If you want someone to love you forever, buy a dog, feed it, and keep it around.
Just as its owner, a dog can suffer from overfeeding and ultimately get obese. An overweight dog lives within a ticking bomb of potential arthritis, diabetes, heart, and skin complications. You wouldn’t want to lose your pet on account of overeating…
So how do you tell if your dog is overindulging?
Symptoms of Overfeeding in Your Dog
The majority of dogs exhibit common signs as a result of overeating. These are some of the symptoms you should pay attention to:
Canine bloat: If your dog eats too much and quickly, gasses build up in the stomach as the food passes down. The stomach thus enlarges akin to a balloon and feels hard upon touching.
Sterile dry-heave: Your overfed dog is likely to vomit without anything popping out.
Swift pulse rate: The heartbeat in your dog increases rapidly if it eats like a horse. This is due to increased levels of metabolism hence an escalated demand for blood supply.
A plethora of saliva: An overfed dog often has surplus saliva in its mouth. This arises from the nausea feelings that occur from bloating.
Agitation and anxiety: An overfed dog habitually gets uneasy and nervous. Too much food in its stomach makes it strenuous to lie down. Its pacing and agility diminish drastically also.
Strenuous breathing: Your overfed dog is likely to extend its neck to catch a breath. The inflating stomach travails the lungs from contracting and expanding. This results in difficulty in the supply of oxygen to your dog; hence it struggles to inhale. You are also likely to notice it stretching its elbows away from the chest cavity. This is all to create space for the squeezed lungs.
Why is Your Canine Overeating?
Your dog could be gulping down tons of food, perhaps due to its unquenchable appetite. Nevertheless, there could be other triggers to its overindulgence.
Prolonged hunger. If your dog stays for long without chewing something, it will get super hungry. When fed, it will guzzle down the meal in desperation to satisfy its pangs.
Stress. Just as in humans, when your canine is in tension, it is likely to amass weight.
Your dog could be worm-infested. Hookworms and tapeworms could have invaded your pooch. Hence your hound will eat tons of food as it feels it’s still starving yet in a real sense; it is nourishing those internal parasites.
Psychological deficiencies. Your dog could be bored or lonely. Boredom triggers an excessive release of thyroid hormone, causing it to overfeed. Allergies, too, could make your hound overfill.
Some of the dangers incidental to overeating are lethal. Gastric Dilation alias bloating could result in your dog perishing. Asphyxia is also fatal.
Let us now dissect the elephant in the room.
Tips to Curb Your Dog’s Appetite
What should you do to manage your dog’s diet?
Give Your Dog a Balanced Diet
Your canine’s meal should have proteins, vitamins, minerals, fats, and carbohydrates. Minerals, for instance, Sodium and Phosphorus, catalyze oxygen flow within the body. Potassium and chloride salts help to balance the thyroid hormone in your pooch.
Water is also significant in your dog’s diet. Water dissolves the nutrients and aid in the digestion process. It also maintains the dog’s skin supple. Get more dog nutrition tips here for detailed insights.
Minimize Intake of Leftovers
If you’re interested in checking your dog’s weight, you need to truncate your frequency of feeding it with the scraps from your previous meal. Sauces and meats add pounds of weight to your dog. If you’re a family man, shun your youngsters from throwing in chunks of remnants.
Create a Feeding Schedule
Avoid unsystematic feeding of your dog. Design a routine of the number of meals to give in a day. Do not allow arbitrary eating. Creating a schedule will not only condition your dog but also cushion your pockets. Follow your designed program for optimum results strictly.
Brake on Snacks
Dog snacks contain ridiculous levels of calories, which could yield to obesity of your pet. In place of junk, feed your dog with the best dog food available in your region.
Get a Suitable Feeding Bowl
A narrow and interior indented bowl will slow down the feeding pace of your dog. Your pooch will, therefore, take small amounts of food consistently. A large and flat bowl will only make it easier to gulp down tons of food in a short period. Thus, escalating its weight drastically.
Provide Medical Attention
The internal parasitic worms inhabiting your dog will only be discovered if you frequent the Veterinary. A vet can also treat hormonal imbalances causing overeating.
Measure! Stop Approximating
Measure precisely the required meal intakes for your dog rather than guessing. With advice from your vet, you will be furnished with the correct food proportions. Depending on your dog’s size and age, measure the corresponding nutrients.
Conclusion
Consistency yields results. Follow these tips to keep your dog in a fabulous physique and curb it from overindulging. Investing in a balanced diet as well as a feeding schedule will work magic for your dog. Try it out now for an impeccable turnover.
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