The obesity epidemic that is plaguing North America has implications for our furry friends as well. The Canadian Animal Health Institute estimates that over 50% of dogs in North America are obese. There are several negative health impacts to an overweight dog including:

• Increased risk of cancers
• Risk of diabetes, heart disease and increase blood pressure
• Difficulty breathing, skin and coat problems
• Decreased liver function
• Digestive disorders
• Damage to ligaments, bones and ligaments (prior to Kalinda’s weight loss journey I was recommended $5000 knee surgery from three different vets due to strain on her joints from the excess weight).

All of these add up to long term expensive vet bills for you and a shorter lifespan and increased illness for your furbaby!

What are the causes of dog obesity?

• Feeding your dog a diet that contains processed ingredients or preservatives (such as kibble or canned food)
• Feeding your dog a diet that contains an overly high amount of carbohydrates
• Feeding your dog frequent treats
• Overfeeding your dog

What can you do to improve the life span of your furbaby?

It has been proven that feeding your dog nutritious food can double their lifetime! If you can’t go all the way to making the switch, even adding real and nutritious food to your existing regime will make a significant difference to their health and longevity. 

If your dog is overweight, there are many things you can do to improve their diet and get them down to a healthy weight. These include:

• Checking your pet food labels to ensure the ingredient list contains REAL food and does not list refined carbohydrates. In Canada, it is a requirement that ingredients are listed in order of highest volume to lowest - so look out for what ingredients are at the top!

• Feed your dog a fresh diet containing real proteins fruits and vegetables such as our Puppy Gang Fresh Food meals. This will help you to take preventative measures early and will reduce your long term vet bill!

• Monitoring your dog’s caloric intake. Puppy Gang Fresh Foods meals contain 2 cups in every pack. We recommend feeding around ¾ - 1 cup of food (half a pack) for every 10 lbs of ideal body weight-though you should give more or less depending on the age, breed and activity level for your dog.

• If you have questions about a weight regime for your dog or feeding your dog a fresh food diet you can contact us here