Nutrition for Healthy Weight Loss

With close to 60% of pet dogs and cats reported to be overweight or obese, weight loss recommendations are common. The journey to a more ideal weight is not always easy, though. Many factors play a role, such as feeding management, portion control, and exercise, but nutrition is critical to help pets lose weight safely.

How can nutrition help my pet lose weight?

Healthy dogs and cats require several essential nutrients, and some of these nutrients play an even bigger role for pets with excess weight to lose. Key nutrients include the following:

Protein: When pets lose weight, it’s important they primarily lose fat tissue, while maintaining their lean muscle mass. To do that, they must lose weight slowly, since faster weight loss is associated with more lean muscle loss, and they need adequate protein to support lean tissue. Protein also has a secondary function for weight loss: higher protein provides more satiety, which helps your pet feel full and can help reduce begging behaviors.

Energy Density: Energy is the calories in your pet’s food and density is the number of calories per cup, can, or 100 grams. For a pet to lose weight, they must take in a reduced number of calories. Reduced calories could mean a significant reduction in portion size unless you choose a food with a lower energy density (fewer calories per 100 grams). 

Fat: While essential in the diet, fat provides twice as many calories per gram as carbohydrates or protein. Choosing a food with less fat typically means the food has fewer calories compared to a product with higher fat.

Fiber: It can be beneficial to include fiber in foods meant for weight loss. Fiber is not an essential nutrient for dogs or cats, but it helps to normalize gastrointestinal (GI) functions and, most importantly for weight loss, adds bulk to the food without additional calories. This increased bulk translates to a larger portion size for your pet, which helps them feel fuller.

Choline: Choline is a vitamin-like nutrient essential for dogs and cats. It has several important roles, but for weight loss, its role in transporting fat makes it desirable in foods fed for weight loss. During weight loss, the goal is for your pet’s body to mobilize the fat stored in tissue as an energy source and choline helps this process.

L-carnitine: Like choline, one of carnitine’s roles relates to the use of fat for energy. Specifically, carnitine allows fat to be brought into the mitochondria (the powerhouse of the cell) where it is then used for energy.

How can I ensure my pet is getting all these nutrients during weight loss?

There are several veterinary therapeutic weight loss foods designed specifically for weight loss. These foods not only contain the nutrients needed for safe and effective weight loss, but they also taste good and have been fed in clinical weight loss trials to show they work. There are many options to choose from, and your veterinary care team can help you select the best one for your pet.

Can I feed less of an over-the-counter (OTC) food?

There are no OTC (pet store) foods that are safe for weight loss. Some of these foods are “lite” or low calorie, but that simply means they have fewer calories than the regular version of the food. They could have the important nutrients for weight loss, but the amount may not be enough, which means that if you reduce portion size to lower the calorie intake, your pet may not get enough essential nutrients. Veterinary weight loss foods have a higher concentration of essential nutrients, so when calories are reduced, intake of these nutrients is still within the recommended amounts.

Are there any supplements I can give my pet to help with weight loss?

Unfortunately, there is no magic pill that will help your pet lose weight. There are a few weight loss supplements available on the market which you may have heard about because of their potential use in humans. These supplements include chitosan, linoleic acid, pyruvate, and hydroxycitric acid. Strong research to support the use of these supplements in humans is lacking, and virtually no research has been conducted in pets.

The bottom line is that a successful weight loss plan takes time and commitment. Partnering with your veterinary care team can help you get the results you are looking for in the safest way and with the support you need. Along with reducing portion size and increasing activity, the nutrients in your pet’s weight loss food can impact the success of your pet’s weight loss plan, as well as their health and well-being. Due to the lack of research on efficacy and safety studies, weight loss supplements are currently not recommended for pets.