obesity.

Dogs come in all shapes and sizes, but whether you have a toy breed like a Miniature Pinscher or a giant Irish Wolfhound, all dogs can live longer and enjoy a better quality of life if they maintain a healthy weight. While being overweight or obese is a far more common issue among dogs today, underweight dogs face the risk of serious health problems too.

Exercising a dog means more than just a daily walk, especially for working breeds, but also for dogs who prefer to be couch potatoes. When it comes to exercising dogs, the breed and size will have an impact on their willingness to engage in rigorous activity.

Providing the pets with whom we share our home with a solid training foundation is one of the most important things we can do.  This training can establish the relationship that will define both our own interactions with our pets and their interactions with other humans and fellow pets.

Determining a dog's healthy weight is not as easy as looking at a chart of average age and breed weights (though that can give you a place to start). As a rule of thumb, a dog at a healthy weight should have a visible waist when you look at them from the side and from above, though we encourage you to talk to your veterinarian when determining an exact number.