Is Your Dog At A Healthy Weight?
Our furry fluffs are probably as important to us as the jobs we do for earning our bread or the
social interaction we maintain in life (maybe more at times!). So, while we personally are
becoming a generation conscious of its health, weight, looks and lifestyle, watching the health of our little buddies is equally vital. You surely treat your dogs to a spa and also take them for walks but when was the last time you checked their weight?
As much as their eating regularly and in the right amount is necessary, so is knowing if they are on the right side of the weighing scale or not. And if you’ve not been watching this facet as consciously so far, it’s time you do!
Just so you know, knowing the healthy weights in dogs is never as easy and predictable as those of humans. So, in order to ensure a longer and healthier life cycle of your pet, you can begin by watching out early and easily yourself. And for that, you don’t even need to consult a vet or any high scale techniques.
Begin by knowing the breed that your dog belongs to and what is supposed to be their ideal
weight range. Like a male bulldog shouldn’t weigh more than 50 pounds and a German
Shepherd shouldn’t be anymore 65-90 pounds of weight. Similarly, different dogs from
different breeds vary based on their muscle mass, coat density, skeletal size etc hence there’s just one ideal way to figure out if your four-pawed creature is maintaining the active life that he is supposed to.
The most objective way of understanding a healthy dog weight, accepted universally is by
focusing on Body Condition Score (BCS). As technical as the term might sound, it’s actually a pretty simple way of understanding if your doggo is at an alarming side of weight watch.
The BCS system is a scale between 1 to 9 where any rating between 4 to 5 is considered the signs of a healthy dog. While anything below 4 is alarming in underweight condition, towards the extreme 9 is the sign of being overweight or excessive fat deposits in the dog.
Start by feeling your dog’s rib cage around their backbone. Are you able to feel his ribs? You can also stand afar and try observing their profile. If the ribs are covered with noticeable body fat and you cannot feel the bone structure, it’s a sign that your dog is probably overweight. The fat around neck, limbs and other areas including some abdominal swelling are also indicators of the same.
While on the contrary, if you can feel your dog’s bones: not just by touch but also from a visible distance and the body fat isn’t enough around their musculature, it’s a clear indication of malnutrition or lack of healthy weight in your pet.
So, the ideal scenario is where you can feel the dog’s rib cage without excess or lack of body fat is when you know that your furry friend is leading an active and energetic life and it’s probably time to treat them to their favorite meal.