Dog obesity can become a problem after the holidays if you don’t take precautions during the festivities. Thankfully, you won’t have to worry about your pet’s weight gain on your own if you ask help from your family and friends. Find out more tips on how to keep pets healthy during Christmas with this list.
How To Avoid Dog Obesity With All The Christmas Feasts
1. Avoid Edible Treats As Stocking Stuffings
When looking for a stocking stuffer for your pet, it’s so easy to get treats and delicious snacks. Try to avoid that. Instead, get small gifts like squishy toys and balls to put in the stockings. Your dog will still love them, but they won’t have to gain an ounce. In fact, it’ll help them exercise and move around more.
2. If Unavoidable, Look For Healthy Treats
If friends and family are also joining the gift-giving tradition, remind them not to give them too much food and snacks. Then again, we all have that doting aunt who seems always to want to stuff everyone with food. Ask her (or any person like her) to pick out healthy or organic treats.
If your dog does receive tons of the snacks this Christmas, keep them for later. You can use them for training or play. You’ll have at least, a few months’ supply for sure.
3. Stick To Feeding Routines
Since the holiday season is full of feasts, it’s so tempting to include your dog in the festivities. However, try to stick to their established feeding routine. If your eating schedule is rearranged during the holidays, and you have a hard time remembering your pet’s, print out their feeding time routine and pin it in your fridge. You can even add check boxes to tick them off after each feeding. This way, you’ll avoid underfeeding, as well as, overfeed your dog.
4. Don’t Feed Them Table Scraps
Dogs could develop pancreatitis from eating table scraps or garbage; be cautious this holiday season https://t.co/1D0lT7atP8
— AVMAvets (@AVMAvets) December 5, 2016
Thanks to their sense of smell, they’ll instantly know if you have something delicious on the dining table. If they’re freely roaming around the house during dinner, stop yourself from giving your dog scraps. Train them to not beg for food from the table. Table scraps can be toxic to dogs, and feeding them even a morsel from the table, could end up in a medical emergency. Even when you feed them food that is safe, it won’t help them with their diet.
5. Ask For Help From Family and Friends
Even if you stick to all the rules you set for your pet’s holiday feeding routine, your friends and family might not stick to the script faithfully. Before starting your holiday festivities, lay down the rules for your guests. Or at the very least, tell them to keep the secret feedings to a few nibbles. Even if your pooch turns the puppy dog eyes on them in full force.
6. Play Fetch Or Train For Treats
People who love your dog will give your dog treats as gifts, especially those who didn’t get the memo about looking for organic ones. You can use these treats to play fetch with your dog. That way, they can still be exercising while getting a delicious (and probably not as healthy) snack. If you’re still in the process of house training your pup, you can use those treats for that as well.
7. Continue Daily Exercise
You might get busy during the holidays but never forget your pooch’s daily exercise needs to stop dog obesity. This is important for them to burn off any excess Christmas calorie. If it gets too cold outside for a walk, try buying an indoor ball launcher toy. You only need to train them on how to drop the ball into the chute after picking it up. On the other hand, you can push for your daily walks to keep yourself in shape as well.
If you want to prevent dog obesity but still want to give them a healthy treat, try making these adorable Christmas cookies!
Remember, to prevent dog obesity during the Christmas festivities, keep to your pet’s feeding routine. If you can (kindly) ask your guests not to give them scraps from the table, then that would be a great help. Keep your conviction, despite the cute pouting and whining.
What other tips to prevent dog obesity over the holidays do you know? Share them in the comments section below!
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