A few weeks ago, I mentioned in a blog post that I had learned how serious it can be for dogs to be even a pound or two overweight. The Human To Pet Weight Comparison Tool really opened my eyes. I had been told that my pugs were probably a couple of pounds overweight, but at the time I didn’t realize how serious it was.
For most dogs, their total body weight is much smaller than ours, so an extra 2 or 3 pounds is a much higher percentage of their overall weigh than that kind of weight gain would be for us.
Assisting an overweight dog in losing weight sounds pretty overwhelming. I wanted to share an inspirational dog weight loss story in case anyone else is needing inspiration for taking this journey. In the chicago area, there is a dog named Nerissa, she is a Dachshund, her human is Deirdre Egeland. Deirdre adopted Nerissa after seeing her on PetFinder. She already had two dachshunds, and she fell in love with Nerissa’s spunky personality. Upon adoption, she was a little overweight and then she added on extra weight over the winter. As a result, she was somewhere between 4 and 6 lbs heavier than her ideal weight would be. She wasn’t being as active as she used to be and seemed to snore more often. She weighed 20.1lbs. They decided to take the 10 week turnaround challenge which put Nerissa on Hills Science Diet Perfect Weight dry food for 10 weeks to see if it could help her lose weight.
How did the diet go? Nerissa really enjoyed the new Hills Science Diet Perfect Weight kibble. Deirdre said she started “dancing” when it was meal time each day. During week five, Nerissa had lost about 9 ounces and the owner commented “Nerissa doesn’t think she’s on a diet. She thinks she’s getting gourmet meals!”. I loved reading this because it made me feel less guilty about looking into dog weight loss for my pugs. My main worry is that they’ll feel deprived, but that was not the case for Nerissa.
After the 10 week period, Nerissa had lost 1.1lbs and had regained a lot of energy. She followed her owner around the house instead of laying around, and her owner said she just seems happier and healthier. She even gained a visible waist!
Have you ever embarked on a dog weight loss journey with your pet? I’d love for you to tell me how it went in the comments below. Hills would also love for you to share your story on their Facebook page. Plus, if you’re taking the 10 week weight loss challenge, share your success in the 10 week turnaround sweepstakes for a chance to win gift cards or even a 1 year supply of pet food!
This post is sponsored by Hill’s. I am being compensated for helping spread the word about Hill’s® Science Diet® Adult Perfect Weight pet food, but Emily Reviews only shares information we feel is relevant to our readers. Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc. is not responsible for the content of this article.
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Hi there! I am Emily Evert, the owner of Emily Reviews. I am 28 and live in a small town in Michigan with my boyfriend Ryan and our two pugs. I have a large family and I adore my nieces and nephews. I love reading memoirs, and learning about child development and psychology. I love watching The Game of Thrones, Teen Mom, Sister Wives and Veep. I like listening to Jason Isbell, John Prine, and other alt-country or Americana music. I created Emily Reviews as a creative outlet to share my life and the products that I love with others.
This post currently has 3 responses.
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Ashley
I have to admit I was VERY skeptical about a product that promised weight-loss results, but we tried it and it worked. My corgi, Rooster, lost 5 lbs and he truly seemed to have so much more energy. He did seem hungry that first week, but after that he really seemed to like the food and didn’t seem hungry (more than usual anyway). Now that he’s lost the weight he seems younger, more playful, runs and jumps more. He really seems happier. So anyway, it worked for us!
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Emily
That is awesome to hear :). I can completely understand being reluctant to try a diet at first but it’s awesome that it paid off for Rooster. I’m sure it feels great to watch him be more active and playful.
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My dog gained a lot of weight few months back due to lack of outdoors activity. I realized overweight can be dangerous for him, so I started taking him out regularly for a long walk and kept a strict diet. Eventually my dog able to shed extra weight and myself also reduced some pounds. Its just felt like icing on cake.