Can you put a dog on a calorie-restricted diet to lose weight?
First of all remember that research has shown that, in general, a healthy dog can abstain from food for five days before any noticeable health effects occur. They generally don’t HAVE to eat every day. (Very small breeds are an exception…but unless there’s really some medical problem present, missing a day of eating isn’t a major catastrophe.) Always be sure fresh water is available. So start out by feeding a very high quality, complete and balanced dog food. Look on the ingredients list…MEAT should be the first item listed, not corn. You may also want to supplement with a vitamin/mineral/fatty acid product. PetFoodDirect.com has some excellent products… search for SUPPLEMENTS. Be careful about over supplementing, too!. Now record an accurate pre-diet weight. Reduce by one-third your pet’s total daily ration previously given. Include in this total all treats, snacks, or left-overs if you insist on continuing to provide these.
