Your Pet's Health - Give Them the Calories They Need - and No More!

By Kenneth Wallace

All animals, including humans, have a recommended intake
of calories per day. Calories are what the body uses to have
energy and they are a way of monitoring how much you
take in. In all animals, there are also recommendations of
how many calories that animal should get.

Unfortunately, there is no way to pinpoint this right here for
you because all animals that consume calories do so based
on their age, size, physical activity and their overall type.
An example is that of a dog that is middle sized. He should
be consuming about 700 calories per day.

Talk to your vet about how many calories your pet should be
taking in each day. You will be surprised by what it should
be as soon as you start looking at the packaging for their
foods. Purchase pet foods that do tell you the calorie count
as these are often the healthiest options for your pet.

Strive to meet your pet's calorie intake goal. This allows
your pet to get the nutrition that he or she needs but helps
them to keep off excess weight as well. It is simply a
matter of monitoring portion size and food type to reach
their calorie goals.

It is important to realize that if a pet is overweight right
now, he needs to consume less than his recommended
calorie intake to lose weight.

As your body takes in too much food, food is stored as fat in
the tissues of the body so that when there is not enough
food, this stored fat can be used to help them to get through
the rough time. Most pets will never have that situation
since you are taking care of them.

To help them to lose this stored weight, then, you must
reduce their calorie intake by a small amount so that their
body uses stored fat instead of using the foods that they are
given for energy needs.

Depending on what your pet's calorie intake goal is, reduce
this number given to them by just 5 to 10 percent. This
small reduction will help them to use stored fat as energy
and therefore help them to lose weight. More than this
amount will cause the body to go into starvation mode which
will not allow them to use stored fat. Monitor restrictive
diets closely here!

Ken Wallace is an entrepreneur who specializes in helping people help others, including their pets! Visit his Pet Diet Tips website for resources on how to help your pet live a longer, healthier, more enjoyable life.