Pugs
are prone to obesity. However, overfeeding is not always the main cause for
obesity in Pugs. Before you begin a diet, check with your Vet to rule out other
causes. Pugs
are prone to obesity. However, overfeeding is not always the main cause for
obesity in Pugs. Before you begin a diet, check with your Vet to rule out other
causes.
But in general, Pugs love to eat. They get their ways by looking longingly at their owners who unwittingly pile on goodies. They hand them little biscuts and scraps. How can you resist the Pug "Look". Their soulful expression and begging. You want to please them and make their sad eyes smile. Unfortunatly, our little Pugs are short. They have short legs and cobby little bodies and when they become overweight, it adds so much stress on thier joints and lungs, heart and back. The Pug standard chart sais that they should be 14-16 lbs. However, some Pugs are have more length from their necks to their rears. Some are more leggy. A larger Pug would look anorexic weighing only 16lbs. If you suspect Puggy Sue is too portly, take her to your vet and ask him to compare her length and height and ask him to give your Pug an appropriate weight to be in regards to her build.
Once you have the weight you want to reduce Puggy Sue to, find a low calorie diet to follow. Of course you do not want to deprive Puggy Sue because she loves to eat so much. Find little ways to cause her to love her meals, but in smaller portions. If you feed dry or canned food, a prescription diet can be obtained from your Vet. If she turns her nose up to it, replace a couple of TBSP’s with bits of lean meat such as ground turkey or chicken or some cottage cheese. Make sure this diet is gradual.
If you are not going to go with a prescribed diet, you may consider checking on all dog food lables for fat content. Lamb and Rice or Chicken and Rice dry foods are generally lower in fat than other foods. You probally should not extend a diet with more than 14% fat content, but, check with your Veternarian on this or check the fat content of the prescription diet and compare it to the food you are already using.
If you feed home made preperations, be cautious of the ingredients by using only lean cuts of meat and add more vegetables such as green beans and carrots. My Pugs love the baby peeled carrots, blueberries and little slices of Cucumber. Make sure the diet is complete with all the nutrients.
If Puggy Sue seems hungry during the day, give her a scraped soup bone. She will work for an hour or more trying to get scraps of meat from the side of the bone. I provide rib bones that have very little meat on them and soup bones for my Pugs. I do not cook these bones as cooked bones can become brittle and break off. I personally allow my Pugs to eat bits of raw meat uncooked bones with scraped meat on the sides provides anti-oxydants and nutrients for my Pugs. Theyuse of their teethe, chewing and scraping them along the bone cleans tartar off better than any dry biscuit I have ever come across. This is a personal preference. Not everyone can handle this kind of diet even in the supplementory form.