Does Your Dog Need to Lose Weight? How to Check and What to Do

A few extra kilos might not look dramatic on a dog, especially when the weight has crept on gradually. But the number on the scales is only part of the picture. Breed, frame size and muscle mass all influence what a healthy weight looks like.

One of the best places to start is your dog’s Body Condition Score.

What Is a Body Condition Score?

Body Condition Scoring, or BCS, is a simple way of assessing how much body fat your dog is carrying.

The commonly used WSAVA Body Condition Score grades dogs from 1–9, with 4–5 considered ideal.

The good news is that you can do a basic check at home using your hands as well as your eyes.

At an ideal body condition, you should generally be able to:

• Feel your dog’s ribs easily without having to press through a thick layer of fat.

• See a waist behind the ribs when looking down from above.

• See an abdominal tuck when looking at your dog from the side.

If the ribs are becoming difficult to feel, the waist is disappearing or your dog looks increasingly rounded through the abdomen, they may be carrying excess body fat.

Long coats can make this especially difficult to judge visually, so get your hands on your dog rather than relying on appearance alone.

If you are unsure, ask your vet or veterinary nurse to body-condition-score your dog and help you establish an appropriate target weight.

Why the Number on the Scales Doesn't Tell the Whole Story

Two dogs of the same breed and sex can have different healthy weights depending on their height, frame and muscle mass.

That is why aiming for a number you've found on a breed chart isn't always useful. You could have a male Labrador retriever who is a healthy weight at 35kg and one that is prefect at 28kg

Use body weight to monitor progress, but combine it with body condition scoring. Once you know your dog's current condition and have a realistic idea of their ideal weight, you can make a much better feeding plan.

You Cannot Outwalk Overfeeding

Adding another walk is often the first thing owners try when their dog gains weight.

Exercise is important. It supports fitness, mobility, muscle maintenance, enrichment and overall wellbeing.

But exercise cannot reliably compensate for consistently feeding more calories than your dog needs.

Food and treats can be surprisingly calorie dense. An extra handful of kibble, a chew after lunch, some cheese during training and leftovers after dinner may not look like much individually, but together they can push your dog well above their daily energy requirement.

If your dog needs around 600 calories per day but regularly receives considerably more than that, simply adding another walk doesn't address the main problem: calorie intake is still too high.

For most dogs who need to lose weight, the plan needs both appropriate activity and controlled calorie intake. AAHA weight-management guidance similarly identifies excess calorie consumption and overfeeding as important obesity risk factors.

Step 1: Work Out How Many Calories Your Dog Needs

Before cutting food at random, start by estimating how many calories your dog actually needs.

The PetSci Canine Calorie Calculator is a useful starting point. It provides estimates for both maintenance and weight loss based on your dog's details.

Use the PetSci Canine Calorie Calculator

Remember that calorie calculators provide an estimate, not a perfect prescription.

Individual dogs vary, which is why their weight, body condition and progress still need to be monitored.

If your dog is significantly overweight ( needsto lose 20% or more of their current weight), very young, elderly, has a medical condition or takes medication that may affect their appetite or weight, speak to your vet or a nutritionist before starting a weight-loss plan.

Step 2: Find Out How Many Calories Are Actually in Their Food

Now you know roughly what your dog needs, you need to compare that with what they are actually eating.

Check the packaging of your dog's food first.

Calories may be listed as:

• kcal per 100g

• kcal per kg

• kcal per cup

• kcal per tray

• kcal per pouch or can

If you can't find a calorie figure, PetSci also has a useful tool that estimates calorie content from a food's analytical constituents.

Calculate the Calories in Your Dog's Food with PetSci

This can be particularly useful when comparing dog foods because two products with similar-looking portions can have very different calorie densities.

And don't assume words such as "low fat", "light", "natural" or "healthy" automatically mean low calorie.

Weight management ultimately comes down to the total calories being consumed compared with the calories your dog requires.

Step 3: Take 10% Away for Treats and Extras

This is the part that catches a lot of owners out.

Treats count.

So do:

• Training treats

• Dental chews

• Long-lasting chews

• Table scraps

• Cheese

• Peanut butter

• Food used to give medication

• Toppers

• Oils

• Extras added to the food bowl

A useful guideline is for treats and other non-complete foods to contribute no more than around 10% of your dog's total daily calories. AAHA guidance also flags non-complete foods exceeding 10% of total calorie intake as a nutritional risk factor.

That means your dog's treats shouldn't be added on top of their daily calorie requirement.

They need their own calorie budget.

Here's a simple example:

If your dog's weight-loss calorie target is 600 kcal per day:

10% for treats and extras = 60 kcal

That leaves:

540 kcal for their main complete food

So rather than feeding 600 calories of dog food plus treats, you would feed approximately:

540 kcal complete food + up to 60 kcal treats/extras = 600 kcal total

And remember, 10% is a maximum, not a target you have to reach.

If your dog only has 20 calories of treats one day, you don't need to go looking for another 40!

Do a Treat Audit

If your dog isn't losing weight despite you feeling that you're "hardly feeding anything", try writing down everything they eat for a few days.

And I mean everything.

Include their main meals, training treats, dental sticks, chews, food used to hide medication, toppers, food from the table and anything another member of the family might be slipping them.

Then add up the calories.

This can be particularly eye-opening with smaller dogs, where one chew or chunk of cheese can take up a surprisingly large proportion of the entire day's calorie allowance.

You don't necessarily need to stop giving treats completely.

Instead:

Make treats fit the calorie budget.

Break larger treats into smaller pieces, use some of your dog's normal food allowance for training and choose lower-calorie treats when you want to reward frequently. Soopa’s Banana and Pumpkin Mini Healthy Bites are 2kcals per treat and are great for breaking up.

For more ideas, read Soopa's How to Help Your Dog Lose Weight – 5 Tips That Actually Work.

Step 4: Weigh Your Dog's Food

Scoops, cups and handfuls are convenient.

They're also not particularly accurate.

If your dog needs to lose weight, invest in a simple set of digital kitchen scales and weigh their food in grams.

A small measuring error repeated every morning and evening can become a significant number of extra calories over a week or a month

If several people feed your dog, there's another simple trick I really like:

Weigh the entire day's food allowance into one container each morning.

Meals and any kibble being used as training rewards all come out of that same container.

Once it's gone, it's gone.

It also stops the classic:

"I thought you hadn't fed him." Or “I just took a little more food out for training.”

Followed by your pup casually enjoying breakfast number two and hoping no one says anything.

Does Your Dog Need a Special Weight-Loss Food?

Not necessarily.

Some dogs can lose weight successfully while eating a carefully controlled amount of their existing complete food.

Other dogs benefit from a properly formulated weight-management diet that allows them to eat a larger volume of food for fewer calories while still providing appropriate essential nutrients.

The right choice depends on:

• How much weight your dog needs to lose

• Their current diet

• Calorie density

• Hunger and food-seeking behaviour

• Activity levels

• Age

• Any existing health conditions

What you shouldn't do is dramatically slash the amount of a standard food without considering whether the reduced portion is still going to provide appropriate nutrition.

And don't automatically reach for the food with the lowest fat percentage.

As I explain in Does Your Dog Really Need a Low-Fat Diet?, weight gain is about calorie balance – simply labelling fat as the problem can miss the bigger picture.

Keep Monitoring

Weight loss isn't a calculation you do once and then forget about.

Weigh your dog regularly under similar conditions and keep reassessing their body condition.

If their weight isn't changing despite accurately weighing their food and accounting for treats, their calorie intake may need adjusting.

Likewise, if their weight is dropping very quickly, they seem excessively hungry, they're losing muscle or they appear unwell, speak to your vet.

Consistency matters far more than creating the "perfect" diet for three days and then returning to old habits.

So, Does Your Dog Need to Lose Weight?

Start with their body condition, rather than the scales alone.

Feel the ribs.

Look for their waist.

Check for an abdominal tuck.

Establish a sensible target weight if necessary with your vet, work out their estimated calorie requirement and then account for everything they eat.

Most importantly, don't forget the extras.

If treats, chews and toppers are part of your dog's day, allow up to 10% of their total daily calorie allowance for them and feed the remaining 90% through their main complete diet.

Exercise absolutely matters.

But you cannot consistently overfeed a dog and expect an extra walk to cancel it out.

Successful, sustainable weight management comes from getting calories, portions, treats and activity working together.

More Weight Management Advice

For more information, have a read of these guides from The Canine Dietitian:

Reasons Your Dog Has Gained Weight: 15 Common Causes Dog Owners Often Miss – from feeding guides and treats to lifestyle changes and underlying health issues.

Why Has My Dog Gained Weight After Being Spayed or Neutered? – including changes in appetite, energy requirements and managing treat intake after neutering.