The chart below is a great place to start your journey to a healthier dog. Determining your dog’s Body Composition Score is as easy as taking a good look at your dog with honest eyes.

Your dog’s health is important to us here at What’s Up Dog? Studies show that upwards of 50% of all dogs in the US are overweight or obese. The related health issues are very similar to humans. We like to say that “food is not love”. Be careful what you feed IN THE BOWL - and OUT OF THE BOWL. Any calories from outside the bowl must be deducted from the mealtime bowl. When you purchase treats, simply make a mental note of the calories in each treat. Adding toppers to your food, adds calories so be aware of what you are adding and remove calories from the primary food amount accordingly.

“Diet Foods” don’t work in most cases. This is because they are designed to appeal to human emotions - feeding a diet food is often code for “full of fiber” and while it fills your dog’s intestines, it does little to actually activate fat burning, provide functional energy your dog desperately needs. Grains can be fed to most dogs, but the primary source of calories should be protein and fat. Studies show that protein satiates better than fillers, and fat provides cleaner energy than carbohydrates that must be converted to sugars for the body to use for energy. We are happy to assist you and your dog reach your feeding goals. Stop by to see us to discuss your goals, issues, and current feeding routine.

If you are feeding a non-commercial diet and would like to calculate your dog’s unique caloric needs you will need to know the cumulative calories of the food you are preparing. You can add them up and use the formula below to determine how much food you should be using as your baseline by applying the following calculator: