Dog obesity is a serious issue for any pet owner who wants to own an animal. Overweight dogs can die earlier in life, have severe health issues and be generally unhappy when they can’t get around. Yet, 84 million dogs and cats in the United States are overweight and obese. Add to that the idea that the FDA has approved dog obesity medications to give dogs when they are overweight; the world is facing a real crisis.

Experts have pinpointed a few basic problems that cause most dog obesity. The single biggest problem is giving too much food, especially leftover human food and scraps from the table. While owners think it is cute to feed Fido off the table, it could be actually killing him. Human food just can’t be handled properly by dogs, nor does it really provide the nutrients that they need for their health needs.

Another reason dogs are seriously overweight includes lack of exercise. When the owner doesn’t get out often enough, neither does the dog. These days more and more dogs are indoor pets, leaving the time outside to be brief bathroom breaks. So unless being walked by the owner, dogs don’t smell the fresh outdoors.

One of the best ways to address dog obesity is to look at your own lifestyle. Since Fido follows his master, there can’t be anything changed without the owners starting first. Make sure you make time for a walk every day. Then make a pact that nobody in your family feeds your dog off the table. Make sure that your dog just eats dog food, not people food as well. If your dog continues to gain weight, consider lowering how much of their dog food you give them as well.

The dog obesity issue will stop when people recognize the health of their animal should be a way of life and the behavior of the dog reflects the owner. As we know it all starts with the dog owner.

Though she writes on a variety of other topics, some of Taylor’s other pet related work includes how to select a good xlarge dog bed, like a ceder dog bed.